Chapter - 25 : The Adoption Ritual part - 2

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"Um, Orion Aubrey," Harry introduced himself, stumbling slightly over the name.

"I've heard of your family!" Draco looked pleased to find out Harry was a pureblood and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"You too." Harry slowly reached out to accept the handshake. As he did so he got a flashback to the first time he'd been in this situation, when Draco had offered his hand on the train in first year and Harry had refused it. He really must be in an alternate universe if he was willingly shaking hands with a Malfoy, Harry thought to himself with a grin. In the spirit of new beginnings, he smiled and tilted his head towards the shop door. "So, want to go inside and take a proper look?"

"Of course!"

The two boys stepped inside and were soon busy admiring the practice Snitches and competitor-level Quidditch robes while debating the merits of the Comet-Three-Sixty racing broom. That quickly lead to discussing their favourite flying techniques and then on to what teams they supported, and Harry was surprised to realise he was enjoying himself. Malfoy might be a git, but even as a ten-year-old he knew a lot about Quidditch. Even better, he wasn't obsessed with the Chudley Cannons (Harry had always thought they were the worst team in history, but hadn't wanted to hurt Ron's feelings) and instead focused on teams that actually won matches.

"... and of course the Pride of Portree have some spectacular plays." Draco's normally pale faced was flushed with enthusiasm and he had entirely abandoned his usual condescending tone of voice. "In their last match against the Arrows they won by two hundred and twenty points!"

Draco probably would have continued talking if Sirius hadn't entered the shop and loudly called out "Orion! There you are!" as soon as he caught sight of Harry.

"Hi, Si-Dad," Harry said with a wave. "Finally finished admiring yourself in the mirror then?"

"Oi! Where's your respect for your elders?" Sirius walked over to the two boys and nodded at the Nimbus display case beside them. "So this iw the latest and greatest, then?"

"Yep, top of the line," Harry said with a sigh. With Draco there he couldn't say that he'd once owned a Nimbus Two Thousand or that even better brooms would soon come out on the market.

"Certainly looks impressive." Sirius examined the broom with a thoughtful look before he turned back to Harry with a grin. "What do you say we buy one each?"

"Really?" Harry checked eagerly, while beside him Draco scowled in envy.

Sirius gave a shrug. "I know it'll be rather expensive, but I think we deserve to treat ourselves, wouldn't you agree? After all, we don't have anything better than a Cleansweep Two in the house."

"Well then I say hell yes!" Harry hadn't had many chances to fly during the last few years of his old life and couldn't wait to be up in the air again.

Just then the bell over the shop door jingled and a fashionably dressed witch stepped into the shop. She looked younger and much less anxious than when Harry had last seen her, but he still recognised Narcissa Malfoy at once.

"Draco darling," she cooed. "Are you enjoying y- Oh! Cousin Sirius!" she exclaimed, gasping as she caught sight of him.

"Narcissa!" Sirius sounded just as stunned.

There was an awkward silence as the adults stared at each other. Seconds ticked by before Mrs Malfoy moved to stand next to her son. "What a surprise to see you here, Sirius. I heard the good news, of course. It was all over the front page of the Daily Prophet."

"I'm sure it was," Sirius said. "I'm surprised to see you here as well, Cousin. I hadn't realised this young man here was your son."

"Yes, this is Draco." Narcissa cast a fond look at her son. "I suppose it's been a long time since our families last saw each other."

"A very long time," Sirius agreed. A dark look passing across his face, before he seemed to make an effort to smile. "You don't look as if you've aged a day."

"While you're as charming as ever," Narcissa said with a light laugh. "It truly is good to see you again, Cousin. How are you recovering? I can only imagine how difficult it must be… but I'm sure you don't want to talk about all that unpleasantness."

"I'm doing well enough, thank you." Sirius clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Orion here has been a huge help."

"Orion?" Narcissa looked at Harry and then back to Sirius in confusion.

"This is my son, Orion Black. Orion, this is a cousin of mine, Narcissa Malfoy, and her son Draco." Sirius eyes glinted in amusement as he made the introductions.

"You have a son?" The shocked look on Narcissa's face made Harry stifle a laugh. She soon recovered her usual dignified expression, however, and smiled down at him. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Orion."

"Pleasure to meet you as well," Harry said, not really meaning it in the slightest.

"Hang on," Draco spoke up, turning to Harry with an accusing frown. "I thought you said your family name was Aubrey?"

"Sorry, I forgot. You see it was until recently," Harry hastily explained. "My mum was an Aubrey and brought me up, so I took her name. But now my dad has taken me in – we've even done the blood adoption ritual just to make sure it's official. "

Draco nodded graciously. "Oh. Well that's all right then. I accept your apology," he said. Harry couldn't help rolling his eyes a bit; he didn't want to make an enemy of Draco, but the boy really was a stuck up little ponce.

"Aubrey, hmm… that must mean he's Evelinda's child!" Narcissa glanced between Harry and Sirius. "After that fire people thought the worst, but I suppose she must have gone into hiding?"

Sirius nodded solemnly. "Yes, she did - she never even told me she was pregnant. Evie didn't want Orion involved in the war, you see, and with my job as an Auror… well, given everything, she decided to raise our son alone in France."

Narcissa's eyes grew wider with each additional word, and Harry could almost sense her desire to rush off and spread the scandalous bit of gossip.

"Sadly poor Evelinda fell ill and passed away only two months ago," Sirius continued with a convincingly sorrowful expression. Harry wondered if the sadness Sirius felt was real, since he and Evie had been friendly years ago.

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