I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

Hello everyone, hope all are doing well. I can't believe it's 50 chapters already. I always feel 50 is a big milestone for any story, and it's humbling to be here. This fic has been generally well-received and I'm very grateful. In planning, it seemed like such a niche idea with a very odd premise but I'm terribly happy that people are enjoying it. I love food and cooking and all that and am glad people can be interested with me in a story like this. I am about 6 chapters ahead of this one and I just started fourth year properly. This summer was a big one for me, marking a big change for Harry and the story, so this arc is taking its time. I don't really have a max chapter count in mind and as some of you know, I write from the seat a lot so there can be more meanderings and musings along the way. Hopefully everyone will want to stay on the ride.

Thank you so much for your time and attention. Your comments help me through difficult days. Thank you for reading and commenting, it means the world to me. All my best to you, and have a lovely day!

-0-0-0-

A Taste of Magic

50th Course – Moving Forward

"Hey Kid, here."

Harry caught the small bag that Aberforth tossed him. "What's this?"

"Your pay, what did you think?" Aberforth said. He snorted at Harry's surprise. "Did you think you weren't going to be paid?"

"I honestly didn't think about it at all," Harry said sheepishly. He flushed when Aberforth snorted again and Ariana gave him a look of pity. "I thought it was like an internship or a stage, something like that."

"Even interns and stages get paid," Ariana said. "Well, some do anyways."

"Well I'm not taking advantage of you," Aberforth said. "You work hard and it should be rewarded."

"That and you like me," Harry smiled.

Aberforth pushed Ariana's grinning face away from him. "I said don't mention that," he said gruffly. "Besides, it's coming out of Albus' cut of the profits."

"Oh, now I feel really bad," Harry said, looking at the pouch of coins. "He got me the position here."

Aberforth grunted when Ariana kicked him in the rear. "Don't listen to him," she said kindly. "It's coming out of his cut. I made sure of it. I do the books here."

Harry laughed. "I mean, I don't really need it. I have a lot of money from my parents and now Sirius is going to help."

"Kid, remember what I taught you when you first arrived?" Aberforth asked, wholly serious.

"People are arseholes," Harry said confidently.

"Right, and what else," Aberforth said, grinning when Ariana swatted him irritably.

"I can pull out my list, you gave me a lot of lessons," Harry said.

"Self-worth," Aberforth said. "You deserve to know what you're worth, and you deserve to determine it."

"Oh right," Harry said weakly.

"There will always be people who want to devalue you," Aberforth said. "Who want the most from you while giving you the least. Then there are those that will give you more than your worth as a way to appeal to you, or convince you of something. Finally you have those that see you for who you are and value you for that. And it's important that you are one of those people too."

"I think I get it," Harry said softly.

"So never be shy about what you think you are worth and what you bring," Aberforth said. "But that's not a reason to get your head too big for your hat neither."

"I don't think our Harry has that problem," Ariana said confidently. She tousled his hair. "A hat might help you though."

"I've always wanted to wear a chef's toque," Harry smiled, feeling warm.

"Oh like one of those fancy super tall ones?" Ariana asked.

"No one wears those in a regular place, you'd be laughed out," Aberforth chuckled.

"Yes they do, I've seen them in magazines," Harry protested. "Even in the magical world."

"Oh like ones from France and those international competitions? Yeah true. Not here though or less fancy places."

"I know!" Ariana fished through her pockets and took out a bandanna. "I tie one over my hair when I'm doing finicky potion brewing." She stood behind Harry and tied it around his head, tucking the back over to completely cover his hair. "There, I think that'll work nicely. Keeps the hair out of your eyes and under some control." She tugged the front down a little and held up a mirror for him to look.

"I like it," Harry smiled. He gently touched the part of the bandanna that covered his scar.

Ariana smiled sadly at him, touching the scarf around her neck. Her smile was wholly warm and happy when Harry hugged her without reservation, something she returned in kind.

"That's a good look," Aberforth nodded. "Plus you can carry them around more easily."

"I'll return it later after I wash it," Harry said.

"You can keep that one," she said brightly. "We can match." Her scarf was the same dark red with a dark yellow border.

"I like it," he smiled.

"Me too," she smiled.

-0-

"Hey, you're new."

Harry looked up and blinked at the top red-haired man standing at the counter. It was a busy day in the main eating hall at Gringotts, though every day was a busy day to be honest. Harry had run a series of trays to the front counter before being addressed. The man looked oddly familiar to him though he knew they had never met before.

The man frowned a little. "You're a bit young to be working for Gringotts though, and in the kitchens no less. Who are you?"

"Harry Potter," Harry said, wiping his hand clean on a towel thrust through a loop in his apron and held it out.

The man's eyes widened slightly but he shook Harry's hand readily. "Oh wow, never thought I'd meet you here or like this. Nice to meet you, Harry. I'm Bill. Bill Weasley."

"Oh no wonder you look familiar," Harry said. "You're Ron's older brother, right?"

"Oldest in the family," Bill said. "Oh say, I wanted to thank you."

"What for?" Harry asked, perplexed.

"You kept Ron and Ginny safe last year, from the basilisk," Bill said. "A bloody basilisk in Hogwarts, who would've thought there'd be one of those in the castle. I heard you helped them though." He winced a little. "Even if Ron was a prick to you."

"Oh well, it's fine. The whole Ron and I not getting along at first," Harry said, shrugging. "He misunderstood me about something when we first met and I know my interests are a little weird."

"Doesn't make it right though," Bill said. "Glad it got cleared up some though. When Percy told me about tasting magic, I paid more attention to what I was eating abroad and all that and it made sense. But yeah, I love my sibs and well, I appreciate it."

"You don't care that I'm a Parselmouth, do you?"

"I'm glad you are if that's what saved them," Bill said frankly. "And I've worked with a bunch over the years. I got over my initial suspicion of them. We Brits have a limited world view on a lot of things," he chuckled. "What are you doing here?"

"Working here in the kitchen," Harry grinned, making Bill laugh. "I love to cook and Professor Flitwick got me a position here to learn about goblin cooking and how to work in a more professional setting."

"Huh, hope you know that's a big thing. I've worked with goblins and Gringotts for years now and it's big to be accepted by them like this," Bill said.

"I do, and I'm grateful. They're actually a lot less scary than History of Magic makes them out to be."

Bill snorted. "Really? I think they're more so."

"That's funny, that's what Auntie Ari said," Harry said.

"Potter! You're not here to gossip!" Diglin shouted. "Need you back here!"

"Sorry Chef! Nice to meet you, Bill. Gotta go though," Harry said and dashed off.

"Don't be too hard on him, I distracted him," Bill called into the kitchen.

"You always were a chatterbox, Weasley," Diglin said back, a fond frown on his face. "You only shut up when you eat."

Bill laughed. "Runs in the family." He stood there and watched for a while, seeing Harry chop industriously.

"Some might find you pretty but I don't. Get off the counter," Diglin said as he walked over, giving some trays of food to the dispensing goblin servers and pushing one at Bill.

"How's he doing?" Bill asked, nodding at Harry.

"Doing fine. Hard worker, fine cook. Why do you care?"

"He's a classmate of my little brother. That and I know how hard it is to work with goblins and Gringotts," Bill said without hesitation.

"No need to worry," Diglin said firmly, giving Bill a look. "We take care of our own here."

"That right?" Bill looked and sounded impressed. "That's good then."

"Yep, he's fine." Diglin smiled broadly. "Didn't swell up and turn purple when he ate a crake, unlike some weak wizards I know."

"You fed him crake and he wasn't allergic to it?" Bill laughed. "Also are you ever going to let me live that down?"

"Never," Diglin said. "Now go away."

"Yes Chef," Bill chuckled, taking his food and leaving.

-0-

"Hey, you okay?" Aberforth asked.

Harry looked up. "Yes Mr. Abe, why?"

"Because you don't look it," Aberforth said bluntly. He noticed Harry looked more down when he arrived at the Hog's Head that night. The boy had worked hard, like he always did, but something was clearly bothering him. Sometimes Harry was able to keep what he was thinking buried deep, but other things sat close to the surface, dangling from his sleeves. While he physically looked and acted well, he was clearly bothered, something gnawing away at him.

"Willie, give me and the Kid a moment, will you?" Aberforth asked.

The House Elf looked between them and nodded. "Master Abe be nice now," he said, waggling a severe finger before leaving the kitchen.

"Now Elves are giving me cheek," Aberforth grunted sourly while Harry hid a smile. "Of course, Ari found them so that's probably why. That or you're making me soft."

"Sorry," Harry said weakly.

"I was mostly kidding. Now spill. What's eating you?"

Harry sighed. "It's stupid."

"Lots of things are."

Harry snorted. "Well, there was a cooking contest between the crew at Gringotts today."

Aberforth nodded knowingly. "Ah. Let me guess, you got dogpiled."

"Not terribly, they weren't rude about it," Harry said.

"Well that's good. You didn't win though I take it?" He looked at Harry when he nodded. "You didn't expect to, did you?"

"Maybe? I mean, I know I am still new to cooking professionally and the crew have been cooking a lot and longer than I have mostly," Harry said, growing a little flustered. "I don't think I'm the best…"

"But you're used to cooking the best," Aberforth finished. "And I bet you have and you said they weren't rude? That's a good thing, Kid. Most times, older cooks have no problem speaking down to newcomers. Even going far to trash them without reason."

"They offered suggestions and the like," Harry said softly.

"That's even better. Means they care about your ability."

Harry nodded slowly.

"I know how it feels," Aberforth said. "And I bet you don't get this way for stuff like marks and spellwork, do you?"

"Not really," Harry said, looking up at the older man.

"But it hurts when you lose at something you genuinely like and are good at." Aberforth patted Harry on the shoulder. "Here's another lesson for you Kid. There's always someone better than you." He chuckled at Harry's sour look. "I'm not saying that to demoralize you. It's a simple truth. There will always be someone better than you at something. No matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you work, there's a good chance someone is going to beat you at it. Either through natural talent or their own hard work."

He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. "But what do you when faced with that is up to you. Plenty of people give up, say 'what's the point' and blame their failings and inadequacies on that simple truth."

"Or I can work harder and keep at it," Harry said.

"Exactly. That doesn't mean beat yourself bloody and drive yourself mad over it either. But you can either take that truth and be frustrated by it, or take it as inspiration to keep working hard and improving yourself on your own terms."

"While finding and improving my self-worth," Harry said.

"Now you're getting it," Aberforth said approvingly. "You've been mostly self-taught up till now and that's amazing. Not everyone can do that. Now you're just hitting the walls that other people have already experienced by learning things from others. You can either adapt, bull through, or let the walls keep you back."

Harry took a deep breath and let it out. "Thank you, Mr. Abe." He smiled. "Looks like all the Dumbledores are great teachers."

Aberforth snorted deeply. "Don't think I like it just because I'm willing to do it for you."

"Auntie Ari said you don't have to like it to be good at it."

"That's the truth."

-0-

Diglin hissed angrily. "What in the hells was he thinking?"

Flynt shrugged weakly. "I'm just the messenger, Chef."

"I know, that was a rhetorical question." Diglin rubbed his temples for a moment and checked the large time piece that hung on the wall. "We have officials from the Paris branch coming and they want to eat here. And it's always busy this time of year too."

"And we're down two people as it is," Flynt grumbled.

"Go to the other kitchens and see if we can get one from each to come and be our gofers," Diglin said at last. "They're busy too but maybe they can spare someone to help us clean and run ingredients."

"But what about the line?" Flynt asked. "You can't leave the pass and cook on it."

"I know that. I'm going to have to gamble," Diglin said irritably. "Amy, can you handle say two-thirds of the stove menu?"

"If I have someone doing sauces and sides," Amythyst said thoughtfully. "Luckily the main dishes have the same sides. Give me four burners and I can handle the rest."

"Let's hope this works," Diglin muttered. "Potter! Over here."

Harry dashed over. "Chef?"

"We're down three. You've been here long enough and know how to make the sides for two of the hot mains. You're on line duty alongside Amy." Diglin looked on impassively while the crew muttered and Harry's eyes widened. "You think you can handle it?"

Harry gulped but nodded. "I'll do my best."

"Good. Listen to Amy, she'll call out what she needs, you match." Diglin clapped his hands. "Let's go, time's wasting."

Harry's heart pounded in his chest but he followed Amythyst when she gestured for him to follow. She stood at the large range that they used during service, a large stove that had a flat-top grill with six stovetops. "Right Poittor," Amy said. "You are going to be in charge of these last two ones. You'll be making the sautéed mushrooms, the grilled veg, and the sauce. Make them as we taught you and each one will give you at least two portions. I'll call it, we can put the plates here in the middle for me to put the main on and you to side and sauce before we send it down to the pass and Chef to finish."

She pointed to the space on the side. "Set your mise there. When you are running low, call out for refills. Do not wait until you are out because if you are waiting on something and can't finish, that'll throw us both off which means we throw everything off and Chef guts us and hangs us from the ceiling hooks as a lesson. Understand?"

"Understood," Harry gulped. "Would it be good if I overfill on mise things now?"

"Not a bad idea. I'll get things set up here. Go. Do as much as you can."

Harry ran to the prep station and chopped and sliced and minced at a feverish pace, feeling the weight of what was to come pressing down on him. He had to force himself to slow down a few times so he would not injure himself. He only stopped preparing when a goblin from one of the other kitchens arrived to take over. He put everything in trays and bins and carried what he could over to the range, helping to finish setting things up.

He nervously retied the dark blue bandanna around his head. When he came in his red one, Diglin had approved and had some made for him to match the uniform that Gringotts made for him. He took a few steadying breaths and when the lunch time bell tolled, he jumped a little. The front doors opened and a flood of hungry employees came in and the metal plates in front of Diglin soon glowed, showing orders.

"Here we go," Amythyst said softly, retying her apron strings.

"One beef steak!" Diglin shouted, tapping on the metal sheets. "One baked fish and one mushroom steak!"

The metal sheet that hung in front of the range glowed and the two orders from their station appeared. Amythyst reached out and tapped it and Harry breathed a sigh of relief when the Gobbledegook became English.

"That's one side of mushrooms and one side of grilled vegetables," Amy said as she hurried pulled a piece of steak out and a large prepared mushroom and slapped them down into two pans.

"Right!" Harry placed the prepared portion of sliced vegetables on the grill and squirted oil over them. He threw a large handful of the chopped mushrooms into the pan with a pat of butter and salted them, moving them about.

"Start a thing of sauce," Amy ordered as she began to prepare more pans. "And don't just nod or shake your head, I'm not looking at you all the time."

"Yes Ma'am," Harry said, grinning at her snort. He poured a measure of prepared sauce into the pan to get it reducing, seasoning it as it did. He continued to cook the mushrooms and flipped the vegetables so the other side could be cooked. The kitchen was filled with the usual noise of moving implements, shouting orders, clattering plates and pans, and the dull roar of the eating crowd. Harry felt his heart beating in time with everything and the intense heat from the ranges was more than he ever experienced before. Being on the line was a completely different experience than doing prep cutting for the others and running it over when called for.

"Taste test," Amy said. She took the offered bits and chewed and nodded. "Good, plate up and sauce then take it to the pass."

Harry did as ordered and waited for the smallest nod from Diglin before dashing back. He gasped when he saw the line of orders on their sheet of metal, the orders appearing in the short time he had left the station.

Amythyst laughed at his face and his gasp. "We're in the thick of it, Poittor! Come on, three mushrooms and two grilled and we're going need a lot of sauce."

"Yes Ma'am!" he said and got to it.

The lunchtime passed in a blur. He was only aware of cooking and running, moving without ceasing. A few times he was splattered by leaping oil but could only wipe it off before continuing. A hasty sip of water here and there broke the constant motion and he remembered to call out for more ingredients as the prepared mise trickled to nothing. A hastily delivered mound of shallots saved the timing and he was able to keep the pace going without fully interrupting it.

He blinked a few times, looking at the sheet. For the first time in a long time, it was bare. That meant-

"All orders out!" Diglin said loudly with satisfaction. "Well done everyone."

Harry sighed with relief, feeling drained and exhausted. He leaned against the small prep table, feeling wrung out. Something cold touched his hand and he looked around tiredly.

"Good job, Potter," Amythyst said, a smile on her lips, as she handed him a frosted bottle. "Get that in you before you keel over."

"Any alcohol in it?" Harry asked with a tired smile as he took it.

"It's not one of ours," she smirked. "Since you're not supposed to have it. It's butterbeer, but the good stuff. You deserve it. You did good."

He sipped and felt his cheeks grow warm. "Really?"

"Yep. Wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself. You can back me any day."

"No kidding, Poittor kept up?" Flynt asked, wandering over. He put a plate on the table and people reached for pieces of meat wrapped in pastry to munch on. He slid it over to Harry so he could grab it easily.

"Potter did good," Amythyst repeated as she swigged from a bottle. "Managed to keep up decent and didn't skimp on the seasoning."

"Wish you were still prepping," Hacker sighed. "The pile of stuff I got today was abysmal. Got spoiled on your work."

"That replacement is new from the night kitchen," Flynt grumbled. "He barely knows which end of the knife to hold."

Harry sipped and nibbled and though he was quiet on the outside, he was happy on the inside being there. Being a part of the crew as they bantered around him.

-0-

"I understand why Harry has the blindfold, but why are you wearing one as well?" Andromeda asked dryly.

"Because I want his reaction to be a surprise," Sirius said.

"You're facing the wrong way," Remus snickered.

Harry smiled as he listened to them talk. He was finally moving into Grimmauld place. The home was still not completely done. There were many rooms that required renovation and repair as well as all sorts of things to be accomplished, but his bedroom was done as well as the kitchen and the first floor and the rooftop gardens. A few guest rooms were able to be used with Sirius' and Remus' rooms also finished. Harry had happily wanted to move in when able and had just arrived with his things.

Hedwig sat on his head, acting as seeing-eye owl, and was carefully directing him by leaning to the appropriate side so he would follow suit accompanied by helpful hoots and gentle hair tugs. She rolled her eyes and sniggered when Sirius turned blindly around to face another blank wall.

"Take that off," Andromeda sighed and took the blindfold off of Sirius. "Now, here we are." She opened a door and gently maneuvered Harry into the room and then took off his blindfold. "What do you think?"

Harry gasped when he looked around. The room was enormous, larger than any two rooms at Number 4 combined, certainly larger than the spare room and Dudley's put together. A very large bed sat against the inner wall, made of dark wood and with four posts, a large curtain pulled back neatly. The floor was covered with soft pale grey carpet, the walls were cream colored and warm. Brand new furniture lined the walls, complete with a large desk. It faced a window that pointed away from the London street, showing the inner courtyard of Grimmauld. A tower that had perches and an owl nest bed sat beside the desk and the window. Finally, two doors revealed a walk-in closet and a large bathroom adjoining.

"This…this is all for me?" Harry asked with wonder.

"All for you," Sirius said, blinking swiftly. "This is your room. Do you like it?"

"I really do," Harry said, a large smile on his lips. "Thank you so much, I can't believe it!"

"We can redecorate it however you like," Andromeda said warmly. "But we started with this as a good base."

"It's perfect," Harry said sincerely. "I really appreciate it." He smiled when Hedwig flew to her tower and sat in her bed, hooting with obvious satisfaction.

"We already enchanted the window to allow her to enter and leave at her convenience," Remus said. "And she will be the only owl that can. Any others will arrive at the first floor window first."

"That's wonderful." Harry looked down at his trunk and school bag. They held all his possessions and even so, they were not full. "I don't have enough things to warrant all this space."

"That's easily fixed," Sirius said. He shyly put an arm around Harry's shoulders. "Welcome home, Harry."

Harry hugged him back. "Thank you for giving me a home," he said softly.

-0-

Living in Grimmauld was new and Harry was so surprised how nice it was.

Sirius connected the Floo to Hogwarts and the Hog's Head. Harry would take it to Hogwarts in the morning before going through Flitwick's personal one to get to Gringotts, and then when he left the Hog's Head in the evening, he headed straight home to Grimmauld. He was getting better with Floo travel and soon he was not bothered by it in the least.

He made breakfast for himself, Sirius, Remus, and Hedwig with the Tonks family occasionally. Then at nights he made dinner for whoever was there and it was so nice to sit and eat what he made with the people he was making it for and with. It became commonplace for them to congregate in the kitchen to chat and talk while he cooked, sharing the day's events with each other.

On days off, he helped with cleaning up the town home and listened eagerly to stories told by Sirius and Remus about his parents, with Andromeda sharing stories of her and Sirius' childhood. He got closer to all of them and for the first time, he felt comfortable somewhere else that was not Hogwarts.

And it would only become more so.

-0-

They heard Sirius' scream well before he appeared. It started off faint but grew in strength, rising to full volume as he ran into the kitchen. Harry had been alarmed when he first heard it, thinking something was wrong, only to be allayed by Remus and Andromeda saying that Sirius screaming like that was more or less normal. Or at least not an actual emergency.

"Yes Sirius, what is it?" Andromeda asked blandly, looking up at him from her tea cup.

"What day is it?!" Sirius asked, panting. He caught the newspaper that Dora threw at him. "Where's the date where's the date oh there you are YES!" He threw the paper down onto the tabletop. "Good!"

"Something exciting about today?" Dora asked.

"No, not really. More like I'm glad it wasn't what I thought it was." He smiled broadly at a bemused Harry. "Harry! What are we doing this Sunday?!"

"Uhm, I thought we were finishing the third floor on my next day off," Harry said.

"We finished the third floor I thought," Andromeda frowned.

"No we still have a room. We finally found the key that opened the door. It shouldn't take long to clear however," Remus said. "It's not full of dark artifacts for once. And nothing died in it either."

"How many rooms have you found something that died in it?" Dora asked, nose wrinkled.

"More than one, which is really concerning honestly," Ted said.

Sirius waved his hands. "Harry, are you messing with me right now?"

"I don't think so," Harry said, looking down at himself. He looked over at Hedwig who was perched on her roost and she shook her head at him. "Pretty sure I'm not."

Sirius gaped at him. "Harry, it's your birthday."

"Oh right," Harry said with dawning realization.

"'Oh right'?!" Dora repeated, looking at Harry with horror. "What kind of response is that?!"

"I'm not used to celebrating it," Harry said weakly. He flushed when Sirius and the Tonks stared at him and Remus sighed unhappily.

"And what does that mean?!" Dora asked, voice rising.

"Like it sounds," Remus said, saving Harry from responding. His voice was low and bitter.

"I…what?" Sirius shook his head as if he was punch-drunk and unsure of what he heard. "But…what?"

"The Dursleys never celebrated it," Harry said finally. "And I stopped asking to. They used to schedule a dinner party on it instead and I'd cook for it and clean after."

"What the fuck," Dora spat.

Andromeda looked at Harry with a wide-eyed expression, too shocked to not chide Dora for her language. "That…that is horrific," she said at last.

"Things got better," Harry said, trying to dispel the awkwardness. "My first year of Hogwarts, I got Hedwig and she's the best." He smiled when Hedwig flew to him and she pressed herself against his face, sitting on his shoulder and cooing lovingly. "And last year, Professor Dumbledore took me to Sheen and Remus got me some really nice books too."

Ted coughed in the ensuing silence. "That means we can make this year a really good one, right everyone?"

"Right," Andromeda said firmly.

"What do you want to do?" Sirius asked, shaking his head violently as if to shake thoughts and feelings away. "Do you want to go back to Sheen? I can get reservations. They'll do anything for the right amount of gold. Or travel somewhere? We can go to lots of places!"

Harry flushed, put on the spot. Actually being asked what he wanted was a novel experience, and having so many options was almost as paralyzing as having none. "Could we have a party here?" he asked finally. "I'd really like to have some friends over."

"As many as you want," Sirius said. "Seriously. Invite who you want and they'll all be welcome. We have space a plenty and the garden and the first floor here are all set. You write up a list and we'll make up some formal invitations and it'll be done."

"Anyone?" Harry asked, growing excited.

"Anyone and everyone," Sirius smiled. "And I'd offer to get you whatever you want to eat but I've a feeling you want to make it all."

"You don't have to cook on your birthday if you don't want to," Ted said kindly.

"I want to. I like cooking for people and seeing them happy," Harry said.

"If it makes you happy, then that is what will happen," Andromeda smiled.

"Thanks!" Harry beamed at them. "Let me make a quick list before I leave for Gringotts today and I'll finish the list tonight when we get back." He left the kitchen with Hedwig installed firmly on his head, his smile from ear to ear.

Andromeda waited for his footsteps to fade before she looked at Remus and Sirius. "Never celebrated with him before?! Who were his guardians before?"

"Petunia," Remus said sourly, face twisted. "Lily's sister."

"His own family did that to him?!" Dora gasped.

"I still can't believe he went there," Sirius growled. "She hated her sister! And James!"

"Why?" Ted asked.

"Lily was Muggleborn," Remus said. "Petunia is a Muggle."

"Ah, say no more," Ted said sadly. "I know what that's like."

"As do we, when it comes to family cruelty," Andromeda said sadly, nodding to Sirius. She smiled when Dora hugged her and Ted together.

"Fucking hell," Sirius swore. "This is all my fault. If I kept my head, I would have raised him and he would've been so much better."

"No use in saying that," Remus said gently but firmly. "I thought that a lot myself, when I was gone for all those years and only recently having slunk back. What is important is what we do now."

"Right, you're right." Sirius clapped his cheeks a few times. "And what's important is setting things right and being better. For him and ourselves."

"Let's make sure Harry gets a party that makes up for all those years," Dora said.

"Damn straight," Andromeda said firmly.

-0-0-0-

Doombreed - Might need to add that as disclaimer somewhere, reading on an empty stomach is not recommended. Thank you for reading and my best to you.

Professor Donger - There will be a bit less of it compared to Family, but the feeling will be there and hopefully the relationship will be just as good and satisfying.

l4w - Yup. I sadly completely forgot about her in Family, so made sure to include her here and it might be fun watching Kreacher and her interact more. I've used Hedwig riding in Harry's shirt/jacket in two of my other stories and I always liked the mental image so wanted to use it here. We will be seeing Harry's friends soon.

Hands Off MY Wolfie - Good thing Hedwig likes to fly or else she might overeat and gain weight.

odonnellzoo99 - Yeah, I like the symbolism of the burning painting and the changing Grimmauld for all of them honestly. Harry gets a family, Sirius and Remus get a good one, and the Tonkses get a proper bigger one. She is awesome. I always like her character, as you have seen from my other fics. If you read them. Arrogant of me to assume that, my apologies.

poka - I love a belligerently protective Inky that takes no shit and is happy to dish it out. Her throwing shade at Kreacher and Winky made me laugh as I was writing. I looked up the dish you mentioned and that looks really good. I'm not too versed in Greek food but what little I've had, I liked. I really like spanakopita and the cheese and spinach pastry things. Though when I was younger, I did not tolerate sour/sharp vinegar flavors at all so some of it was hard for me to appreciate. I'm a little better now though I still draw the line on blue and feta cheese. Love cheese but those are strong for me. I don't like lamb as much but that very well could be I haven't had any I liked or tasted good to me.

Arnie1701 - Me too.

Jaysto - It's fun to let Hedwig be the best character in chapters and I always try to write something fun or cheeky for her to do when she's not the focus. Thanks for reading.

alix33 - Hedwig riding in Harry's clothes and her and Inky waving at each other are always fun mental images.

DarkRavie - Thank you.

DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - I love cilantro but can understand soap is not pleasant. I've heard watercress is a close alternative to that. I don't think I'll ever not include the Tonkses in a story like this. I like them too much.

- Thank you.

ZimmMaster - Thank you, glad you found it. That's very high praise for me, wanting to try the food I've mentioned and described, thank you so much. Hope you continue to enjoy.

please don't1 - I wanted this story to be more low stakes with slice of life feelings. Glad you like it. Have a lovely day.