5

Chapter 17: Work and Holidays

The next month went by fast with Harry and Rigel mastering the charms textbook for first year and moving on to the Transfiguration textbook.

They mastered dancing, talking, walking, and had started the study on their animagus forms. Harry was a phoenix and Rigel was a wolf. Daphne and Astoria had started working with them, but Gabby wanted them to wait until they got their wands to learn any magic, so they read the textbooks.

Ginny and Ron had been over a couple of times, but mostly Harry, Rigel, Daphne, Astoria, Gabby, and Sirius were on their own.

Everything was relatively into a relatively given routine until one day when Harry, Rigel, Daphne, and Astoria came down to find Sirius with a huge grin on his face.

"Oh, no," Harry muttered to Rigel. "What do you think?"

"I don't know, but it can't be good," Rigel replied.

Daphne and Astoria nodded and followed them to the dining room table for breakfast.

"Excuse me, Sirius, why are you grinning?" Harry asked.

"Oh, that would be because, in less than a week, is Halloween and we are having a masquerade ball."

Harry and Rigel's eyes were fearful and Daphne and Astoria looked excited.

"We will be hosting it and a lot of people are coming. We just wanted to warn you guys because as children of the house you will have to have dates."

"What?!" Harry and Rigel asked.

"Yep, that means, get asking boys and girls, be careful who you choose," Sirius replied.

Daphne and Astoria nodded and breakfast continued as usual.

Gabriella looked amused at the whole situation and Sirius smiled.

Breakfast finished without event and Ginny, Ron, Neville, Luna, and Susan and their parents were coming over later for a Quidditch match to give the boys and girls a break for working so hard the last month.

About an hour before lunch, they arrived and Harry, Rigel, Daphne, and Astoria went to meet them by the fireplace.

The first to come were Ginny and Ron.

Harry decided to use what little courage he had and walked over to her.

"Ginny, would you like to attend the masquerade ball that my father is having with me? It would be an honor to escort you," Harry asked, remembering his manners.

Ginny grinned and replied, "Of course, Lord Potter."

Harry smiled and Ron looked a little angry, but then Astoria came and asked him to attend the ball with her, after that, he mellowed out a lot.

Next, was Neville, Augusta, Luna, and Xeno.

"Luna, would you go to the ball with me?" Rigel asked really fast.

"It sounds like fun, thank you, Rigel," Luna replied in her distant voice.

"Hi, Neville, would you like to go to my dad's ball with me?" Daphne asked sweetly.

Neville blushed bright red and nodded, after getting hit in the back by Augusta.

Susan arrived last with Amelia right behind her and everyone went quiet.

Rigel was staring at his mother in shock. He turned back to look at Sirius and then back at his mum.

"What's going on here?" Amelia asked. "Rigel?"

"Auntie, do you know him?"

"Yes, Rigel, honey, what are you doing here?"

"Kreacher brought me. I had been stuck in Grimmuald Place for five years with only him to take care of me. He brought me here to Sirius because Dad asked him to find me a safe home and knew Siri would take care of me," Rigel replied. "I'm staying with Sirius though, mum. Harry's my brother now and Daphne and Astoria are my sisters. I have a family."

"That's fine, Rigel, I'm just glad you're safe," Amelia replied, but looked a little sad too.

"I'm sorry, mum, but I knew every time you looked at me you saw Dad and I didn't want to do that to you anymore. Sirius and Gabby love me and they say they'll take care of me, plus, you have Susan. She needs you too."

Amelia looked at Susan and back at Rigel. She nodded and said, "Rigel, I've always loved you. I'm sorry I couldn't..."

"It's okay," Rigel replied with a small smile.

Amelia nodded and Harry came over to Rigel.

"He's my brother now and I love him, just like I love Gabby, Siri, Daph, and Astoria."

Amelia smiled and said, "I can see that. You guys make a really great family."

"Thank you, Amelia," Sirius said.

"Susan, let's go, I can't stay today and I know you just wanted to say hi to your friends," Amelia said.

"Nice seeing you guys, I'll see you all at the ball," Susan said as she followed her Aunt through the floo.

"Well, that was interesting," Rigel said to break the silence.

Sirius laughed and said, "Let's go play some Quidditch."

Quidditch wasn't much of an event after that and Sirius's team won, especially after Ginny made all her goals. Rigel was still getting used to flying on a broom, but he was a natural just like Harry. He was more chaser than Harry was and Harry preferred seeker anyways.

After Quidditch, Ginny, Ron, Luna, and Neville had to go home, but after an eventful day like that, everyone was exhausted.

The house elves made a quick dinner and after, the kids went to sleep exhausted as Gabby and Sirius soon followed.

A week later, everything was prepared for the masquerade ball. Harry was wearing the dress robes that Amelia had gotten and Sirius had taken Rigel out to get some.

They were both dressed respectably with masks that they bought as a pair. Harry's blocked one side of his face, the mask was gold, and Rigel's blocked the opposite side of his face and was black. Both of their robes had their crests on them.

They walked downstairs together with Daph and Astoria following.

Sirius and Gabby were standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for them.

"Come along, boys, girls, we have to greet the guest," Sirius said.

They followed Sirius to the front doors of Potter Manor, which were opened fully to allow wide groups of people to enter, and waited for the guests to arrive.

The first group to arrive was the Weasley's. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley led Ron and Ginny up to the doors.

"Hello, Arthur, Molly, Ron, Ginny," Sirius greeted them.

"Sirius, the lovely Gabriella," Arthur greeted.

Gabriella curtsied and said, "A pleasure, Arthur."

They walked through and Ginny walked over to Harry.

"Lord Potter," she greeted with a small curtsy.

"Ginerva," Harry greeted with a small bow. "You look lovely this evening."

Ginny smiled and took his arm.

"Do you want to follow your parents through to the ball room? I have to greet the rest of the guests," Harry asked.

"I'll wait with you, if that's okay?"

"Of course," Harry replied with a smile.

"Good evening, Ronald," Astoria greeted him with a curtsy.

"Hello, Astoria, you look amazing," he replied with a clumsy, but small bow.

"Do you want to wait for the rest of the guests or head in with your parents? I have to stay out here with my family."

"I'll head inside and meet you there, Astoria," he replied and headed in.

"Excuse me, Sirius, who else is coming?" Rigel asked.

"A lot of people, Rigel," Sirius replied.

The next family to come, Harry didn't recognize.

"Amos," Sirius greeted. "Glad you make it."

"A pleasure to be invited, Lord Black. This is my wife. My son, Cedric, is starting his second year this year."

"I'm sure I'll have the pleasure of meeting him at the New Years Ball," Sirius replied.

"Of course, Lord Black, we'd be happy to attend."

Sirius smiled and pointed them to the ball room.

Several more families arrived and Sirius let Harry, Rigel, Daphne, and Astoria join their dates.

A couple more families arrived and then, Sirius and Gabriella joined everyone.

Sirius went over to the small stage and spoke in his magically enhanced voice, "Welcome, everyone, to the first of many balls to be held by my family. I wish you all a happy Halloween and enjoy the music. For now, I would like to ask my sons and daughters to join their dates with me and my soon-to-be wife, Gabriella, to lead into the first dance of the night."

Everyone clapped as Harry, Ginny, Rigel, Luna, Daphne, Neville, Astoria, and Ron went out to the dance floor.

A slow, melodic song began to play and the family began to dance.

Harry and Ginny were dancing like two people that were in love, but as they were only nine and ten, they looked like the best of friends. Their bond was growing stronger, at least from what they could tell, and they could almost talk to each other through their minds. The feelings were getting stronger and they could feel each others feelings from a further distance.

Rigel and Luna were dancing like Sirius had taught them and Neville and Astoria were dancing carefully as Neville wasn't very good. Daphne and Ron were dancing the same way because Ron kept stepping on her toes.

The dance ended and everyone else began to dance. The feast wasn't due to start for another hour, so Harry and Ginny followed Rigel and Luna over to the drink table.

"A lot of people, isn't it?" Harry asked Rigel, who was looking very nervous.

"Yeah, but it's getting easier. Do you think it'll get better, the fear?"

"Yeah, bro, it's just being alone for so long. You have us," Harry replied.

"Yeah, you guys are the best," Rigel said.

"Are we going to dance some more, Rigel?" Luna asked.

"If you want to, then, yes, Luna," Rigel replied politely.

Luna nodded and Rigel led her out on to the dance floor.

"So," Ginny said.

"Yeah, Gin, do you think...we'll be able to keep in contact next year? I don't think the bond will let us stay away that long."

"I don't know, Harry," she replied.

Harry nodded and asked, "Would you like to dance again?"

Ginny nodded and they danced.

About an hour later, the food was set in the dining room and Sirius was leading the crowd.

"Our house elves worked very hard tonight, we hope you enjoy," Sirius said as he sat down at the head of the table. Gabby sat to his left and the kids sat down near them with every one else sitting where they wished to sit.

Dinner was quite talkative and the conversation never seemed to end. Amos was very proud of his son and loved to brag. Minny had made it for dinner, but had to leave soon after. Remus had just barely made it and didn't have a date for the night. Andromeda and Ted Tonks were there and were very happy. It turned out Tonks was accepted to Auror Academy. They were very surprised that she made it.

Harry talked to them for a little bit, especially about his metamorph ability. Remus was very surprised to hear that Harry's animagus was a phoenix. It turned out that the only other person in the world with that animagus form was Albus.

Harry didn't like that and changed the subject quickly.

Dinner ended with a pleasant dessert and everyone carried on back to the ball room. The dancing continued until late that night.

Sirius gathered everyone by the front doors as people began to leave. Ginny and Ron were staying as they had permission from their parents, but the rest of the kids went home.

As they said good bye to the last person, which was Andromeda and Ted because they were having a long discussion with Remus, who was also staying, and left.

Sirius closed the doors and sighed.

"That was wonderful, guys, you can head up to bed. We'll start training again next week after we relax, but I expect you both up for our morning run."

"Yes, Sirius," Harry and Rigel replied and followed Daph and Astoria upstairs.

The whole house exhausted, they all went to sleep.

The week of relaxing went by fast for the kids and soon they were back to work. Minny came over on the weekends, pretending not to know what was going on in the house as she was a professor, and helped the boys with their wandless ability. She also helped Daphne and Astoria with their reading by helping them with answering their questions.

After about a month of working with the transfiguration textbook, both boys had mastered the first year. Sirius was proud of them both and was proud of Daphne and Astoria as they could answer any question on the book.

Sirius moved them on to Potions, but he could tell that Daphne and Astoria were going to have a problem with the subject. Gabby helped them with text book, while Sirius was helping Harry and Rigel understand and brew the potions. He also bought them an advanced version.

"Don't worry about being too smart. I know who teaches potions and you guys are going to need all the help you can get," Sirius said.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because the professor went to school with me, Prongs, and Moony. We used to make it our personal fun to play pranks on him, especially when he stuck his nose in our business."

Harry and Rigel nodded and worked as hard as they could to understand the subject.

The day before Thanksgiving, they took a break.

"I know wizards don't celebrate it, but your mum loved this holiday, Harry," Sirius said as they ran around the pitch. They were all up to eight laps in the morning and Sirius was proud of them.

"Okay, the Dursley's used to celebrate it, but I was never able to eat any because they only let Dudley eat to the point where he couldn't move and by then, there wasn't any left," Harry said.

Rigel looked like he wanted to go show the Dursley's where they could shove their food and Sirius said, "Don't worry, Harry, we'll have a good dinner. Gabby's thinking about making it herself."

"What?!" they asked in shock.

"Yes, she knows how to cook. Her ex-husband never let her."

"So have you guys decided on a date?" Harry asked.

"Yes, she wants to do it in the summer that way you guys can be there, it'll be warm, and we won't have to worry about you guys needing sleep as you will both be ready for school by then."

"How much more do we have?" Rigel asked curiously as they finished up their fifth lap.

"Well, you both are finishing Potions quickly, which isn't shocking for Harry as his mum was amazing at it and Rigel, Reg was good too. Next, we'll go for Defence against the Dark Arts and while we are working on that, we are also going to begin Astronomy, which I'm going to start pushing our runs up two hours in the morning. Herbology and History of Magic we'll work through the textbooks, but I want you guys to take notes on History of Magic. Professor Binns is an old ghost that they have teaching the subjects, so during class, just take notes from your textbook and you should be okay or just take them and use the class as a sleeper."

Harry and Rigel laughed and nodded.

"Now, let's do the last two laps and get showered up. I think Gabby expects us all to help her cook."

Harry and Rigel looked at each other scared, but did as they were told.

Thanksgiving, the next day, was eventful as Harry, Rigel, Daphne, Astoria, and Sirius helped Gabby make dinner.

Gabby had them up at eight to start and they were slowly finishing up. She let the kids go get cleaned up while her and Sirius set the table.

The kids came back down and they had a pleasant dinner, just the six of them. Harry had fun talking and joking and everyone went around the table saying what they were thankful for. For Harry's first Thanksgiving, he could definitely say it was the best.

After dinner, the kids cleaned up and let Sirius and Gabby have a night to themselves.

"Well?" Rigel asked.

"Well what?" Harry asked. They had asked Daphne and Astoria to let them clean up the dishes after they finished the table.

"How was your first Thanksgiving?"

"Better than I'd imagined, bro, but how was yours?"

"Amazing, I couldn't have found a better family."

Harry smiled and after they finished the dishes, they went to bed.

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Chapter 18: Christmas Break and Metamorph Training

Harry and Rigel finished up Potions the week after Thanksgiving. Defence Against the Dark Arts was going well, as Harry and Rigel had already learned some of the spells from the spell book, but Astronomy was the time they hated the most.

They met at midnight every other night to work. Astronomy only took two weeks for Harry, Rigel, Daphne, and Astoria as they were all very good at learning the stars and planets.

Defence against the Dark Arts took almost until the week before Christmas. Sirius decided then that they would wait until after the rest of the holidays to work on anything, except for Harry's metamorph ability and occasionally working on their animagus ability.

The Monday before Christmas Eve was when families began coming home from Hogwarts. Ginny and Ron were going with their parents and brothers for Christmas in Romania and Bill was coming from Egypt to meet them there.

Luna was spending Christmas with her dad as were the rest of Harry and Rigel's friends. Minny and Remus were coming to stay with them the night of Christmas. Tonks, Andromeda, and Ted were staying with until the day before New Years.

Sirius met the family at the door.

"Andy, Ted, Tonks," he greeted.

"Hello, Siri," Andy replied as she hugged him.

Ted shook his hand and Tonks hugged him too.

"Hello, Harry, you ready to start working?" Tonks asked as she walked over to him.

"I'm ready whenever you are," Harry replied respectively.

She smiled and led him to the training room.

"Hey, Harry," Rigel called as they walked away. "Can I come?"

Harry nodded and Rigel ran to catch up.

Daphne and Astoria decided to stay with their mum and Sirius until they joined them.

Harry followed Tonks, as she seemed to know where they were going, and she opened the door to the training room.

"Okay, Harry, how much do you know about metamorphagus's?"

"I know that they are very rare and what I've read from the book you guys gave me for my birthday."

"Good, that will help. Have you ever used your ability?" she asked.

"The only time I can think of, and I didn't know that you could do it until I read the book, was when my aunt chopped off all my hair in an attempt to get it to stop being everywhere and when I woke up the next morning, it was all their again."

Tonks nodded and said, "That's a perfect example. Today, we'll start with something easy. We'll go with changing your hair length. Depending on how well you do with that will determine if we'll do more." Harry nodded and waited for Tonks to continue. "Watch me," she said and changed the length of her bubble pink hair. It had been in a pixie cut, but now it was all the way down her back.

"Wow," Harry said. "And I'll be able to do that as easy as you?"

"You should, it depends on how bad the block was on that part of your magic," Tonks said calmly, but Harry and Rigel could hear the anger underlying her tone. She changed her hair back to the pixie cut and said, "Not try to make your hair longer and then shorter."

Harry nodded and willed his hair longer. Almost instantaneously, his hair was down his back.

"Good job, Harry, that block must not have been that strong. Now, shorter."

Harry nodded again and willed his hair back to the way it was before.

"Excellent, Harry," Tonks said when he did it. "Now, try to change the color. Go for an easy one. Start with brown, since your hair is black."

Harry did like he was told and changed his hair to a medium brown.

"Wicked, Harry," Rigel said.

"Now, blonde," Tonks said. Harry did that too and Tonks continued, "Yellow." He followed her through the list from yellow, it went to green, blue, purple, red, pink, until Harry could change every color of the rainbow. "Now, if you want to do streak, you have to plan it carefully because sometimes it can go really wrong."

She added blue streaks to her bubble gum pink hair.

"Awesome," Harry said. He changed his hair back to it's natural black and add emerald green streaks that brought out his eyes.

"Nice one, Harry," Sirius said as he walked in. "Really suits you."

Harry grinned and Gabriella smiled at him.

"Okay, Harry, are you feeling tired or do you want to keep working?" Tonks asked.

"I feel great," he replied.

"I guess that settles it then. We'll start on your eyes."

"Okay," Harry said.

"Let's start with brown, then blue, then hazel."

Harry nodded and changed his eyes brown.

"Good job," Gabby said.

He changed them blue.

"Excellent."

He changed them hazel and everyone cheered.

"Good job, Harry," Rigel said.

He changed them back to his normal green, but left his hair with the green streaks.

"Alright, we'll work on fingernails next, but you're going to need some rest before we work on changing anything else."

Harry nodded and knew she was right because he was starting to feel tired. Not using his own magic, from it being blocked, was making him feel very tired.

"Alright, now changing anything more than your hair, eye color, or something small, can cause a rush of tiredness, which why I want you to be fully rested before you try any of it."

"Yes, Tonks," Harry replied.

"Now, change your fingernails long, then short and then time for bed."

Harry did as she said with ease and she bid him good night. Rigel and Harry went upstairs as the rest of them followed.

The next morning, Sirius woke Harry and Rigel up for their morning run. After that, they took showers and dressed for the day. They met everyone downstairs for breakfast and that was very pleasant and funny as Andy was constantly telling jokes about when Sirius was younger.

Tonks led Harry, Rigel, Daph, and Astoria to the training room again and the others were coming because they wanted to watch.

"Okay, Harry, I told you that today we would work on changing other things, but we need to be careful as some things are harder than others. Harry nodded and Tonks asked, "We'll start with simple body changes first. The face is slightly more difficult so we'll work on that last. Now, try to make your hands larger."

He did and they grew to about the size of Sirius's, which was weird on a ten year old. He changed them back and everyone clapped.

"Okay, now try to do make your arms longer, just don't make them too long."

Harry made his arms grow and changed them back to normal.

"Good job, now take off your shoes and socks and try to make your feet longer."

Harry nodded and did so. His feet grew and then he made them their normal size so he could put his shoes back on.

"Now, we are going to adjust your height, okay?"

"Okay," Harry replied.

"Now, what you are going to do is make your legs grow longer. Make sure you grow your thighs and calves because if they become even slightly uneven you won't be able to stand up."

Harry nodded and did as he was told. When he finished making his legs taller, he was as tall as Sirius.

"Good job, Harry," Sirius cheered.

"Good job, Harry, now, try to make yourself go back to your normal size." Harry nodded and shortened his legs. "Now, what you are going to do next is very difficult, okay? I want you to take it one step at a time. Pick a person you idol. A person that you never stop thinking about."

Harry nodded and knew who he would choose.

"Now, start with your height, feet, arms, estimate on torso, eyes, lips, ears, nose, face, and then hair."

Harry nodded and began. He adjusted his height when he finished, he was as tall as Sirius. He grew his arms and adjust his weight and torso. Next, he made his eyes hazel, his lips adjusted, ears, nose, and then the rest of his face. His scar was gone and he made his hair slightly shorter than his own and took out the green streaks.

"How did I do?" he asked. He turned to look at Sirius and saw him gasp.

"Prongs," he whispered and then shook himself. "Excellent job, Harry," he said, but Harry could see the tears in his eyes. Also, he could see tears forming in Gabby's eyes and Andy's.

Harry changed back slowly and when he was done, he ran over and hugged Sirius.

"I'm sorry, Sirius."

"It's okay, pup, you did really good, but I wasn't expecting that."

Harry nodded and let go. Sirius's tears were gone and was replaced with pride for him.

Tonks walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Good job, Harry, we'll start working on voices tomorrow and after that, we'll start having fun with our work."

"Okay, Tonks," Harry replied and followed Rigel to the dining room for dinner.

Dinner was a quiet event and Harry didn't like it. He knew everyone was thinking about his dad, but he knew his dad best and always wanted to be like him.

He finished his dinner and took a shower before he went to bed. What he had forgotten was that it was Christmas Eve.

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Chapter 19: Christmas, Presents, and More Fun

Harry woke up the next morning to find Rigel, Daphne, and Astoria jumping on his bed.

"Come on, Harry, it's time to open presents," they all screamed.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"It's Christmas, bro, wake up," Rigel said as Harry slowly sat up.

Harry jumped out of bed at the word 'Christmas' and raced the others downstairs to open presents.

Gabby and Sirius saw them coming and stopped them.

"No, no,no, boys, food first, then presents."

"But, Gabby," the boys and Sirius whined.

Gabby sighed and said, "Nu uh, you are all eating first. By the way, Tonks and her parents left earlier, they'll be back later for Christmas dinner. Remus, Minny, and the Weasley's will also be here for dinner."

They all smiled and followed Gabby to the table. Tinker and the other house elves set up a perfect Christmas breakfast with frosty the snowman pancakes with eyes made of eggs and sausage as noses.

"Awesome, thanks, Tinker," all the kids and Sirius said and dove in. Gabby was just watching them with laughter in her eyes. They finished quickly and raced down the hall to the living room.

Gabby followed them and had them all sit down.

"I'll hand out presents and you can each take turns opening them."

They all nodded eagerly and Gabby handed Astoria hers. Each one received a present from each family member. Astoria ripped open the first one and squealed in delight. "Thank you, thank you." She held up her new Nimbus 2000. She read the names on it and said, "Thanks, Harry, Rigel."

"No problem, Astoria, we wanted to get you something we knew you'd like," Harry replied and Rigel smiled.

She grinned and said, "I love it."

Gabby handed Daphne her first one and she opened it.

"Thanks, mum, I like it," Daph said as she pulled out a pretty, but warm sweater.

Gabby handed Harry his first present and Harry ripped it open to find an advanced spell book from Daphne.

"Thanks, Daph, I love it."

She smiled and Gabby handed Rigel his present.

Rigel opened it slower than the others, as this was his first Christmas, and tears welled up in his eyes.

A small necklace rested in the box and he picked it up. It had several small onyx stones and had the Black crest.

"Thank you, Sirius," he said as he put it on.

Sirius smiled and hugged him. Rigel let a few tears fall, but wiped them away.

Gabby handed Sirius his present and he opened it.

Like Rigel, Sirius's eyes welled up with tears when he saw the framed moving pictures.

Harry, Daph, and Rigel hugged him.

"This is the best present ever," he whispered as he hugged them back.

Everything settled down and Gabby opened her present.

She smiled at the small gold necklace with a rose that had pink diamond in the middle. "Thank you, guys."

Harry, Daphne, Rigel, and Astoria smiled at each other at picking a great present.

Gabby handed Sirius his next present and he ripped it open like a child. It was a new Quidditch set with a new quaffle, bludgers, and a snitch."

"Oh, wow, thanks, Gabby, Astoria. I love it."

They grinned and Gabby handed Astoria her present.

Astoria opened it and found new Quidditch gear. She hugged Sirius, Daph, and her mum.

Gabby handed Harry his next present and he opened it quickly. Gabby and Astoria had bought him new Quidditch gear like Astoria's, but since he was seeker, they bought him better gloves.

Daphne opened her next one and found a box of chocolates from Sirius and Rigel.

"Thanks, guys."

Gabby handed Rigel his next present, which just happened to be from Harry and Astoria. They grinned at each other as Rigel opened it and jumped up with glee.

"Thank you, thank you, I love it," Rigel cheered as he held up his own new Quidditch gear.

Daphne opened her last one and smiled. It was a whistle, from Harry and Astoria.

"We know you don't like to fly, but we figured if you weren't completely bombarded by the action, which means playing ref, you would have more fun. It's charmed to hear over rain, snow, and other weather problems and it carries long distances."

"Thanks, I love it," she said as she smiled at Harry and Astoria.

Rigel opened his last present from Daphne to find some chocolate frogs.

"Awesome, I can't wait to start collecting the cards," he cheered.

Harry opened his last present to find a chain. It wasn't as big as a chain to tie up a dog, it was more of chain that he saw the older kids at his school wear. It was silver and in the middle, like a necklace, it had the Potter Crest.

"It was James, the crest. Rigel came up with the chain idea. He saw it in your dads' room and I remembered when James used to where it on his school clothes. It would make the teachers so mad because it usually goes on muggle clothing."

Harry nodded and said, "Thanks, I can't wait to wear it."

"Just not tonight, Harry," Gabby said. "You have to dress in your dress robes tonight."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry replied and put the chain away.

Gabby opened her last present and smiled. She lifted up a necklace with the Black Crest on it and looked at Sirius in awe.

"I love you, Gabby, I already asked you to marry me, but will you also become the lady of my house?"

"Of course, Siri, I love you too," she replied and he put the necklace on her.

"Awwww," the kids went and then, Harry and Rigel screamed, "Snowball fight."

"No way, boys, not until you put on your winter clothes."

They sighed and ran upstairs to put their winter clothes on. They ran back down, faced Gabby's inspection, and ran outside to pick teams.

"Okay, how do you guys want to split up?" Harry asked.

"Girls against boys?" Daph asked.

"Oh, we are so going to beat you," Harry grinned. He and Rigel ran over to a large patch of snow and started building a fort. "Everyone has ten minutes to build a fort and load up on ammunition," Harry called and he and Rigel got to work.

It wasn't hard for them, as they could use their wandless magic to levitate everything they built. After, they started making four piles of ammunition. Once they were stocked up, they waited.

Astoria cried an awesome battle cry and they attacked. Harry and Rigel were soaked through and Astoria was shivering along with Daphne after the war was done.

They walked inside to find it was almost three o'clock.

"Go run upstairs and get showers. Get dressed and be back down so we can greet people."

"Yes, ma'am," they all replied.

They all did as they were told and when they came down, Gabby smiled.

Harry was wearing his black dress robes with the crests of the lordships he had and, thanks to his metamorph ability, he was finally normal height. His black hair was longer tonight and he had pulled it back in small ponytail like Sirius's. He still had the green streaks, but Gabby couldn't talk him out of those. His green eyes were bright as he smiled at his brother and sisters.

Rigel was wearing the same as Harry and had his hair tied back in a low ponytail. Daphne had her hair curled and a jade dress robes on and Astoria had her hair in a high ponytail with royal blue dress robes on.

"You all look really nice," Gabby said. "Would you please take out the streaks, Harry? I love them, but it's not really appropriate for dinner."

Harry sighed and turned his hair black with little effort.

"Thank you, Harry," she said as she led them to the dining room. Everyone was getting seated and Harry sat next to Rigel and Ginny.

"Nice to see you, Harry," Gin said.

"Nice to see you too, Ginevra," Harry replied.

Ginny smiled. He was the only one allowed to called her that.

Rigel said, "Good evening, Ginevra."

"Don't call me that," Ginny said with a glare.

"But he did?" Rigel said as he pointed at Harry.

"Well, uh, he's...," Ginny stuttered.

Rigel laughed and said, "It's okay, Ginny, I understand."

Rigel went back to the conversation he was having with Sirius and Harry sighed.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing, Gin."

"Harry, you and I both know you're lying, so why don't you tell me the truth?"

He had a ghost of a smile on his face, but the distress was still in his eyes and that's when Ginny knew how bad it was.

"Will you tell me after dinner?"

"Yeah," he replied and dinner was served.

The house elves had done great on Christmas dinner and everyone loved it. Soon after, dessert was served and everyone enjoyed the companionship that the families felt toward one another.

After dessert, people began to leave and McGonagall, the Weasley's, Tonks's left, but with a little persuasion, Harry, Rigel, Daphne, and Astoria had convince the parents to let Ginny and Ron stay and Remus stayed after Sirius and Harry all but tackled him to the ground in the snow when he tried to.

The house elves cleaned up and the kids went to sleep after a long night and a lot of food.

.

.

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Chapter 20: Answers, New Years, and Time Skipped

The next morning, Harry woke up early and explained everything to Ginny. She understood and they didn't know what to do. They decided to wait on asking their parents until they knew the distance of how long they could stay apart.

So far, during the holidays and Harry not being able to go to school yet, they had done okay, but when Ginny couldn't come over or was visiting her brothers with her parents, Harry always started to feel a sort of pain in his chest. When he saw her the day after or sooner, it went away, but it was still difficult.

Ginny let him know that she felt the same way and they tried to figure out what to do, but when no ideas came to mind and Ginny had to leave with her brother, Harry felt lost.

The rest of Christmas break was uneventful, except for several snowy Quidditch matches and snowball games, that mostly Harry and Rigel won. They built several snowmen until they made an army and on New Years, the Weasley's came back over and Remus to watch the fireworks.

There were so many colors in the sky that night with the red, blue, white, green, gold, maroon, yellow, silver, and so many more that were amazing.

After the fireworks were over, most of the kids stayed the night since the older boys had to go back to school on the third and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to be very busy the next couple of days.

After the boys went back to school, everything was dull. Ginny and Ron came over more often and Spring slowly began. The snow melted and along with it, Harry's happiness and even though he was excited to go to school, he was going to miss Gabby, Sirius, Astoria, and Ginny.

Harry began to think about how he was going to keep in contact with Ginny because he knew being so far away was going to be different.

As Spring drew on, Harry and Rigel had mastered most of their studies for the years and Harry had mastered most of his blocked abilities, except for parseltongue because he had no one to teach him. His animagus training, along with Rigel's, was going slow, but since they knew their forms all they had to do was master the spell for changing.

As summer started to creep up on them and sun making the days hotter, Sirius made their fitness schedule's longer as they were all ready for school.

Sirius's and Gabby's wedding drew nearer and nearer and the planning was done. They had decided on July because all the kids would be back and everyone started setting up the week before. It was going to be held at Potter Manor and they had invited mostly family friends because they didn't want a big wedding, just a family wedding.

With the planning finished and nerves high, the following week was going to go quick.