Cosme had spent the morning thinking about what he had said last night. It was a bit of a rant so some of the things he had said surprised him in retrospect. It seemed that it had just hit him that he was raising a child. He, Cosme Acajor, was responsible for an entire human being. He was making decisions that would affect the child's entire life. Cosme was sure that he couldn't ask for a better apprentice than Harry, but Harry came with more responsibilities than other apprentices. Cosme had help from his friends, but he was technically the sole legal guardian for Harry. He was selling wands, but his mind was focused on his new status as Harry's guardian. He had been Harry's guardian for over a week at this point, but he hadn't thought about all that it entailed.

When Aleta had stormed in through the floo with a schedule and a time slot labeled 'Family Time' she turned his world on its head. Harry was rather young and it wouldn't be too surprising if he ended up seeing Cosme as a father figure. Panicking, Cosme thought that maybe he should have let Garrick initiate the apprentice-master bond first. Garrick and Aleta were the ones who wanted to have children, not Cosme. Cosme had been hoping to find a nice decent adult wizard to pass his shop to since it looked less and less likely that he would have children of his own.

Dazed Cosme opened a bag, deposited a wand, and handed it to a customer. Switching the sign from Open to Closed, Cosme shook himself from his shock. There were many responsibilities that Cosme was willing to avoid, but being a proper guardian for Harry was not one of them. He had to set himself straight and focus not on the fact that he was his guardian, but what he was going to do now.

It was time for lunch and meal times with Harry were quickly becoming the highlight of his day. Cosme walked to the dining area and saw that Jimmy and Harry were already sitting and talking, but not eating.

Jimmy was the first to see him, "Perfect! Now we can eat!"

Food appeared for the three of them, but Cosme was confused, "There was no need to wait. I do not mind."

Harry looked a bit shy after hearing his words, "I wanted to wait so we could eat together."

The 'as a family' was unspoken but heard by all three. To avoid the heavy topic, all three of them looked at their food. It was once again salmon en papillote.

Cosme smiled, "Merci, that was kind of you. How were your lessons with Aleta and Jimmy?"

Harry was stabbing some vegetables with his fork, "I enjoyed them. I didn't try that hard in school, so I think that I have to catch up in Maths and English. But Jimmy taught me about the founders of Hogwarts and they were spectacular! Jimmy said that American wizards were better at history than British wizards. How are French wizards at history?"

Chewing carefully, Cosme thought about the answer, "Comparable to the Americans, I do not think that one is better than the other. The British wizards are a disaster and it is not difficult to be better than them…at least when it comes to knowing history."

Harry looked thoughtful at that but took another bite of food instead of saying something. He thought that Cosme and Jimmy didn't seem rather fond of British wizards.

Jimmy thought that he might know what Harry was thinking so he cut in with, "Yeah, they're awful at history, but I will say one thing, they do have some pretty spectacular wizards. I mean you have the founders of Hogwarts, Merlin, and I know of a genius wand-maker who is British."

Jimmy nudged Harry playfully to make it clear that the genius wand-maker was Harry who just giggled at Jimmy's playfulness.

Cosme didn't want Harry to think that British wizards were bad and he approved of Jimmy's intervention. However, he also was proud of his ancestry and felt the need to point out the notable French wizards as well.

"Ah yes, Merlin and our dear Harry are among some of the notable British wizards, but the French have Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel, Pierre Bonaccord, and Bertrand de Pensées-Profondes!"

Cosme's words were met with confused looks from both Harry and Jimmy. Jimmy turned to Harry and reassured him, "I have only heard of the Flamels, I have no clue who the other two are. The Flamels are famous alchemists who made the Philosopher's Stone, which is an artifact that grants them immortality."

This inspired the look of awe that Cosme wanted from Harry. Cosme sighed, "I suppose that the other two are not particularly impressive, I am sure that I can think of some just give me some time."

The other two smiled at him and didn't contradict him. Cosme waved them away playfully but was truly troubled that he couldn't think of any other notable French wizard. Well, that was entirely accurate, he could think of notable wizards, but none of them were wizards that he would be proud to claim.

Cosme wasn't the only one who was thinking hard. Jimmy wanted to ask a question that had been bugging him. He wasn't sure if it was okay to bring it up with Harry in the room, but he hadn't been able to find another good time to ask Cosme and he didn't want to ask Garrick.

After a few minutes of weighing the pros and cons, Jimmy asked the question, "Cosme, I have a question. If the master-apprentice bond means that you can act in loco parentis then does that go both ways? Is he your child as much as you are his guardian?"

Harry's head tilted in confusion, "What do you mean I am his child?"

Jimmy froze and Cosme mentally cursed him, "Ah…if the master-apprentice bond is initiated when the apprentice is a child and there are no appropriate guardians, the bond acts as uh, a form of adoption."

Harry froze.

Cosme rushed to follow it up with, "I am not a replacement for your parents, but it means that I am responsible for clothing, feeding, and housing you." Cosme was trying to think of what else to say that would shake Harry from his stunned expression so he added, "In the eyes of the Ministry, you are part of my family so I suppose that also means that you are French. Well, there is my other notable French wizard."

Jimmy sat quietly watching, feeling like he probably shouldn't have said anything. However, Harry surprised both of them when he just slowly nodded and said, "I guess I really should learn French. How can I be from a French family without speaking the language?"

The question was rhetorical so they just resumed eating. Jimmy didn't want to say anything on the chance that he stuck his foot in his mouth again. While Cosme was carefully watching Harry for any signs that he was displeased or uncomfortable with finding out Cosme adopted him without asking. Meanwhile, Harry was the calmest of the three. He was still trying to figure out how he felt about this news. There were many conflicted feelings, but none of them truly bothered him. He had lived with Cosme for over a week and it was easily the best week of his life.

The meal passed in silence and once it was over, Jimmy ran out only tossing a quick 'Bye!' over his shoulder. Harry pulled out his schedule from his shorts pocket. It said 'Outdoors/Playtime' for his next time slot.

"Cosme, what am I supposed to do now?"

Peeking over Harry's shoulder, he realizes why Harry is confused. He pulled out his pocket watch and unclipped it. He hands it to Harry and explains, "It is time that is just for you. You are allowed to do almost anything except for whittling. The goal is to have some free time that is not about wand-making. Here, take my pocket watch. I set it to let you know when you are supposed to come inside."

Harry grabbed the pocket watch but looked back at Cosme, "But what am I supposed to do?"

Cosme let out a sigh, "It is free time so I am not going to tell you what you should do. How about this you go upstairs and gather all of your animals and then you all go to the arboretum. If you still need to do something, you can gather sticks for wand-making. That should not be breaking the no-wand-making rule. I will be in the shop if you need me."

Bereft of guidance, Harry stood there for a few minutes before doing what Cosme told him to do. He went upstairs to gather all of his animals. Entering his room, Harry saw that Duchess was sitting on his bed and Silas and Jewel were chilling in their water basin. Harry grabbed Duchess and walked over to the tank with the two snakes.

"I am going outside. Do you two want to come with me?"

The two snakes looked at each other and then the one on the right nodded. They slithered out of their tanks and followed Harry as he walked down the steps and out into the arboretum. When he was at the Dursleys, all he wanted was the freedom to just go outside and play, but now that he was encouraged to he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.

Harry put Duchess down and turned to the snakes, "Do you two know any games that we can play?"

"Hmm no, I don't think snakes play games. Perhaps we should explore the arboretum and you can tell us what a game is." Jewel's suggestions sounded good to Harry so he walked to the edge of the path and stepped into the trees. He looked back to make sure that the other three were following him and once he was reassured he kept going. The arboretum was so large that it felt like a forest and once he stepped further in he couldn't even see the glass ceiling.

Harry was trying to figure out how to explain how to explain what a game is to a snake, "a game is something that someone can do for fun. The only game that I know is Tag. Someone is 'it' and whoever they are they have to chase the others and whoever gets tagged is now 'it'."

Harry had never explained tag to anyone so he wasn't sure if he was making sense, but the two snakes who were slithering behind him seemed to be following on.

"I sssee and how doesss the game end?"

"Whenever we all get tired or we have to go back inside, I guess." Harry paused in his explanation to pick up a surprisingly thick stick. He looked it over and decided to keep it.

Duchess had wandered ahead of the group and Harry watched as she pounced on a leaf and started to bat it around.

"Tag sounds like a game that snakes would play. Hatchlings need to practice hunting and chasing one's prey. I approve."

There was the sound of rushing water in the distance and without speaking the group shifted their route to go towards it. Harry wondered if it was a fountain. Duchess took a few steps but then plopped down.

"What's wrong Duchess? Tired already?" Duchess let out a tired little meow so Harry picked her up and tucked her close to his body.

"The ball of fur isss a poor choice for the game of tag, it tiresss too easssily."

Duchess meowed in protest and Harry laughed. Yeah, he didn't think that their group of four was going to play any games of tag.

The sound of rushing water was closer than ever and they soon reached a clearing. Harry was wrong, it was not a fountain, but a small lazy river.

"Blimey! Cosme has an entire river in his arboretum! That's insane!"

While Harry was in shock, the two snakes slithered their way to the river and after testing the water they both slithered in.

"Yesss, this is pleasssing." And, despite the two snakes' protests that they don't play, they started splashing water at each other.

Walking to the water's edge, Harry toed off his shoes and pulled off his socks. Sitting down, he put Duchess down and put his feet in the water. Harry couldn't resist temptation and splashed the closest snake.

The snake that he splashed turned to him, "That's not fair! You're bigger than us." Both of the snakes turned to Harry and splashed him. Laughing, they spent far too long splashing water at each other. They only stopped when Cosme's pocket watched chimed. Getting up, Harry carried his socks and shoes and the four of them started walking back.

Harry reached the outdoor sitting area and was starting to wonder how he was going to get back to his room without dripping water when Milly popped in.

"Young master looks like he had fun," Milly snapped her fingers and a plate full of cut-up fruit was on the table and all four of them were perfectly dry.

Awed, Harry looked at the fruit and himself. "Wow! That was brilliant, Milly."

She bowed and then left to do whatever she did when Harry wasn't around. He sat down, put on his shoes, and then started munching on the fruit. Harry was a bit tired from all the walking, but he was officially allowed to whittle. He would rather whittle than sleep so he dragged himself up to his room.

Harry walked over to drop Duchess back on the bed. Instead of putting her down and leaving, Harry sat down. Maybe he should lie down for a few minutes. He leaned back put his head on the pillow and kicked off his shoes. And before he knew it, Harry was sleeping. Duchess walked up to Harry's neck and tucked herself under his chin. Within minutes, both were sleeping and only the sound of her purring could be heard in the room.

Cosme flipped the sign to 'Closed' and began summing up the sales for the day. Wondering about the time, Cosme reached for his vest pocket and then remembered that he had given his pocket watch to Harry. The pocket watch was passed down through the Acajor family for centuries and Cosme had taken to wearing it every day for the past few decades. He instead pulled out his wand and cast Tempus. Looking at the time, Cosme knew that it was time for Harry to be whittling.

Curious, Cosme went up the stairs and decided to peek at what Harry was creating. He walked up the stairs and opened the door to his room. When confronted with the sight of Harry sleeping with Duchess tucked near him, he immediately froze. Cosme tiptoed back out of the room and shut the door as gently as possible.

Cosme leaned against the closed door and whispered to himself, "I guess playing outside went rather well."

Cosme walked back down the stairs and decided to spend some time in the sitting room planning for the week. He should also probably set aside some things to welcome Harry into the Acajor family.

Walking towards his desk, he pulled out a parchment and began drafting a to-do list for the week. Cosme muttered to himself, "Hmm Harry Potter-Acajor? Harry Acajor-Potter? Should probably figure out his middle name."

This then leads to another important thing, Harry should also get the opportunity to know the Potters. Cosme mentally added a visit to the bank to his to-do list. It seems that an inheritance check is likely needed since Cosme knew nothing about the Potters.

Cosme also thought that maybe later this week he would take Harry's creations to a Master of Transfiguration to see if they knew anything about them. Cosme tapped the feather quill against the desk thinking of what else he should take care of.

The rest of the day went exactly as expected. Harry woke up from his nap strangely embarrassed and the two of them ate dinner.

During dinner, Cosme told Harry the plan for the week, "The lessons for this week will continue as they have today. Aleta and Jimmy will be coming every day and the only thing that will change is likely the after-lunch schedule. I am thinking that we should go to the bank after I close up tomorrow."

Harry tilted his head in confusion, "Why do we both need to go to the bank?"

"Gringotts Wizarding Bank has many services other than being a bank. There are a few services that they advertise plainly like exchanging money, but they also have several services that they do upon request. The reason that I want both of us to go is that I want us to do an inheritance test. I am hoping that you will be granted access to the entirety of the Potter Family vault and we can obtain the family grimoire."

Harry thought that it sounded familiar. "Jimmy offered to take me to Gringotts if you didn't end up doing it yourself. What's a family grimoire?"

Cosme finished off his food and leaned back in his chair thinking about the right way to answer, "It is a book that is supposed to be the accumulated wisdom of the family line. Old families started creating family grimoires to hide and keep track of family magick and secrets. Though in recent generations, it was also popular to use them for keeping track of significant events."

"And you think that my family has one of those?"

"Oui, in fact, I am fully certain that your family has one. I plan to ensure that you will also have access to the Acajor Family one as well." Cosme had a smirk on his face that made Harry a bit wary. He didn't think it was bad, but Cosme was definitely up to something.

"And we're going to the bank tomorrow?"

Cosme nodded and had a full grin, "Oui, it will be exciting."