7/29/15 edits by dianemalfoy. This is the last chapter that has been edited so far.
AN: Watch out for scene changes.
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Perciville Palace July 16th (day they went to the park)
Serpens was sitting at his desk working on the Perciville accounts. He intended to continue managing the family until Harricius was taught how to manage such things. The boy, his great-nephew... that thought still caught the older man, had given him the ledgers for his other accounts to look over while Harricius was staying with his friend. The shear amount of …. well crap that had built up in the near 12 years of inactivity of the Potter accounts was mind boggling. Serpens had no authority to make any changes, so instead he wrote out his ideas and thoughts to go over with Harry once the boy was back home.
While he was sifting through paper work, Lydia was occupying the sitting area working on plans for Harry's private party and the ball/coming out party that would occur a week later. Without the aid of the house elves and other servants, she would be buried alive in invites alone. Harry's dear little Dobby was a massive help. He took it upon himself to personally scan and categorize each invite after one came back cursed. The elf was very dedicated to Harry and that love was quickly expanding to cover the rest of the Perciville family.
The siblings were interrupted by Alfred. "Master Serpens, Lady Lydia, I am sorry to interrupt. There is a gentleman in the receiving room whom claims to have been sent by Lord Harricius." The look on the older man's face said just how likely he thought that was.
"I will go and see about it." Serpens replied standing. He was already forming a list of legal ways to find out how this charlatan had learned of Harricius' inheritance and their location. No one would ever threaten his family again.
The man was around 6' with neatly kept brown hair that contrasted with his worn, ill-fitting clothes. His scars and amber flecks in his eyes gave him away, but Serpens said nothing about his observations. "Serpens Perciville. How may I help you?" he asked in what Samantha described as his blood snob voice.
"I... well you see... Harry, he..." The man sputtered, he was obviously terrified of Serpens. "Harry sent me this letter." He handed said letter to the older man.
"You are Mr. Lupin I presume?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes sir." Mr. Lupin replied looking down.
Serpens hummed "Alfred take Mr. Lupin to the sitting room and offer him some tea while I have this verified." He said turning and leaving the room.
He heard Alfred speak as he headed back to his study. "This way Mr. Lupin." Remus followed the man thinking 'Cub what have you gotten yourself into?'
Serpens floo called the Longbottom Manor. "Ah, Augusta long time no see."
"Serpens? To what do I owe the pleasure?" She replied, Serpens had been good friends with her late husband Alexander.
"I was hoping to speak with my grand-nephew Harricius actually."
"I'm sorry, he and Neville are out for the day with some friends." She replied. "What is the matter?" Augusta was concerned for her longtime friend and the boy she was coming to see as family.
"A man arrived today by the name of Remus J. Lupin. He claims to have been sent by Harricius."
"Remus you say? He was as close to James Potter as you and my Alex when they were boys. If he has been in contact with young Harry, I have little doubt the boy would want to meet someone who knew his parents so well. He was also close to Lily Potter and my daughter-in-law Alice when they all attended Hogwarts."
"That puts my mind much more at ease Augusta. Thank you. I will keep him here as a guest until Harricius returns home. Please have him floo me for conformation as soon as he returns."
"Of course Serpens." She replied. "Try not to worry so much." They chatted for a few more minutes just catching up before they disconnected.
"Well Mr. Lupin," Serpens said as he entered the study. "Harricius was not in, but Madame Longbottom told me you were friends of the late Potters."
"Yes sir. James and I became friends in first year and Lily and I in third." He replied then look hesitant. "Sir, can you tell me why Harry asked me to come here?"
"Harricius it seems is my grand-nephew. His mother Lily Potter never existed, she was in fact Niam Perciville, the daughter of my brother Lord Abacan Perciville."
"Lily was a pureblood? How could this happen?" Remus asked in shock.
"The man who calls himself Voldemort attacked and killed my brother, his wife Boinn, and their son and heir Mikhail. We thought Niam had also perished, her 7 month old body being destroyed in the attack. But we now believe one of the servants took her and escaped. We have found records where she was found in a dead woman's arms in an alley way in the non-magical world and taken to an orphanage where she was quickly adopted by the Evans family."
"That... that's amazing, tragic but amazing." He said in shock. Focusing back on Serpens he asked, "So Harry is heir to Potter and Perciville families then?"
"No. He is now Lord Potter-Perciville, Heir to the House of Black."
"H... HOW?" Remus exclaimed.
"He claimed what is known as the last of line clause for the Potter family, there by emancipating himself which allowed him to take the title Lord Perciville. As there is a valid living Lord Black he could not take that Lordship as well." Serpens explained. This man was like an open book, so honest and easy to read, Serpens almost immediately liked and trusted him enough to tell him so much about his precious family.
Remus sat there in silent shock for several long moments before he finally spoke. "So what now?" he asked.
"You will be staying here as our guest until Harricius returns home on the 24th, he will decide if you may stay longer. You are welcome to go anywhere on the property but will be unable to leave. If you are somehow deceiving Harricius and myself, you will be arrested and we will have all of your knowledge of our families obliviated.
Remus gulped but nodded in acceptance. After Harry confirmed who he was that evening, the household became much warmer to the tired old soul.
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Longbottom Manor current time
When Harry returned home from their trip to the muggle world, he was glad to hear Mr. Lupin had made it to the Palace. Arriving so quickly confirmed his suspicion that the man was magical. He was now excited to be returning home. Not only to real living relatives but also to a man that could help him know his late parents better.
That night was filled with the most pleasant dreams Harry had ever had in his life. It was as if the Mirror of Erised had come true. His parents were there chatting with him, but Serpens, Lydia and all the others he'd met at his short stay at the castle were also with him. They were just together being one big happy family. His dream turned a bit weird when a massive black dog flew in on a motor bike.
Harry woke happy and refreshed. He and Neville had a lazy weekend doing almost nothing save playing a few wizarding games and tending to Neville's greenhouse.
Though during that time, Harry wrote to Ron, Hermione and the twins. He told the twins and Ron about the invite to his parties later in the summer. He also asked them how their trip to see Bill was going and how they liked Egypt. In the letter to Hermione he invited her and her parents to the private party, not wanting to have them be insulted or in danger from the other purebloods at the 'public' one. He also invited her to join them on Monday for a tour of muggle London and maybe a stop at plásmata katafýgio.
Susan had also written to Neville asking if Hannah and her friends, Lisa Turpin and Terry Boot could join them. They were glad to have more people coming and to make more friends without the house pressures hanging over them.
Harry knew he wanted to go see the Tower of London, so he contacted Trilok to get bus passes for all of them. They arrived with breakfast Monday morning, along with tour tickets for the group.
Monday seemed to come quickly for the lazing boys. They had agreed to meet to the Leaky again at 10. Harry and Neville as escorts once more, arrived early. But they weren't the first to arrive. Hermione had beaten them there and grabbed Harry in a hug as soon as he was clear of the floo.
"Need... to … bre...athe" Harry gasped out only slightly exaggerating. She released him with a blush. "So how has your summer been?"
"Great. My parents and I are going to Spain for most of August, but we would love to come to your birthday party. I didn't realize you were getting on better with your aunt and uncle. So what classes are you taking? I'm taking all of them. I simply couldn't choose which not to take. What if there's something in one of the classes I need later and I won't have it?" She rambled. Harry had 2 years of practice, so easily ignored her.
"Easy Hermione. Take a breath." He said with a nervous chuckle. The others had arrived while she was nattering and Daphne didn't look to have the patients to deal with her. "It's polite to make introductions before talking someone's head off." Hermione once again blushed.
Harry then gave a small smile. "This is my good friend Neville Longbottom, Heir to the House of Longbottom. That is Blaise Zabini, Heir to the House of Zabini..." Harry continued introducing everyone who joined them on the last outing. "And this is my friend Hermione Granger.
Then Susan took over introducing, "These are my friends Lisa Turpin, 3rd daughter of Nobleman Turpin and Terry Boot of the House of Boot. And this is Lord Harry Potter-Perciville."
"Harry." Hermione said. "I don't understand what just happened?" She asked.
"Most of us are heirs to noble house. It's like the House of Lords, or more like the ancient nobility of the non-magical world, only they're still a big part of our society and government." Harry explained.
"Wait you're a noble?" She replied a bit dumbfounded.
"Yes I'm a noble. The highest ranking currently at Hogwarts as far as I know. Followed by Blaise then Neville."
"But we're no longer a monarchy, why are the nobles so important?"
"While there is no longer a king, the nobles hold 3/4 of the votes in the Wizengamont and you must have a title to be chief wizard (or witch) or to become minister." Blaise informed her.
"And of course, we are the wealthiest and most politically connected." Lisa add, "Well most nobles are."
"What do you mean most?" Hermione asked.
"Well the Weasley family have a good ranking among the houses but they have are not wealthy and have almost no political clout." Susan explained.
"Now that that's out of the way." Harry said not wanting to get into the Weasley situation any farther. "I thought I could blow your minds with a tour of the Tower of London. Then a trip to the London Library."
Once they were outside, having left their robes and wands again, Harry walked the group to Trafalgar Square. He stopped below a sign with a red circle on it. The others looked around wandering why they had stopped.
"Harry?" Neville asked looking at the other boy. "What are we doing?"
"Waiting on the bus." Harry replied.
"But we don't have our..." Susan trailed off not wanting to say wand in front of so many muggles. "So we can't call the Knight Bus."
"What's the Knight bus?" Harry replied.
"It's a special bus that can be called with a wand to take you wherever you would like to go." Hermione replied saying the word wand softly.
"It's also nauseating." Tracey added rubbing her stomach. "My mum and I had to take it once and it was horrible. I have never felt sicker."
"This bus will be nothing like that." Harry assured them. "Here's your bus passes. I assumed you had one." He said, meaning Hermione while he passed them out to the others. Hermione nodded pulling out her pass. She was being quieter than normal. This more confident Harry was throwing her off a bit.
Harry gave a very simplistic description on how to use the passes. Then added, "Just follow mine and Hermione's lead and you'll be fine."
When the large red bus stopped, Harry grinned widely. It was a pretty day and luck was in his favor that the bus to pull up was one of the double-deckers with no roof on the upper level. "Hermione you go first." He motioned. The girl nodded doing as she was asked. Harry then entered the bus but waited to make sure all the others were able to use the passes correctly.
Once they had all paid, Harry led them upstairs. There were fewer people than below, which was quite crowded on this early Monday morning.
"There's no roof?" Hannah said.
"Nope. It allows you to see more of London that way." Harry replied. He helped them all get seated before the bus took off. Riding atop the bus was a much different experience than riding the train.
Harry, and after a bit Hermione, pointed out several land marks on their half hour ride. The purebloods were all fascinated with the people, cars and the places. With all the distractions, the long ride seemed to pass in a flash.
Once they exited the bus, they looked up at the tower, which to those that didn't know its history was simply a beautiful place. Harry then passed out the tickets and took them over. Trilok had arranged for them to have a private tour guide. The young man was very polite and answered all their questions. Even the ones that sounded a bit strange due to the culture gap.
The young man, Matt, knew his history well. He told them all about the building of the tower in 1078. After going over some more obscure pieces of history, he arrived at the most famous fact about the tower.
"And from 1100 until 1952 the Tower of London was a prison." Matt told them.
"What?" Neville asked in total shock.
Matt chuckled at his response. "That's the only fact most people know about the Tower. Most overlook its other rich history." With that the tour continued.
When they reached they entered the Waterloo Barracks Tracey, Hannah and Hermione all had to cover their mouths to keep from shrieking. The reason for their response was not the priceless crown jewels but the headless woman that just came out of the wall. The other tourists weren't paying the lady any mind.
"Can't they see her?" Susan whispered.
"Muggles can't see ghosts." Hermione replied just as softly.
Hannah had to bite her hand again when she noticed another figure. "Susan look." She said once she was under control again.
The group followed her gesture. There was none other than the Hufflepuff house ghost, the Fat Friar. They moved over toward him. Matt said he would wait while they had a look at the display. He leaned against a wall and pulled out his mobile assuming with so many girls it would take a while.
"Hello Friar." Susan said. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello my dears." He laughed jollily. "What a pleasant surprise. And how nice to see my little badgers here with other students. Wonderful, simply marvelous." He told them delighted. "Why I'm on vacation of course. There's always smashing parties here at the Tower. Where else would you find such a meringue of animals?" He laughed again. "But what are you children doing here? None of you are dead yet. There hasn't been any trouble has there." The man said now worried for his charges.
"No sir, no trouble at all. Harry here gathered us. We're touring London over the summer in preparation for testing out of Muggle Studies." Hannah told the man.
"OH HO! Splendid! There is so much the muggles can teach us. They're so inspired so very inspired. You have a good summer, and study hard." The Friar told them with a final wave wandering off to where ever he needed to be.
"Well that was unexpected." Harry said. "I didn't realize the ghosts could just wander off like that. Makes me wonder about all those non-magicals that claim they can see ghosts. Perhaps they have a bit more magic than others."
"They could be squibs." Daphne said. "Not much research is done into squibs so it's possible they are able to detect ghosts."
"What do you mean test out of Muggle Studies?" Hermione asked. "When were you planning on telling me this?"
"Hermione you are not my mother." Harry replied. "I don't need your permission to do anything." Harry said temper rising. "And another thing, where do you get off dictating mine and Ron's life? You wrote me all of TWO letters last summer and not once did you try and call or anything. I made sure you had my number before I left school." Harry told her. "Well Hermione I have made new friends. This is me trying to keep the old ones as well. But things have changed. I'm taking control and no one will tell me what to do anymore." Harry said.
Theo looked at Harry afraid, but he pulled all his courage out and reached out grabbing Harry's arm. He was tense with fear but held his eyes as Harry turned to him. Theo couldn't stop the small flinch, but Harry saw it and that cooled his temper instantly.
Harry placed his hand on top of Theo's and squeezed it in thanks. He then looked at the others who were a bit shocked at his outburst. His eyes landed on Hermione who was curled into herself with tears in her eyes. Harry let go of Theo and rushed her, hugging her tight. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. Just so many people have been telling me what to do. Manipulating me. And I'm pretty sure betraying me. I just... I just snapped. I love you so much." He told her. She hugged him back just as tight. "You will always be the first person I ever remember giving me a hug."
Hermione sobbed, her heart breaking for her friend. "I'm sorry too. I know you're smart and I just get so frustrated that you don't use it, so I push and push and I guess I've just turned into a nagging monster. Please forgive me?"
Harry pulled back and nodded with a water smile. "There's nothing to forgive. You're right I haven't been trying my best. The entire time I've been in school, I was made to never do better than Dudley and he makes Crabbe and Goyle look like geniuses. And then at Hogwarts I just fell in to old habits. Having to run Dumbledore's gauntlets each year hasn't help me any either. But this year I got good scores. Neville's the one that got through to me. He's the one that said my relatives wouldn't care about my scores." Harry told her smiling at his other friend. "I'll tell you what's been going on, and my suspicions, but not here. That is definitely a conversation for our ears only. And you guys are invited to join us." Harry added.
Neville put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I think after your party would be a good time for that kind of meeting. Let you get settled into your new roles a bit better."
Harry nodded. Tracey and Hannah took up telling Hermione, Lisa and Terry about their plans for the summer. Meanwhile Harry moved over to Theo and Blaise. "Thank you." Harry told the other boy, his face a bit pink. "I needed a bit of a reality check." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
Theo blushed as well. "That's ok. What's a mate for?"
Harry chuckled at his play on words being that to everyone else, mate would be taken as friend where as they knew better.
They did eventually look at the jewels. As they left to finish up the tour, Harry slipped his hand in Theo's and remained holding hands till after they sat down to lunch.
Hermione took over picking out lunch. She asked the help desk for the Tower where the nearest Japanese restaurant was. Getting her response she led the group to a nearby hibachi.
They took a seat around a large black bar. "What is this?" Harry asked never having had Japanese either.
"It's a hibachi." Hermione opened her mouth, no doubt to spit out facts but then thinking, she closed it again. "You know what, just watch. But don't touch the black part it's hot."
Being the only one that knew what was going on, Hermione made the orders for everyone throwing in the bits of Japanese she knew. Soon they were all served soup and a couple sushi and sashimi samplers were placed before them.
"They're so pretty." Lisa commented.
"And they're fantastic." Hermione said taking chopsticks and stuffing one in her mouth.
"What are they?" Blaise asked making a face.
"Try one and then I'll tell you." Hermione replied.
She had to teach them how to use chopsticks. Daphne and surprisingly Neville were the best. Harry looked at the sticks in his hand. "I would starve." He said despairingly making the rest of the table laugh. She finally relented and allowed him a fork when he proved to be incapable of using the sticks.
Hannah and Terry also had to use a fork but the rest were able to struggle through with the chopsticks.
There were lots of umm noises when they finally took their first bites.
Theo however made the worst face swallowing quickly and taking a drink. "You don't like it?" Harry asked.
He blushed looking down.
"You don't have to like everything, or even anything I like." Harry replied. "I don't really care for it either." He confessed.
"Alright Granger, we've tried it. Now what is it?" Blaise asked again.
Hermione smiled around her fourth piece, it was a large bite of fatty tuna and she gave a groan of happiness before swallowing. "Fish. The pink and white ones are all raw tuna and salmon..." She listed off what each kind was to the horror of all the others.
"You gave us raw fish!" Susan nearly shouted.
"It won't hurt you. The fish is very clean, you're fine. See?" she said eating another bite. She put her chopsticks down. "I better stop or I won't be able to eat the main course."
Before they could ask about it, an Asian looking man came over. He brought with him a tray of ingredients. For the next several minutes, the group were all fascinated watching the man cook their food right in front of them.
Once they were all served, the group clapped for their chef. The man smiled and bowed before leaving them to eat.
Susan grumbled some about the raw fish while enjoying her meal. Neville on the other hand didn't care and was working his way through both the hot meal and the left over appetizer. Harry paid for the meal much to Hermione's protest.
It had begun to rain by the time they exited the restaurant, so this time they took a covered double-decker. The ride was a bit longer than earlier and most of them nodded off after such a good meal. Luckily, Harry woke just before their stop. He roused the others and they made their way out into the warm summer air. The shower having passed into a muggy mist.
But soon that didn't matter as they entered the London Library.
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AN: Holly crap this is 7 pages long. So I'm going to cut it there and head to bed for the night.
I have been to the Tower of London but that was years ago, before I started high school.
I have NOT been to the London Library I've done a bit of research and I was thinking it would be the one on St. James Square. According to Google maps that's not terrible far from Charing Cross and it seems to be a pretty big place