I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

Extended Family

Chapter 84 – Dressed Up and Out

Takes place during the summer of Harry's seventh year, after chapter 127 of Family.

"You seem to wear those clothes the most when you are home," Andromeda said.

"That's because he loves me the most," Tonks preened.

Harry smiled. "They are rather comfy," he said. The shorts and T-shirts Tonks had gotten him three years prior still fit him and he had taken good care of them, despite dueling in them and the other general rough-housing and robust exercises Tonks favored. They were still in good shape, though faded and well-worn. At least in this case, they were lovingly worn and wholly from him wearing them.

"You also wear them a lot during the winter," Sirius said, frowning slightly. "I just realized that."

"They're rather comfy," Harry repeated sheepishly.

"Harry, when was the last time you got new clothes?" Ted asked.

"Last week," he replied easily.

"When we went to Diagon to get you new school robes?" Andromeda rubbed her temples at his nod. "When was the time before that?"

"My birthday," Harry said slowly.

"The suit I got you," Ted sighed.

"Harry, have you bought yourself new clothes just to wear for fun and for non-school things?" Sirius asked, dreading the answer.

"Your pajamas are newer and nice," Tonks said.

"Those were gifts from the team," Harry said slower still.

"How have you been here for years now and we never got you new proper clothes?" Sirius groaned.

"I'm capable of getting them," Harry said defensively. "You don't keep me locked up here and I could easily go to Diagon or a Muggle store."

"So why haven't you?" Ted asked.

"Never thought about it really," Harry shrugged. "I've been happy with what I've gotten from you and well, you know."

"I mean, it's been a bit since I've seen him wear those things he used to," Sirius admitted. "I've forgotten about it too since it's been a while."

"We've spent a lot of time doing other things and getting things that are more important," Harry argued.

"Degrees of importance can be debated later. This has gone on long enough." Andromeda looked at him with fond severity. "Tomorrow we are going shopping and buying you a whole new wardrobe."

"That's not necessary, is it?" Harry asked, looking faintly alarmed.

"Utterly necessary. Clothes make the man," she sniffed. "And the sooner we get rid of those disgusting…reminders, the better. We should have fixed this long ago."

"It's your last year at school, gotta look good for it," Sirius smiled encouragingly.

"I'm not a peacock or some kind of fashion model," Harry laughed.

"No but no reason to not look pretty. Make all the other ladies jealous at how good you look and how unavailable you are. And you can send Katie handsome pictures," Tonks teased. She gave him a bawdy wink. "Maybe some saucy ones." She laughed when he threw a kitchen towel at her.

"Well, if you insist," Harry said finally.

"I do," Andromeda said firmly.

"Good luck lad," Ted smiled. "I'd come along but I have a very busy day at the firm tomorrow."

"Same," Sirius said with a knowing smile. "Ted and I are going to do some legal stuff that'll take a long time."

"I can try to take off from work…" Tonks' smile was broad and menacing.

"No need for that," Andromeda said, hiding her own smile at Harry's growing horror. "You will see him after work. Do not worry, Harry. I will find someone to assist that will be more than happy to offer a different viewpoint as well as proper advice."

"What, my advice wouldn't be proper?!" Tonks asked, her face the picture of wounded indignation.

Andromeda looked at her ripped jeans, leather jacket thrown over one shoulder, and her Weird Sisters shirt that was torn in places. A slim eyebrow rose as mother looked at daughter pointedly.

"I look awesome," Tonks sniffed.

-0-

Andromeda snorted richly when she walked into the kitchen. "Now that is a bit dramatic. Dora's doing, I am sure."

Harry grinned; his eyes covered by a blindfold. "She might've suggested it, yeah. I didn't try cooking with it on though."

"Thank goodness for that," Andromeda said, sarcasm dripping from her words. She smiled as he clumsily pushed a plate to her and she dug into the eggs and hash browns and sausage. "Sammi is coming over and will be accompanying us."

"That won't be awkward at all," Harry muttered, "having my girlfriend's mother along to buy clothes."

Andromeda poked him with the handle of her fork. "She cares a lot about you of course."

"I know. It's just a little embarrassing kind of. I never went shopping for clothes with anyone before, at least not for school robes."

Andromeda lifted the blindfold and looked at him eye-to-eye. "I understand but it is high time that you received some proper affection and care in all sorts of ways. Samantha and I truly wanted to come with you and help you in this because we love you and because you deserve it."

He blushed but not from embarrassment. "Oh, well, thank you. I love you two too."

Andromeda hugged him and kissed his temple. "It is okay to enjoy some motherly doting."

He hugged her back and though no words were spoken, his gesture said a lot. He laughed when she tugged the blindfold back down and a moment later, the door to the kitchen swung open.

Samantha laughed. "Are we leading the blind here or is he facing a firing squad?"

Andromeda chuckled and pushed a plate to her. "A sartorial squad at the least."

"Thank you for coming," Harry smiled sightlessly.

"Wouldn't miss it! It'll be fun and we'll get you looking really good and feeling great for the year. Not to mention we have to make Katie jealous and happy."

"Shouldn't you be on her side on this?" Harry asked, laughing.

"It's a parent's right to support and irritate their children in equal measure," Samantha said airily, gesturing with her fork as she dug into her breakfast. "Lyla wanted to come but I told her no this time. She might try to drag you somewhere during a Hogsmeade trip though, just to warn you."

"I appreciate it," Harry said. "I like having Lyla around of course, but I'd like to mitigate some expectations here."

"Well said," Andromeda laughed. "We will not lead you astray. I know my tastes favor the traditional but Samantha will balance that out nicely."

"Our ultimate goal is to get you some new nice clothes and get you feeling good just as much as looking good," Samantha said warmly.

"Oh good," Harry said with relief.

"And have a bit of fun on the way," Samantha said slyly.

"Oh, good," Harry said with resignation.

-0-

"Oh hello there," Malkin said with a professional smile. "Weren't you just here last week? Surely you haven't outgrown everything already."

"That was for school. We have somehow allowed his personal wear to suffer so we are here to fix that," Andromeda.

Malkin's laugh was bright and her smile easy. "Ah, hence the blindfold."

"He's committing to a joke," Samantha chuckled.

"Just as well," Malkin said. "Casual wear then?"

"Yes and we would like to see a few formal robes as well please," Andromeda said. "I know you have your suit but there will be formal occasions where you should wear dress robes."

"I still have my ones for the Ball a few years ago," Harry said, taking off the blindfold and slipping it into a pocket.

"And we can have those adjusted to fit you better, but a bit of variety will be good." Andromeda nodded with approval at the dress robes Malkin brought over.

"I'll start grabbing some of the other stuff," Samantha offered.

Harry was feeling overall cared for and happy. Sure it was mortifying to be inspected critically by the clothier, his god-aunt/mother figure, and his girlfriend's mother and his healer. It was clear that they cared however. They asked him for his own opinions, though apparently 'it feels good' was lacking in information and 'that looks fine' was equally unacceptable.

He felt like he was being mothered over to a degree and found that he liked it.

"Does shopping for clothes normally take this long?" he asked after a few hours had passed. "Is this why Uncle Ted and Sirius didn't want to come?"

"In this case, we are literally rebuilding your wardrobe so it will take longer," Andromeda said. "Otherwise, it can. Sometimes we know exactly what we are looking for so it will go swifter. Other times, the process of the shopping is more important than acquiring the product of the shopping."

"Like when you go shopping for a snack instead of going to pick up sugar quills," Samantha said.

"That makes sense," Harry said. He looked at himself in the mirror. "I really do look different, don't I?"

Andromeda and Samantha smiled approvingly. Harry wore plain grey pants and a dark button-up shirt, standing in neat new black shoes. "You look very handsome," Andromeda praised.

"Thank you," he said with pink cheeks. He straightened ever so slightly, watching his image closely. "I feel…good."

"Then we've done what we've wanted." Samantha sighed happily. They shrunk the packages and left the store, stopping at Fortescue's for a treat.

"We have gotten all your formal and Wizarding clothing here as well as some casual," Andromeda said, looking at a list. "I will fully admit that the Wizarding stores here do not do as good of a job with other casual wear such as jeans and the like."

"We usually go to non-magical places for those," Samantha said.

"Dora does as well. There are some specialty places that do it for magicals but they charge more for it for not as fine quality." Andromeda brightened. "Oh, why did I not think of this sooner. I will be right back." She walked off with a purpose.

"That can't be good for me," Harry sighed.

"Tell me you haven't enjoyed yourself," Samantha grinned.

"Well, not saying I haven't, but still, you know that I've cultivated a pretty good danger sense about things involving me," Harry smiled weakly.

She hugged him tightly. "I know. And I'm not saying you won't be in danger, but you'll have me and Andi."

"She's bringing the danger," he muttered, making her laugh.

Andromeda returned and her smile could be seen from a fair distance. "I got in touch with Jean and she is more than happy to accompany us to a good non-magical clothing store to get the rest of Harry's things."

"Oh wonderful, the more the merrier!" Samantha said brightly.

"I better get some ice cream to take then. Hopefully I can distract Hermione with it," he sighed deeply.

"She is out with her father so you have been spared that at least," Andromeda laughed.

-0-

"My goodness, there are a lot of things for sale," Andromeda gasped softly.

The trio had left Diagon and apparated to the Granger home. Jean had eagerly taken them down the way to one of her favorite department stores. Andromeda's eyes went wide as she looked around at all the things on display. Samantha who had shopped in the Muggle world before found it impressive as well.

"We usually go to much smaller places, but I might have to come back sometime to just wander about," Samantha said.

"I will have to ask Dora where she goes. She would have told me if she went somewhere like this."

"I'm always up for a bit of retail therapy," Jean smiled. "It's even better that we can get you dolled up a bit."

"Dolled up?!" Harry cried indignantly.

"Polished," Andromeda soothed. "Like a broom."

"Am I a doll or a broom?" Harry sighed as the three older women giggled and chuckled.

"Yes. Come on then," Samantha smiled.

Jean's inclusion into the shopping party did not make things more difficult, which Harry was very thankful for. She seemed to share the overall tastes in aesthetics the two witches had and in short order Harry had more exercise clothes, jeans, shoes, and T-shirts and other forms of casual wear. After trying them all on, he took a much-needed break and smiled as he watched Andromeda and Samantha gleefully look around for a few things of their own. They eventually returned to the Granger home after a long day.

"I love shrinking things and unshrinking them," Jean said enthusiastically as Samantha unshrunk her purchases. "It's so handy. I can't wait for Hermione to do that for me."

"Unfortunately you can't do it to everything you buy. Some things don't react as well you see but for others, it's very handy," Samantha said. "Oh let me find one of those expandable bags for you. You can pack so much into them and most people won't notice it so you can use it anywhere."

"Well, looks like we managed to get everything we needed and in one day no less," Andromeda said, crossing off things on her list.

"It could have gone on to more days?" Harry asked, horrified.

"If needs must," Andromeda said sternly. She smiled when Harry pretended to slump over in a faint. "So dramatic. You are Sirius' godson after all."

Harry snorted and looked at the large pile of clothes and bags and boxes on the ground. The two women had wanted to show Jean who had looked over it all happily. "I just…feel a little bad and overwhelmed right now."

"Why bad?" Jean asked, frowning.

"I've never had this many clothes ever before," Harry said softly. "Like…ever."

Jean's frown deepened. "Well, no time like the present," she said with forced lightness. "Honestly, it's not even that much. Let me tell you, Hermione has a robust wardrobe. She just likes wearing the same things at intervals."

He smiled a little. "So it's normal?"

"Yes, and you deserve it," Andromeda said quietly.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Thank you. Sorry, I really don't mean to be unappreciative. It's been wonderful shopping with you all today."

"Shouldn't have said that," Samantha teased. "This just encourages us."

"Well, maybe every once in a while." His smile grew a bit. Then he looked thoughtful. "What do we do with my old clothes? I don't think I have room for everything now."

"I have a suggestion," Andromeda offered. She explained and she liked how Harry seemed to enjoy the idea.

"I think that sounds great," he said with relief.

"Mind if I come along and help?" Jean asked.

"Please do. And David and Hermione can come over later after to join for dinner. Same with Thomas and Lyla," Andromeda said.

-0-

They returned to Grimmauld and with Kreacher's assistance, brought the necessary things to the rooftop garden. Harry blinked as Kreacher moved a very large ornate metal brazier into the center of the garden. "What's that?"

"It is called the Black Cauldron but it is not a cauldron as you see. More like something to contain things to be burned for important things or rituals," Andromeda explained. "It was used for important meetings to burn things symbolically as well as get rid of sensitive evidence."

"Should we be using that for this?" Harry asked.

"There is no reason not to. It has been a glorified pot for holding dust for a long time. Orion and Walburga tried to use it for important things but the Cauldron has a bit of a temper to it. If it does not feel the moment appropriate, it will not light. However, I think we will have no troubles with that this time."

They piled every bit of clothing that Harry ever received from the Dursleys inside of it. Samantha threw in a few herbs and plants to release more pleasant smells.

"May I add something too?" Jean asked.

"Go ahead," Andromeda said. She looked on with interest as Jean opened a bottle and poured a sharp smelling liquid over the clothing and things. "What is that?"

"Lighter fluid," Jean said as she poured the contents out and shook the bottle. "To make sure it lights and burns."

"I like you," Andromeda smiled. "Very well. Harry, if you would."

Harry looked at the Cauldron, looked at his old clothes covered in lighter fluid. He held his wand out and pointed it at the Cauldron. "Incendio."

The Fire-Making Charm caused the clothes to catch fire immediately. The fire roared as it devoured the lighter fluid and the people around the Cauldron had to take a step back at the intensity of the flames. The things Samantha threw in released more pleasant smells into the air and they watched the fire with astonishment mingled with grim pleasure, mixed with regret and difficult thoughts and feelings.

"See? Clearly the Black Cauldron has blessed this ritual," Andromeda said with deep satisfaction.

"Looks like it," Harry agreed. He hugged the women one by one. "Thank you again, for everything."

"You deserve all of this and more," Samantha said softly, echoed by Andromeda and Jean.

They watched the fire burn everything within the Cauldron to ashes and Jean marveled that the stone around the vessel and the metal outsides was cool to the touch despite the contents smoking and smoldering. "What do we do with the ashes?"

"Can we blow them away?" Harry asked. "Just…let them scatter into the wind?"

"Of course," Andromeda said. She and Samantha summoned the wind with their wands and they watched as the dark cloud of ashes dissipated into the afternoon air, carried by the magical wind that became natural as they flew off.

Harry breathed out and looked less burdened, as if a weight he had always carried had been lifted. "I better go start dinner with everyone coming over tonight."

"We will be down shortly to assist," Andromeda smiled. She hugged him warmly and sighed gently when he left after hugging the other two.

"The poor boy," Jean sighed. "I swear, every time I hear more about his past, the angrier I feel."

"Same," Samantha said.

"Agreed." Andromeda looked at the empty Cauldron with a disgruntled expression.

"I didn't damage it with the fluid, did I?" Jean asked, concerned.

"Oh not at all. One of my ancestors poured liquid fire and dragon bile into it before and that did not damage it at all." Andromeda shook her head. "I was hoping to hold onto some of the ashes. I forgot about holding a piece of clothing aside and could not do so without Harry noticing."

"Why would you want to?" Jean asked.

"Damn," Samantha swore softly. "We could have tracked back if we kept something."

"Oh, that's a pity," Jean said, understanding.

"I was so eager to see it all burn, I lost sight of future potential," Andromeda sniffed.

"He wouldn't let us do it anyways, even if we did hold onto something," Samantha said prosaically.

"Guess we need to go for the high road of revenge and live well," Jean said. "And hope we get the chance to meet the bastards face-to-face one day and do the low road of revenge."

"I really like you too," Samantha laughed.

-0-

"So I see you survived the shopping," Sirius grinned later. "And came out looking good."

"It wasn't that bad at all," Harry said.

"It's okay lad, you can tell us the truth," David chuckled. "Jean took you to her favorite store after all."

"It was a little tiring but I had a good time," Harry insisted. His smile turned sly. "In fact, I think it'd be nice to do it again sometime as a group thing. It's always good to have more opinions, isn't that right?"

"Completely right," Andromeda said, her smile as sly as his while the other men's expressions faltered. "Good chance to bond as well as share a group activity."

"I guess that's what we get for throwing you to the wolves today," Ted grunted with a wry smile.

"I didn't do that," Thomas protested.

Sirius drained his cup and shook his head. "Bonding through mutual suffering? That's Black family thinking right there."

"He is your godson after all," Andromeda said to their laughter.

-0-0-0-

Arnie1701 - Their meeting happened in Family.

Ghostwriter - I thought it would be fun to explore the other career meetings. I was pretty happy with how Harry's turned out in Family so thought it was worth exploring in Extended. Glad you liked it.

poka - Thank you so much. I thought it would be silly and fun to see while also being relatable.

guest - Glad you liked it, thank you.

DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - Hope things get better for you.

alix33 - I do like alliteration.

odonnellzoo99 - No but I think it's still good to know what you don't like or don't want to do. I am pretty happy with how Ron grew into his role in Family and wanted to show him in a different yet positive light.

choquain - Thank you. I want each of my stories to feel different and while having the same characters, show them slightly different in each one that's still true to their canon character as well as being believable. I'm not always successful, but think that each story stands on it's own. Though some details will always remain the same, cough cough gremlin Hedwig. That was my goal for this fic too. To see the small moments and not be constrained to keep things streamlined. Glad you enjoy.

ElsieD - Thank you. I try hard on the Quidditch chapters since that was a very large premise of the original story. I want the action to feel good but not just be action and the commentary helps break it up some. Glad you are liking the chapters.