A/N: Please don't be mad. I kinda got sidetracked by school and then work and interning... I actually switched my major and then switched schools too. But I did not forget about this story or Promises. Speaking of which, that will also get an update today. See you all later!

Chapter 4

It had been almost two weeks since Maia and Severus had taken Harry, Tem, and Sirius to Diagon Alley and it was Harry's birthday. Maia had managed to convince Severus that they should take Harry somewhere since he had most likely not been anywhere special for his birthday thanks to his relatives. It had only taken half a dozen discussions and then the casual mention of Harry's relatives in front of Minerva to persuade the potions master to come. And not mentioning that she had spoken to Harry by owl about it and he had asked for Sirius and Tem to come if they could.

So it was on July 31st that Severus apparated straight to Privet Drive while Maia made a side stop to pick up her brother and sister. They were already ready to go so they arrived at Privet Drive about a minute after Severus had gotten Harry out of the house. The look on the older wizard's face was enough to cause the four to begin laughing.

"Severus," Maia began as she brought her own laughter under control, "don't look so surprised. Didn't I tell you that Harry invited some friends?"

"No," he answered simply as he gave Maia a look that would have curdled milk and melted the glass it was in. Maia merely smiled cheekily at him.

"Well, in any case, we should leave before the place gets too full." Maia took Sirius' hand while Tem ran over to Severus and took one of his hands and Harry took the other. An instant later they were all at the safe apparating point beside Gringotts.

Diagon Alley was busier today than it had been ten days previous when the mismatched group had been there for school supplies. No doubt it was due to the approaching start of term and the procrastinating parents and students.

"Hagrid is going to meet us at the Leaky Cauldron a little later so where do you want to go first Harry?" Maia asked the young wizard beside Severus.

"Could we see the owls?" he asked quietly looking towards Eeylops Owl Emporium.

"Sure. Severus?" Maia asked as the mentioned wizard started to move away from the group in the direction of a familiar looking turban.

Severus looked back for a moment as he answered. "I have something to discuss with Quirinus. I will meet up with you in Magical Menagerie." With that he turned away and disappeared into the crowd.

Maia frowned after the wizard before turning back to the three students at hand. "Alright, let's go see the owls, and then we'll pop over to the Menagerie and see all the animals."

The witch led the three students into the owl shop and they were all soon caught up in looking at the different kinds of owls, the Snowy owls in particular. That was where they happen to run into a man that towered above them all but they were all happy to see again.

"Hello Hagrid," Harry and Sirius greeted while Tem just tried to hug the half-giant. Maia gave her colleague a warm smile as she added her own greeting.

Hagrid chuckled as Tem pulled away so that she was by her sister again. "Hello all of you. By the way, happy birthday Harry," Hagrid greeted them all before giving a large smile to the birthday boy. "I didn't expect to see any of you until the Leaky Cauldron later."

"Since we have time, we decided to look at the owls," Maia answered. "What are you doing here Rubeus?"

Hagrid looked around for a moment before answering. "Just looking to see if there's any creatures that need watching after that the Menagerie can't take care of," he explained quickly. "I should actually be off to get what I need for the grounds, flesh eating slug repellant and the like. See you all later." With that he made his way out of the crowded shop while waving good bye.

Maia watched him go with a thought slowly growing in her mind. "Sirius, Harry, and Tem, can you three stay here for a moment? I have to ask Rubeus something." Maia started to turn to leave but stopped. "Sirius, you're in charge," she told the oldest of the trio before continuing out of the shop and following the still visible half giant.

"Rubeus! Rubeus, wait up please," she called to the half giant. Hagrid stopped when he finally heard Maia calling and allowed her to catch up to him. "Were you by any chance looking for a present for Harry?" Maia asked.

"Oh, well, possibly. I thought an owl would be good for him so he can send letters to his friends now and his relatives when he comes to Hogwarts," Hagrid answered. "Do you think it's too much?"

Maia shook her head. "No, I think it's a perfect gift for him. He was very interested in the Snowies when he was looking with Sirius and Tem," she told him with a smile. "In fact, I should get back to them before Severus finds them on their own. Have a good afternoon Rubeus," she told the half giant as she left him to ponder her masked suggestion.

Maia made it back to the shop just as the trio finished looking around and had found their way back to the front. They all went to the Magical Menagerie afterwards. After looking around for nearly twenty minutes, they almost literally ran into a familiar red headed family.

"Sirius," the two twins greeted their fellow third year happily while each clapped him on his shoulders.

"What are you-," asked the twin on the left.

"Doing in Diagon Alley-," continued the twin on the right.

"Again?" they both finished simultaneously.

"Hi Fred and George," Sirius replied. "We're just here for Harry's birthday. We're going to the Leaky Cauldron later with Hagrid."

"Hello Maia," Fred and George's mother greeted the teacher as the three third years moved away from the two groups towards the rats. "Hello Tem and who are you dear?" she asked Harry.

"I'm Harry," he replied quietly.

"Well I'm Molly Weasley, this is Ginny, and here's Ron," she introduced herself, the young girl beside her, and the boy that looked about Harry's age. "Is this going to be your first year at Hogwarts?" At Harry's nod, Molly smiled. "It's Ron's first year too. Fred and George," she gestured to the twins, "are third years with Sirius."

"Harry, Tem, why don't you go look at the animals with Ron and Ginny," Maia told the two students beside her. "Molly and I are going to talk some."

"Alright," Tem answered as she took Harry's hand and followed Ron to the bats area with Ginny following close behind.

Molly stepped closer to Maia as the four stopped a ways away. "What did you want to talk about Maia?" she asked the younger witch.

"Anything, really. I wanted Harry to be able to make some more friends. He's going to need them at school," Maia answered. "Don't you think Harry looks a lot like his father?"

"His father?" Molly asked in a confused voice. "If I had to say he looked like anyone, it would be Gwen but she only had a daughter."

"What about his eyes?"

"It's too dark in here to really see them."

"There a beautiful shade of green that only one witch I know ever had."

Molly looked over at the boy in question as he and the girls laughed at something Ron had said. Finally it dawned on her who Maia had been talking about.

"Harry Potter, as in Lily and James' son Harry?" Molly asked in a quiet whisper.

"One in the same. You see why he'll need friends at Hogwarts?" Maia asked quietly. "He's been staying with his muggle relatives but they agreed to him coming to Hogwarts as long as they had nothing to do with his magic anymore. That's why he's here with me and Severus," Maia finished as the potions master himself walked through the front door.

"Mrs. Weasley," he greeted Molly in his usual gruff manner. "Where are your siblings and Mr. Potter?" he asked Maia.

"Just enjoying some time with the Weasley children. Sirius is good friends with the twins," Maia answered back with a baiting smirk.

Severus didn't take the bait. "May I remind you that we need to be at the Leaky Cauldron in twenty minutes?" He cast a quick look around for any of the children and caught sight of the approaching third years. "Perhaps we should round all of them up?"

"You're right. Did you find Quirinus?" Maia asked as she waved over Fred, George, and Sirius.

"Yes," Severus answered shortly as the other children saw the older students coming back and began heading over.

"Hello Professor," the twins said in unison with matching smirks on their faces.

"Can't wait. Just-"

"One more year and-"

"Then you'll actually-"

"Have us as students."

Both boys continued grinning with a glint in their eyes while Sirius just looked at them like they were crazy. Severus gave them both a hard stare before giving his attention to the four younger students that had just shown up. Tem gave him a big smile as she came to stand by his side while Ron and Ginny both paled as they realized who Severus was. Harry just whispered something to Ron which had the effect of making Ron give Harry a bewildered look.

"Mummy, could Tem and Harry come to the Burrow before term starts?" Ginny asked her mother as she snuck over to her side.

"Yeah Mum, could Sirius come too?" one of the twins asked with a huge grin on his face.

"Could Lee floo over too?" the other twin asked quickly as an idea formed in his mind.

Molly looked at all the children in front of her, Maia, and Severus. "It's alright with me as long as it is alright with Maia and Professor Snape."

"Please Professors?" the twins asked both of the potions teachers with pleading looks on their faces.

"I'm alright with the visit. Severus?" Maia asked her colleague with a smirk growing on her face.

"Fine," he answered quietly. Immediately all the children had big smiles on their faces at the thought of going to the burrow, especially Harry who had never been to a friend's house.

"Alright, well we need to be going," Maia said as she nodded towards the door. "Rubeus' going to wonder where we are soon. I'll floo you about when they can come over Molly."

Severus, Maia, Sirius, Harry, and Tem finally made it out of the shop after the children were clapped on the shoulder by the twins, waved at by Ginny and Ron, and then finally hugged by Molly. They made it to the Leaky Cauldron with barely a minute to spare but they didn't have to worry as Hagrid wasn't there yet; he arrived five minutes later with a covered present behind his back.

"Hello all of you," he greeted them as he sat at the table they were all sharing for the evening. "Sorry I'm late, had to make sure I got everything from the Alley. How was your afternoon?" he asked everyone around the table.

For the next hour and a half, the group talked about the afternoon in Diagon Alley and about the impending school year over the slightly edible pea soup. As the amount of edible soup dwindled, Maia coughed a little and cast Sirius and Tem a meaningful look. Tem's face lit up while Sirius took a small blue package out of his pocket and tapped it twice on the bottom. Tem did the same thing a moment later with a smaller purple package her brother handed her.

"Harry, happy birthday," Tem said as she handed the now normal sized purple box to him.

Harry stared at her, mouth agape for a moment before he carefully undid the bow holding the lid on and pulled out a pair of hand crocheted mittens. The palm side of them were a familiar shade of green that Harry realized was a touch lighter than his eyes while the back of the mittens were a warm shade of blue with a silver shooting star in the middle.

"Aunt Rose helped me with the pattern," Tem said bashfully as Harry touched the stars and they started to slowly move around the backs of mittens. "Maia did the permanent charm on them to move though."

"Thank you," Harry said as he looked away from the mittens and at Tem. "They're wonderful."

"Happy birthday Harry," Sirius told him as he handed his gift down the table.

Harry paused before opening his second gift and pulling out seven carved models of some type of sporting equipment. The largest one was a broom stick with the bristles carved neatly to a dull point. There were also two small bats, one ball that looked similar two a football, two smaller balls like cricket balls, and a final tiny ball with wings.

"It's a mini Quidditch set. Maia said your Dad played so I thought you'd like it," Sirius explained when Harry asked what all the figures were for. "Uncle Walter helped a lot with the little details, like the wings on the snitch."

Harry once again looked at the pieces and gently touched the snitch. "Thank you Sirius," Harry said quietly with a smile.

Hagrid coughed a little from the other side of the table. "Happy birthday Harry," he said a little croakily. He placed the covered cage on the table and gave the eleven year old a large smile.

Harry slowly pulled off the cover to find a snowy owl inside the cage with her head tucked under her wing. Harry whispered a hello to the owl with tears gathering in his eyes. He'd never had presents before and had never dreamed of having three amazing ones all in one day. Tem saw the watery smile and stood and rushed to Harry side, giving him a hug.

"Happy tears?" she asked in a whisper as Harry sniffled and hugged her back. He nodded silently.

The group stayed a while longer at the Leaky Cauldron talking before Severus mentioned how late it was getting. They all bid good bye until the Burrow. Then Maia took her siblings home while Severus took Harry home again, the smile never leaving the sleepy boy's face.

oooOOOooo