(Harry POV)

I couldn't help but stare into the mirror at my reflection as thoughts of everything Sirius had told me yesterday filled my mind. My father had been such a great man, so cool, so awesome, so absolutely fantastic.

It had been so nice to hear about him, to be told stories of adventures long past, mischievous quests long fulfilled, of all the merriment he and his school friends had had. Uncle Sirius had told me about my dads hobbies, his interests, his frustrations and everything in between.

Though it had been nice, later that night, as I'd tried to sleep, it had hurt so much to think about. It hurt to know that my dad, who'd Ben such a good, kind and friendly, loving person, could be murdered so ruthlessly the way he had been. It hurt so much to look at pictures of him, to think of him…

And yet, I was supposed to look like him.

It was odd, struggling to remember what I looked like, but I'd been taking the 'medicine' for so long now, that sometimes, I forgot about the glasses I was supposed to wear, the scar that stung my forehead beneath the potion and even the messy, jet black hair that was supposed to top off what made me look like my dad.

I knew it was necessary though, they said it was to protect me from Voldemort. I shivered at the thought of his name, the very sound of it in my mind causing my skin to crawl. In a flash of blinding green light, he'd murdered my parents and I had even seen and survived the very same curse for reasons unknown but speculated by my family.

I took a deep breath as I heard Aunt Rose call me down for breakfast. I wasn't very hungry today, but I knew that if I didn't eat now, I'd regret it later, because we would be out at Diagon Ally all day today, so calling that I'd be down in a bit, I finished combing my hair and turned to leave the bathroom with a yawn.

Despite the lingering hurt, I promised myself as I descended the stairs, that I would at least try to be happy, at least for today.

Henry was already dressed and in the dining room when I arrived, along with Uncle Zander, Amber, Toby, Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius, who again had two small boxes sat before him. I knew one was for Henry and I, so walking over, I asked. "Did Aunt Rose say we can have them before breakfast?" After the gift I'd gotten last night, I couldn't wait to receive whatever other present my Uncle had in store for me.

"Not until after breakfast, but you will need the gifts before we go." My aunt said from beside the stove and Henry laughed.

"Mum, do you have sonar ears? I barely heard him and you're all the way over there."

"A mum and aunt always hears what she needs to." Was my aunt's reply and this made me laugh. My family could always get me to forget about the hard things and always look at the good things and cherish them for what they were.

[Rose POV]

"Now, it's time to eat, so we can get on with our shopping. Before we know it, it'll be so busy and crowded that shopping will become pointless." I said as I set the table for those awake. The others would be staying home, but those of us with kids going to Hogwarts were going on ahead to do shopping. Having everyone go at once would be far too overwhelming for everyone. Not to mention that I was still nervous to go to Gringotts, no matter how safe Sirius said it would be.

"I know some goblins there." He told me when I gave him a nervous look. "Abarigen and Gorikon won't say a word about you having Harry's key. All they care about is the treasures hidden within the bank, and that those treasures are retrieved legally and fairly. They don't care by whom the money is retrieved. Plus, Lily was on James' fortune in the end and you being her sister will raise less suspicion to them, they don't know or probably even care that you're supposed to be dead."

"You know, I still don't know how you got these things from Dumbledore." I told him, "Isn't he like the most powerful wizard of all time?" With all I'd heard about the old wizard, I had no idea how he'd managed to get these items that Dumbledore must've been protecting for dear life.

"I had a little help." Sirius finally admitted for the first time and Remus raised an eyebrow.

"From who?" No one else was supposed to know that Sirius was alive, so who could be helping him.

"My childhood house elf, Kreacher." Remus whistled suddenly, causing me to jump and the kids to look between us.

"Using a house elf. Good thought, man. House elves have deep, powerful magic that not even Dumbledore knows all about." I looked between them, knowing very little about the creatures, though I'd often heard about them.

"How do we know he won't say anything to anyone?"

"I was very specific with my orders." Sirius told me. "Kreacher is bound to my family and cannot by his own magic disobey, so through my orders, I know he won't betray me. Not to mention that he hates Dumbledore." He snickered.

"I find it very odd, the idea of house elves." I said. "I don't like the idea of how they're treated, but if they by their nature prefer to be servants, shouldn't we let them be? I mean, allowing someone to serve a family and being respectful to them can still go hand in hand." Everyone shrugged as we now ate, dishes and glasses clinking as we did.

"Yeah, but many old wizarding families don't see other creatures as equal, let alone treat them right." Remus said, a bitter sound to his words. Though over the years, we'd helped Remus to better love and accept himself, it didn't mean he wasn't still bothered, upset and hurt by the way the greater wizarding world treated him.

"No creature deserves to be treated as unworthy of basic rights." Zander said and I nodded with a gentle smile at him. Despite his own upbringing, my husband was a gentle soul, who cared and loved not only other people but all creatures, magical or not.

"We should show people who treat others badly what it's like." Henry said, halfway finished with his food and I shook my head.

"That wouldn't do us any good, it would only create upset and anger. The way to get to and help people is to show them how to be kind, not to show them that we can be just as bad as they are." I looked at my eldest son, who nodded after a moment of contemplation.

"I know I don't learn when you and dad get angry and yell. I just get upset."

"Exactly." I smiled, "No one likes being upset, but they like even less when others are upset with and rude to them." As I finished speaking, the boys finished scarfing down their food, then looked at Sirius, who laughed and pushed the two little boxes toward them.

"Alright, you're done, so here you go." He slid a little box to each of them and as they opened the boxes, the looked at their uncle in bewilderment. "Keys?" Harry asked and Sirius nodded.

"Harry, that's to you Gringotts vault that your parents left you and Hen, that's to your vault that your parents opened for you when they adopted you. They put away a trust and have been adding to and growing it." They both looked in awe from the keys to their parents/relatives and as Harry lifted his, he smiled at Sirius, and Henry took up his key and looked at Zander and I.

"Thank you." They said and I beamed with pride. "You're eleven years old now. This is your test of heather or not you're responsible enough to carry around your own vault keys. I trust you both will do wonderfully, but I guess we'll see."

"Does this mean, you're gonna make us learn about budgeting and spending money responsibly?" Henry groaned, imitating his uncle and I when we lectured him and Harry about how they were getting older now and needed to start showing us that. At this, we all laughed.

"Sure, might as well." Zander stood after the boys and telling them to go get their shoes, he began to collect the dishes.

(Henry POV)

I looked at Harry as we raced from the room to get our shoes on and he grinned at me. "Bet I can put mine on faster than you."

"Oh yeah?" I grabbed my shoes and as we raced, I couldn't help but laugh, even though Harry won. "What kind of psychopath does It sock, shoe, sick, shoe?"

"You know I only do that to bother you." He grinned and I rolled my eyes.

"It does bother me."

All finished getting our shoes on, we waited by the door for the others, playing the game ninja as we did, though we both ended up cheating a lot, just so we could hit each other, it was still a ton of fun.

"Ready?" Sirius was the first to meet us at the door, with Remus, Amber, and Toby following after. We nodded, as we pulled out our keys to show them off, as if that proved we were ready.

"Good, now come on." Dad came out as Amber put on her shoes quickly and stood, ready to go. At almost nine, she wouldn't be going to Hogwarts for two years, but she'd cried and whined to dad about getting to go, until she'd gotten her way, so now she was coming along. I honestly thought it was annoying, since she wasn't even going to Hogwarts, but Harry and Toby didn't mind, so I didn't say anything as we left.

I'd only ever been to Diagon Ally a few times in my life, so as we each gathered with Dad, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus to Apperate, I couldn't help but let the excitement of today wash over me, filling the place that earlier had been annoyed at my little sister for being allowed to come. I remembered being her age and wanting to go when Uncle Remus took Toby out school shopping, so I suppose I couldn't be too jealous.

We all appeared in front of the brick wall that separated the muggle world from Diagon Ally and grinning from ear to ear, Harry, Amber and I watched as Dad took out his wand and tapped the correct bricks, watching as the wall opened up.