Chapter 2: Harry gets a family
Once Albus got Harry settled in the office, he sent a patronus to Minerva asking her to come to the office as soon as possible. Albus and Harry were playing with some magical blocks that made noises of magical animals in the play area Albus transfigured for the toddler when Minerva entered the office. "Albus what is the meaning…" she started to ask but stopped suddenly when she noticed Harry. "Harry! Grammy missed you much." She said gently as she scooped him up into a big hug. "Gwammy" Harry cheered gleefully as he gave her a sloppy baby kiss. Minerva turned to her husband and asked with sadness swimming in her eyes, "I was right, wasn't I?" Albus just nodded. "Oh Albus I didn't want to be right about those muggles." she sighed. "I know Min." Albus whispered as he gathered her and Harry into a hug, "Luckily I was able to get Harry quickly. He will need to be looked over by Poppy but he should be right as rain in no time. We will raise him here and love him unconditionally. I even think he can win over our resident dungeon bat." Albus chuckled as his eyes twinkled with joy. Minerva gave a watery chuckle, "I can just see Severus wrapped around Harry's little finger in no time. I know he loved the toy potion set Lily gave him so he may be a future potions master."
The two plus Harry walked down to the infirmary to get Harry looked over by Poppy. Harry was amazed at all the moving portraits and kept pointing out the ones he really loved ('' Look Gwammy nd Gampy a bwoom!" he squealed, "Yes a Harry a broom." Minerva said.) Minerva took Harry over to one of the beds while Albus went to get Poppy. He knocked on her door before entering, "Excuse me Poppy, I know you are probably busy since it is flu season but I have someone here who needs your attention." Albus said. Poppy came right out and smiled when she saw her young patient. "Hi Harry '', she said gently as she kneeled down to look him in the eyes, "You young man need a check up. If you are a good boy I will give you a special treat." Harry looked at her and said seriously (well as seriously as an adorable toddler could be), "I be a good boy." The adults laughed at his seriousness and Poppy waved her wand around to get a full scan of Harry. The scan showed that the Dursleys have been starting to starve him, he had a diaper rash from lack of attention to when he needed his diaper changed from Petunia, and there was some dark magic around his scar. "I cannot do anything about his scar but I would think the goblins would be able to help you with their team of curse breakers. I can ask Severus for a nutrient potion modified for someone of Harry's age and some cream for his rash." Poppy explained, "Now I know a little boy who deserves a treat for being so good during his check up." she smiled at Harry. "That me aunt Poppy!" Harry giggled. "Right you are Harry. Here you go." Poppy said as she ruffled his already messy hair and handed him a chocolate frog.
Albus went back to his office to finish up some work while Minerva took Harry to their quarters to nap before going to a staff meeting to introduce Harry to everyone. Minerva put Harry in her and Albus's bed and charmed it so he could not fall out. While Harry was sleeping Minerva called her personal elf, Aria, to help her create room for Harry out of one of their spare rooms. "Aria, I am thinking of creating a room to look like outside with magical animals roaming in the forest." Aria nodded and got to work designing the walls, putting in a new carpet, and designing the ceiling. Minerva transfigured items into furniture appropriate for Harry. A few hours later, Harry's room was finished and it was perfect timing because as soon as they finished Harry woke up from his nap. "Hello my little phoenix ." Minerva smiled at her adopted grandson. "You are going to love the surprise Grammy and Aria have for you." Harry just rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes and snuggled into his grammy.
Minerva brought Harry to his room and said, "Harry this is your bedroom." Harry looked around with eyes wide and whispered, "wow! This Hawwy's?" Minerva laughed and placed the toddler on the floor so he could explore. "Yes Harry, this is all for you." Harry was fascinated by the walls. Aria really did an amazing job. Three of the walls were painted to look like a forest and had both magical and non magical animals roaming the forest. The other wall was painted to look like the grassy area around the Great Lake at the castle and even had a giant squid poke up out of the water. The ceiling was painted like the sky and was enchanted like the one in the Great Hall. The room had a lush, soft cream colored carpet and a cherry wood framed bed, a matching dresser, bookshelf, and toy box. "I promise we will go shopping tomorrow to get toys, books, and clothes. But today we have to go to a staff meeting and then introduce you to the students" Minerva said to Harry, who was too busy exploring his room to really listen.
Albus came to their quarters and followed the sounds of laughter to find his wife and grandson. He stood in the doorway of Harry's room and watched the scene with a smile. Minerva was sitting in a rocking chair with Harry on her lap reading from Tales of the Beedle and the Bard. 'I miss Lily and James but I am grateful they left behind Harry. He will help Minnie.' Albus thought. Minerva finished the story and noticed her husband in the door frame. "Is it time to go to the staff room?" Minerva asked, "I know we have to tell the staff but I am enjoying just spending time with him." "Min, it's time. I promise we will have plenty of time with Harry. I know we are both busy during the school day but we can carve out any free time we have with him." Albus said as they walked out of their quarters and towards the staff room.
When they got to the staff room the little family was the last to arrive. Filius was the first to notice Harry and said, "I see the reason for the meeting is about the newest Hogwarts resident." Albus smiled and explained, "As Filius pointed out, we have a new resident here. Minerva and I are going to adopt Harry into our family. We plan to raise him here at Hogwarts which has never been done before. We ask that you all look out for him while he is here." The staff nodded and promised to help take care of him since they were all family here (even Severus agreed). Harry walked over to Severus and put his hands up and said, "up please". Severus looked into the green eyes that were so like Lily's and his heart melted. He picked up Harry and gently said, "Hi Harry, I'm Severus but you can call me Sev like your mama did." Harry gave the man a glance over then smiled a toothy grin, "Sev! Mama fwiend." The other professors smiled and the headmaster had a twinkle in his eye. While Minerva practically adopted Lily, Albus grew close to Severus and the young man felt like a son to him. Seeing the two boys he adopted into his family get along warmed Albus's heart. "Albus, I told you Harry would quickly have Severus wrapped around his finger," Minerva laughed. Severus blushed at being caught for being a softie. "I am still the dungeon bat of Hogwarts." Severus huffed, "And I am going to make sure this little one doesn't become a mini marauder since Hogwarts doesn't need another child causing mischief." Harry just snuggled further into Severus and said, "No you Sev, not a bat". The staff laughed at the interaction between the two. "Albus, Minnie, what will you two do during the school day? Harry cannot be in class because a student may hit him with a stray spell by accident or he may distract them." Pomona wondered. "We were talking about that earlier and we are thinking that until he is able to go to school we will have Aria watch him during the day. If Albus has a light day he can have Harry in his office but that won't be everyday." Minerva explained. "We should head to the hall before the students come down for dinner. We are lucky it's a weekend so we can let Harry adjust to his new home and new family." Albus said.
Dinner was it's normal noisy affair with students chatting with their friends about school, quidditch, and what they are learning in classes. The students were so busy talking no one noticed little Harry until Dumbeldore stood up at the podium to speak. "Excuse me students, could I have your attention." Dumbledore said, "I want to bring your attention to our newest and youngest resident of Hogwarts, Harry Potter. (students started to whisper "Harry Potter?!") I ask you to not bombard Harry as we don't want him to become scared of all the students. Harry will not be in any classes but he will be around the castle so please be mindful." Harry took this moment to wave and shout out "Hi" to all of the students. The students laughed and most even waved back. "As you can see Harry is excited to be here with all of you." Albus chuckled, "Now let us resume with our dinner before heading to your common rooms."
Once dinner was over, Albus, Minerva, and Harry headed back to their quarters. "Albus should we go to the ministry tomorrow to sort out formally adopting Harry? Or should we go to Gringotts first because I think that is where the Potters left their will." Minerva asked her husband. "I think seeing the goblins first would be the most helpful and then since we will be in the alley we can do some shopping for Harry." Albus mused. "Okay little guy, let's get you in the bath and then we can read a story before bed." Minerva said as she kissed the top of Harry's head. Harry loved the big bathtub, to him it was like swimming in a pool. Minerva and Albus charmed bubbles for Harry to pop that would make animal noises which amused the toddler. Once Harry was clean and was getting bored in the bath, Minerva took him change into pajamas she had shrunk down from Albus's clothes, Albus went to go get Harry a bottle, and finally after reading a story Harry was put down to bed. Albus and Minerva were sitting in bed reading in a comfortable silence when Minerva broke the silence by whispering, "I love him Albus. I know he has come to us because those muggles were horrid but I am so grateful he is here." Albus put his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head, "I know Min. I love him too. I promise he won't be leaving us and we can raise our adorable grandson together."
The next morning
Harry had woken his grandparents bright and early, much to their chagrin. "Little Phoenix, it is too early." Minerva said as she scooped him from his crib, "come in bed with grampy and I. We can try and fall asleep for just a little while longer." Harry just smiled and started to babble until Minerva placed him in the middle of her bed. Once he saw Albus he yelled, "gwampy!" and crawled over to a half awake Albus. Harry put his small hands on Albus's face and tried to open his eyes. Albus just laughed softly and wrapped Harry into a hug, "Who needs an alarm clock when we have you?" Eventually the toddler fell back asleep so two hours later a much more awake Albus and Minerva started getting ready for their outing.
Minerva stepped out of the floo with Harry first and brushed the floo powder off them as Albus followed. Once Albus tapped the bricks with his wand, Harry's eyes got wide as he looked all around the magical alley. The family made their way to Gringotts and the adults pointed out various things for Harry to notice around the alley. When they got to the bank they went right up to Griphook's desk and asked if they could see the Potter wills. Griphook led them to a conference room and looked through some files before saying, "It looks like we do have a copy of the Potter wills here. We will send out their requests to others mentioned but you two are mentioned in here. They do leave guardianship of Harry to you if Sirius and Alice are unavailable. I know of the attack on the Longbottoms so Alice can not take in Harry but Sirius should not be in Azkaban, he was never their secret keeper." Minerva gasped and Albus shook his head, "Are you sure? James and Sirius told us that Sirius was the secret keeper." Minerva thought about it for a moment, "Albus those two loved pulling pranks. What if this was their idea of a big prank on Tom?" Albus sighed, "I guess I will head to the Ministry later today and talk to the minister so we can get Sirius out of Azkaban." Griphook also explained what finances the Potters left to whoever was taking in Harry, the generous donation to the school to get new supplies, and he handed them a letter from Lily. They asked for a goblin healer to look at Harry's scar to remove the dark magic. The healer told them it was something called a Horcrux (Albus gasped and Minerva almost fainted when her husband told her what a Horcrux was) but the curse breaking team was able to destroy it. "Do you think Tom made more Horcruxes?" Albus asked the goblin healer and she said "The team believed he did so they are going to search for them." After the shocking news, Albus and Minerva filled out the paperwork to gain custody of Harry and then the little family of three was off to do some shopping in the alley. After a few hours of shopping for clothes, books, and toys it was time to head back to the castle so Harry could take his nap, and the two adults could come up with a plan to free Sirius.
"Should we ask Alastor to go with you when you go to the minister?" Minerva asked. "I'll floo him and then see if can come with me." Albus said. While Albus was busy with Moody and then the minister, Minerva decided to use this time to grade papers so she could spend more time with Harry once he woke up. As she was grading she thought about if her husband could clear Sirius's name they could ask him to come watch Harry during the day while they worked. She knew Sirius would not try and take Harry away from them. He was more of a fun uncle type than a father which is why Lily and James made sure Alice would have also had a hand in raising Harry.
It was a few hours later when Albus and Sirius flooed into their quarters while Minerva and Harry were on the floor in front of the fireplace playing with a miniature version of the Hogwarts express. "Gwampy, Pad'oot, look, twain." Harry smiled as he waved his hand to show off his new toy. Sirius sat down on the floor and immediately started acting as train conductor for the raven haired toddler. Minerva invited Sirius to dinner so they could all discuss future plans. "Minnie before you start I want to let you know I am not going to take Harry away from you and Albus. I know you have only had him for a day but I can tell you guys will be better parents than I will be. I solemnly swear to teach Harry how to have fun, maybe some harmless pranks (Minerva threw a suspicious look at him), and how to fly a broom." Sirius smiled at his former professor. "Sirius, we know you will love him just as much as we do." Minerva smiled, "But if you are going to help us raise Harry you and Severus need to put your silly school boy grudges aside because Harry loves both of you and I will not have you two setting bad examples for him." She said as she gave him her stern professor face. Sirius sighed but agreed to behave for Harry's sake. Minerva explained to her husband and Sirius of her idea of having Sirius watch Harry during the school day and both men agreed that her idea was a good one. After dinner Sirius went back to his flat and Minerva read Harry to sleep. As Albus watched Minerva read to Harry he thought, 'Why would I ever think leaving him with the Dursleys was a good idea. We are so lucky for this little boy. I cannot wait to watch him grow up.'