Chapter 3

After Lily had calmed down and had fully accepted the wonderful news that the third child she thought she had lost, the child that she had carried guilt over for the last eleven years, was alive and right here in her arms. Brushing her hair back before addressing Griphook once more. "We will return later. Given this news, I wish to bring the rest of my family here so that we can deal with everything all at once."

Nodding Griphook responded "Of course, Lady Potter, I look forward to our future dealings." Smirking as he led them out of the office and out of the bank. As they walked out, Lily took James over to the public Fireplace. "We will use Floo Powder to go home, James. Don't worry about my car, it will find its way back. James… I mean, your father is very good friends with Mr. Weasley, and with his and Sirius's help, it's top of the line." James was still a bit numb to Lily calling him son and James Potter his father, but that was apparently the truth. Lily continued as the got closer "I will have your father deal with that Orphanage, you won't have to go back there again. I can't wait to see James and tell him about this. Everyone is going to be so happy to have you home." They were next in line as Lily explained how the whole thing worked. "Now just take a pinch of powder, yes just like that, then, throw it down and say 'Potter Manor'. Speak clearly and keep your elbows tucked in."

Nodding James took the powder and took a deep breath before entering the floo, before tossing the powder down and speaking clearly "Potter Manor." In the next instant, green flames erupted around him and he began to spin. Not appreciating or feeling, James slammed his eyes shut and focused on his breathing, elbows tightly pulled to his sides, waiting for the sudden deceleration. After what felt like no more than five seconds, James felt the spinning abruptly slow down and he felt the grip of the ground under him. Not wanting to fall over, he used his magic to pull himself to the ground. Taking a few steps out of the grate, knowing that Lily should be right behind him, he looked into the room. The place was clearly in a large house, the vaulted ceilings gave away the grandeur, however the furniture seemed mismatched to the situation. This was the kind of furnishings you would find in a three bedroom house in the suburbs, not a manor house like this. Just after arriving, Heard the sound of two voices arguing, "I am not stupid, Ivy. Just because you already know how to brew potions doesn't mean you're smarter than me. You aren't as good on a broom as me!"

Two children walked into the room. The boy was just as the books had described him. Messy black hair, large circular glasses, Bright green eyes, and the lightning shaped scar. Though he wasn't scraggly as he had been in the books. Harry had some baby fat still to be seen on him, his fuller cheeks and rosy complexion a testament to his good health. Next to him stood a girl at equal height, her bright red hair matching her Mothers, though she had her fathers Hazel eyes. The three children stopped to stare at each other, much like a doe in the headlights of a car, before a green flash erupted behind James as Lily entered the room. Seeing her children she brightly smiled before stating "Is your father in his office? I have something we need to discuss as a family." James was silent the entire time as she spoke to her children. He still wasn't sure how to feel about the entire situation. He had spent the last eleven years feeling jealous of the other kids he saw get adopted. The look of joy on their faces as they left with their new families. He had never thought ill of the lucky kids. Just wished that he could have enough luck to find a family as well, but as he got older, and there were fewer and fewer children in the orphanage his age, he began to realize that the likelihood of him being chosen was getting smaller and smaller.

Older orphans are normally ignored and kicked out once they are too old. The world doesn't care about them normally. But he was now in a large manor with a woman that had been proven to be his mother. He could see the test paper happily gripped in her hand. He had still not spoken, as the group was led through the home to the family head's office. Lily pushed the door in, not caring what her husband might be up to. Which in this case for some reason, was napping in his chair. "James Fleamont Potter, are you being a lazy pants!" Harry and Ivy chuckled, and James bit his laugh back as well.

James, having been shocked away, looked at his wife then the clock then the kid. "Lily, my love… um aren't you back too early from shopping, and who is this kid?" Lily smiled before pulling up the test paper and unrolling it for him to see. "This 'kid' as you put it, James. Is our missing, thought to be dead baby boy. I told you he was still alive. You told me that I was just grieving and the Healers wouldn't do something like that. But this proves it. I was right and my baby is alive." The gears in James's head stopped and he sputtered, as did Harry and Ivy. James, with shaking hands, picked up the piece of parchment. Clear as day, James Harry Peverell son of James and Lily Potter. Truth be told, James was never okay with the idea of his child having died at birth, but he was overwhelmed by the two living children he had to worry about a supposedly passed child. He had focused all his energy on giveing the best life he could to his two current children. To know that he still had his third child. A lot of emotions were bouncing around in his mind.

Getting up, James walked over to the boy. Looking down at him, he struggled at first to see the resemblance. But the more he looked, the more he saw. The eyes and hair were large distractions, but the boy's face, the shape of his nose and eyes. The tilt of his ears, the curve of his chin. The boy looked up at this man, and was startled, because he was seeing what he imagined he would look like in the future, given with some differences of course. James taking a leap, "So, your name is James as well. Might get a bit confusing, do you mind if I call you Jr?" The younger James heard this and couldn't help but feel warm. He had always wondered what it felt like to have parents in this life. Even with his memories of his past life, they felt more detached than this life. Almost as if they were a film, with a character, more than him.

As such, a loving family was something he had craved. He nodded, "um… yes sir. I don't mind." James looked at the boy. He was thinner than Harry, likely due to not being overly fed at the orphanage, but he could see that he was constantly looking around. Getting his bearings and looking for windows and doors. A tactic he had used in his line of work when doing raids. It showed that he wasn't feeling comfortable yet, not safe. James recognized it, Sirius had it back in their first year as well. James wasn't proud to admit it, but in school, he had first spent time tormenting Sirius for being a snake in the den of Lions. Having been raised as an only child to parents that were quite a bit older, James had been coddled, and it had shown when he went to Hogwarts. He had a rather spoiled attitude, to the point of being a bully. Now seeing what Lily's and his Nephew had turned into, he had made a personal resolution. This year, as the school year started, he was going to apologize to Severus. He didn't expect, nor did he feel like he deserved his forgiveness. But James owed Severus an apology for the frankly horrendous treatment that he gave to him.

"Good to hear Jr." James smiled at him, before turning to the other two, "Well looks like you two are dressed and ready, let's all head to Diagon alley as a family. According to this paper here, we might as well pick up three rings instead of one as well. Haha." Ivy was curious about this, and so asked "What do you mean three instead of one?" James nodded, somewhat embarrassed, "Well, originally, there would have only been a single heir ring. The one for Harry as the heir of House Potter. The Potter family… um… don't allow female inheritors."

Ivy was giving her father a deadpanned look, clearly upset about this, before adding "Okay, going to ignore that point for a moment, but what do you mean by three now. I'm going to guess that," She gave a sideways look at James, eyes still curious "James is taking the Peverell name, though I have no idea who that is. Harry gets the Potter house apparently, does it say something about me then?"

James Sr. smiled before smartly saying "I don't think you will be upset about it my lovely daughter. Because apparently, your mothers family isn't as mundane as she thought. Because according to this report, little lady, you are the heir of house Gryffindor." He then turned to his wife, and smiled while adding, "That would also mean that you, my loving wife, are the Lady of House Gryffindor."

Lily froze along with her daughter, just now having realized that what James had said was true. Afterall, the report only showed Heir positions, not who the current lord it, but with Ivy having first position as Heir, that would mean the Lordship position, should belong to her. Of course the first thing that hit her mind after this realization was the massive amount of work that was likely to hit her with this added position. She cursed under her breath "Oh bugger me, I don't want to deal with all that paperwork. We might need to get another house elf or two due to this."

James Sr., having heard this, chuckled as the children slowly started to interact with each other. He remembered the first time Lily had met a house elf. She was deeply upset about the prospect of what a house elf was. It wasn't until she was able to meet with some of the older house elves at Hogwarts, and had an interesting conversation, where the house elf that had gained quite a bit of knowledge over the years, was able to explain their symbiotic relationship. As well as the inherent need their magic gave them to accomplish tasks. Now she was looking at getting a few more, to help with the extra paperwork this was bound to bring to the table. More so, the extra vote this was going to add to the Wizengamot. But after a moment he smirked before looking at her and adding "I wonder what position the lord of a founder house would have over the School Board? I bet that Git Malfoy will love this."

Lily quickly slapped his arm as she out loud shouted "Langue! Mister!" then added under her breath "I didn't even think about that, but I'm gonna love it. I need to contact the school so we can change my introduction for the opening feast." Smirking, she pecked James "Suddenly, I can't wait." With this the family got together and returned back through the floo, this time directly to Diagon alley. The process to gain heirship took some time. Each of the children needed to drip a drop of blood on several documents, then they took each ring. And rather than three, it was four, as Lily also collected the lord ring for house Gryffindor.

After this, they went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions first. The three stood together on their respective stands as a group of tape measures whipped around them. Ivy at one end with James at the other with Harry dead center. As they sat there, Harry decided to break the ice. "So… you're our brother apparently." James grimaced a bit. Worried that Harry was going to be hostile to this new kid comin in and taking attention away from him and his sister. "Um… I guess. That's what the test says. It's a lot to take in. First I find out all the stuff I can do is magic, then that I get to go to a magic school. Now I finally have a family… I'm a bit overwhelmed to be honest. I kinda gave up on the family thing at this point. No one wants an orphan as old as me."

Ivy was about to speak out, thinking Harry had said something dumb, but before she could say something, Harry did. "You're wrong about that. You aren't an orphan." He gave a big grin "You're my little brother. I have to be a good big brother and watch out for you right?" Ivy suddenly realized something, she had always held it over Harry's head that she was half an hour older than him. But now they have a little brother that is a day younger than them. And Harry finally gets to be a big brother. Unknown to any of the children, Lily had originally wanted to have a lot of children, but after seemingly losing James Jr., she had lost her heart to have more children, terrified that they would die. None of the children had noticed, but James Sr. had noticed, his wife was giving him a look, a very specific look, one that she hadn't properly had in eleven years. This made James Sr. both excited and a little scared at the same time.

As the Potter clan was moving out, they were interrupted by a blond woman and her Son entering the room. No words were said between the two families, as there was known bad blood between them already. James jr. noticed that the woman had looked and noticed the heir rings on each of he and his siblings hands. And upon noticing that all three of them were wearing rings, her eyes widened slightly. James, not thinking much of it, left with his family to the next stop. The shopping continued, and each of the items in question were purchased. The books, the scales, the cauldrons. Until finally, the thing that each of the children had been most eager about. The time for them to get their wands.

Ivy went first as she was the oldest. They had moved through around twenty wands before she found her match, much like her mother, she found herself matched with a willow wand, Dragon Heart string, at thirteen and one quarter inch long. Swishy and should be good for Charms and Transfiguration. Harry went through and ended up with his Holly and Phoenix Feather. At first, Lily and James were not particularly happy to discover the relation of Harry's wand to the Dark lord's, but after discovering that no other wand would take him, they settled on it. Though Mr. Olivander did say that brother wands do not like fighting each other, so it may give some protection against its infamous sibling.

Then came the time for James. As he walked up, Mr. Olivander looked at the young boy with a deep sparkle in his eyes "Ahhh Yes! Mr. Peverell. I have been most excited to help you with your wand. Most especially given your family history." The family looked confused, before Garick continued. "Tell me Mr. Potter, what do you know about the house your son has inherited." He continued to shuffle through some boxes near the back, still in view and able to hear them.

James Shrugged "I don't really know anything about them. Just that they are a very old house and hold a seat at the Wizengamot. Garick nodded and walked back, having found what he was looking for. Smiling, he walked over to James Jr. before handing him a wand. It looked rather strange, compared to his siblings' wands. The first major difference he noticed was the length. His wand was around two inches longer than Ivy's. Deciding to try it out, James jr. waved the wand. From its tip, an eruption of rabow sparks flew, as if the wand was erupting in joy at having found a partner. Garick, feeling very proud of himself, said "I bring this up for a very important reason. I assume you have heard the tale of the three brothers, Mr. Potter." James sr. nodded in affirmation. "The three brothers, the ones who received the three objects from Death. The Resurrection Stone, the Invisibility cloak, And the Elder Wand. It is said that the three brothers from the story were at one point real. Some say that the objects weren't from death, but just objects the three brothers crafted themselves, but one thing most people can agree on is that their family name was Perevell."

They all stood silent before Garick added "I for one think that there is some truth to the tail. After all, the Elder wand was reported to be fifteen inches long, made of elder wood and the tail hair of a Threastle. And the wand that young James was just chosen by, was a project that was worked on by my grandfather, father, as well as myself to recreate that wand." Smiling he looked at James before adding "Your wand is fifteen inches long, made of elder, and in fact had a dual core. Inside it possesses both the tail feather of a phoenix as well as the hair of a thestral. The phoenix and thestral in question, had developed a very caring bond with each other. Spending their lives together until the thestral passed from old age. My grandfather came across the two in the deep forests around Hogwarts years ago. The thestral in question, must have communicated to the phoenix to take one of its tail hairs as well as one of its feathers to give. Because that is what happened. My grandfather said that in just a moment, the bird pulled a few hairs from the thestral's tail, then its own feather, before both of them erupted in flame, never to be seen again."

Smirking at the family, Garick Olivander looked around and smiled before saying. "I think we can expect great things from the three of you. Great things."