First Bite

Vernon and the boys had already been checking in when Cassia realised that Lady Malfoy were hesitating before leaving. She looked at the other woman in question.

“Both my husband and son are out of the country at the moment, and I have no plans for tomorrow, and as I enjoy shopping, I would like to offer my help for one more day. If you would like it, of course.”

“Oh, that would be wonderful,” Cassia said without pause. “You were most assuredly helpful today and I know there are a lot I don’t know about the magical world, or magical shopping, for that matter. How about meeting us outside, in that little square, at ten tomorrow morning?”

“Yes, that would suit me very well. Until tomorrow, then.” Lady Malfoy curtsied with perfection and Cassia followed suit, even though she must be somewhat rusty.

“Until tomorrow.”

Vernon had already gotten their keys and Harry was in the middle of gleefully showing the bellman his shrunken trunk, when she turned around from Lady Malfoy with a smile. Harry was still showing a strange fascination with the woman, but had so far neither said or done anything to make Cassia, or Lady Malfoy, unsure about the situation. Harry had gotten blood from Cassia that same day, before they left the bank, under the watchful eye of a goblin Healer. It became plain that he didn’t need much, and that Harry’s own magic was healing Cassia and helped replenished her blood, even as he drank from her. Whatever kind of vampire he was, he took very good care of his food source, even if it was completely instinctive. Cassia wondered if Lady Malfoy would have been even more interesting to Harry if he had been hungry.

The two suites that the bellman showed them to shared a door, as they had asked, and were absolutely magnificent. There was two bedrooms, a very big bathroom, a study and a sitting room in each of the rooms. In addition to that, the hotel had a game room with both magical and Muggle games, a great garden with a natural looking pool and waterfall, as well as an orangery. Bathrobes, comfortable slippers, bathing suits and shorts as well as a myriad of toiletries was also included with the room.

There was also a hairdresser and a spa saloon as well as a small shop at the hotel, in addition to a bar, two dinner restaurants and a breakfast restaurant, of course. Cassia was honestly surprised as she read the brochure for all that the hotel offered. Much of it had Muggle origins and as this was a rich-people place and James had been adamant that the wealthiest people in the magical worlds were the old pureblood families that often looked at blood status as the most important part of their status, it was strange to find so many obviously Muggle things at such a place. Or maybe things had changed in the last decade? She might just ask Lady Malfoy about it. After all, if anyone should know, it would be one of those so-called blood purists. Even if the woman hadn’t so much as wrinkled her nose at Cassia or her family, not even once.

Dudley wanted to go swimming at once, and when Harry hesitantly admitted, or more like reminded them all, that he couldn’t swim, Vernon and Dudley offered to start teaching him that very day. Vernon looked shocked and horrified when he realised that the child couldn’t swim and that he would easily drown if he was pushed into deep water. After assuring herself that Vernon would take care of both boys and that Harry was alright with the plan, Cassia first secured the rooms with the runestones she had gotten from the goblins, before she stripped down and took a long bubble bath in the gigantic bathtub. The bubbles smelled of lilies and as the tears ran down her cheeks, she comprehended that she hadn’t truly gotten the chance to mourn her sister.

First there had been the shock of finding Harry half frozen on their doorstep, then the first violent grief over the loss, but after that, she had focused hard on helping Harry and only permitted herself a few moments here and there to mourn her little sister and the life her sister would never get to live. So, Cassia cried silent tears and when the pain became too much, she put a wet towel into her mouth and screamed out her anguish and grief until her throat became hoarse, before she was able to cry more silently again.

She was grateful for having gotten up from the bath and dressed before the door was being pushed open with a bang and Dudley stood there wild-eyed and breathing heavily. He was dressed, but his hair and skin were still damp. Her sword was in her hand before she even considered drawing it and she dragged Dudley into the room.

“Where is Harry? Where is Vernon? What is wrong?”

“On the way. Much, too much.” Dudley dragged his hands through his hair and then began to pull on it, hard. “Not supposed to frighten Harry. Too much!”

“Oh, darling.” Cassia sheathed her sword in her hidden, magically enchanted sheath and knelt down in front of Dudley, wanting to pry his hands out of his hair, but he shrank away from her, fear, loathing and grief in his blue eyes.

“Don’t want to hurt anyone,” he tugged harder at his hair, and she saw strands of wet hair clinging to his fingers.

“You are hurting yourself, Dudley,” she said calmly.

“But not Harry, or you!” he spat out, before putting his hands over his mouth, his eyes going huge.

The Mind Healer at the bank believed that Dudley would be able to find his own equilibrium with some time and a little help and understanding. Dudley very obviously wanted this himself and had worked with the Mind Healer almost enthusiastically, as well as asked for tips, tricks and task that would help him when he left the bank. At least until they could find a more permanent Mind Healer for the family.

“Are you afraid of hurting Dad too?” Cassia asked.

He shook his head, tears running down his cheeks while he grimaced and continued to pull his hair out. His breath came far too fast and uneven.

Cassia knew that she looked fragile, far more fragile than she actually was now, and they all had agreed to be as calm as they could around Harry. Now Dudley’s feelings were mounting and becoming more than he could handle again, it had only happened once in the bank, even if he had cried several times, and he knew himself well enough to see that he might lash out. He would never lash out at Harry if he could help it, she knew that, and now she knew that Dudley considered her to delicate to lash out on, too. Vernon, however, was much bigger than Dudley and could keep him contained if it became really bad, as well as take a few hits without great harm.

“Take a deep breath, Dudley, as the Mind Healer told you to.”

He shook his head, even as he obviously tried to do as she told him.

“It’s alright. Vernon will be here with Harry soon, and Harry and I will go out again so you two will get some time alone.”

Dudley heaved for breath and sobbed before trying desperately to drag air into his lungs.

Her heart hurt for her boy, but when she held out a hand to him, he flinched away. Very obviously remembering all the times he had hurt other people, and very obviously not wanting a repeat of that.

Vernon and Harry arrived, and it seemed that both knew somewhat what was happening, because Vernon went to Dudley at once while Harry hurried to put away his things and then went to Cassia. Even if seeing Dudley in pain hurt her and she wanted to help him, it was best for her son that she left right now. He wasn’t alone and Vernon would help him when she could not. She would be able to reassure Dudley later, she hoped.

They stopped in the luxurious hotel lobby and looked around. Cassia didn’t really want to go outside; she felt a bit too drained to be certain she could protect Harry if they were out in the open. She was just about to propose tea in the orangery, when she saw the sign for the hairdresser and looked at Harry’s unruly hair and remembered her own bleached and brittle hair. Harry had gotten his eyes healed from a lot of the damage at Gringotts, and while he still needed glasses, at least for a while, they were now a pair of rectangular golden framed glasses that both suited his face and fit his eyesight.

“What do you think about a trip to the hairdresser, Harry? I think both of us could use some help with our hair?”

He looked at the sign, up at her and then at the sign again while chewing on his lower lip.

“Do I get to choose how I want my hair?”

“As long as you listen to the stylist’s advice first, before making a decision, then yes, the choice is ultimately yours. It’s your hair.”

He nodded. “Then I would like to get my hair cut properly.”

For the first time in my life, he didn’t say, but Cassia heard it anyway.

Now Cassia hoped that there were two stylists who actually had the time for the both of them. Harry deserved this normal experience, as he deserved so many others.

They were in luck, and just five minutes later they were put in the stylist’s chairs.

“Neither of us have ever been to a magical hair stylist, please inform us of our choices,” Cassia said. “I’m a Muggle and I don’t know if my body will be able to tolerate all the things a magical body can. Harry is a wizard, though. In case such a thing is important in this situation.”

The woman behind her chair beamed. “It can be, but not often. First, we can show you exactly how you will look with the cut, style, or colour we mention. The mirrors will change your reflection while we talk. Second, we don’t only cut hair. We can also grow it out, colour it so that it will always be that colour, also when your hair grows, and give you waves or curls, or remove waves or curls.”

Harry grinned in the chair beside hers and the man behind him grinned back in the mirror. “So, you see, only your imagination is the limit.”

“My hair doesn’t have to look like this? Really?” Harry asked.

“No, indeed it doesn’t. How do you want it? Shorter, longer, with another colour, or streaks?” asked the male stylist.

The two of them began discussing it and the image of Harry in the mirror began to change while they talked. Cassia smiled and focused on her own mirror and stylist.

“When I was younger, my hair was a honey blond and with heavy waves. May I look at how that would look on me now? And is that something you are able to recreate when my hair is so damaged?”

The stylist combed through her hair with a comb and then with her fingers. “I can fix it, but that will include shaving off your hair and give you a hair growing potion. It is safe for Muggles, but giving it to an unsuspecting Muggle is still Muggle baiting and illegal.”

“I give my consent to take that potion, so it can’t be Muggle baiting then,” Cassia said and watched as her hair changed to the heavy golden waves that she had grown up with. She swallowed hard. “May I see it with a similar texture, just with a deep auburn?” Her mirror image changed again, and it was strange, but the changed hair colour really showed how very similar she and her little sister had been, because for a moment she could have sworn she was looking at an older Lily in the mirror.

“No,” she croaked out, “that was a stupid idea.”

The image changed back to blond, and she saw Harry staring at her out of the corner of her eye, she turned and gave him a wobbly smile.

“Just a stupid and impulsive idea, darling,” she told him. “I envied Lily her auburn hair when we grew up, just as she envied me my blond hair. People always want what they don’t have. But you look nice. Have you made a decision?”

Harry’s hair in the mirror was short on the sides and longer on top with a dark blue glint in the black hair.

Harry hesitated. “Not yet. But it’s great to see what I can look like before I decide.”

“It really is. Maybe I can see my hair down to my elbows?” Her own image changed, and she used some more time, while getting suggestions from the stylist, before she decided.

In the end her healthy, honey blond waves reached her elbows and Harry’s reached past his shoulders in waves that were a bit wilder than hers. He had also decided on different coloured highlights in his black tresses. Depending on how the light fell on his hair, she could see deep blue and deep, but vibrant, red, as well as flashes of silver and gold. Harry apparently really, truly liked his house colours. Or maybe he liked the thought of belonging, of showing that he belonged. But the result was quite stunning and more importantly, something he seemed very happy with.

Cassia put the bill on their room, and they went out into the hotel lobby again and on to the little shop, as Harry looked curiously at it. Inside where even more different toiletries and Cassia chose a cream for her dry and damaged hands and another for her feet, before she found serum that helped give her healthy fingernails. The shop attendant told her that all three were Muggle safe and pointed her at a rack of nail polish when she asked. Harry followed curiously after her and when he held up his hands towards her, she added an extra cream of each type to her basket before they looked at the nail polishes. She chose two different red ones, one in rose and one green metallic that she liked. Harry - after she had assured him that nail polish wasn’t gendered and that he was more than welcome to buy some colours and try them out, if he wanted - chose that same metallic green, as it would match his eyes, a deep blue one, also metallic, and one bottle that would change colours.

Then they went back to their rooms and found that Vernon was reading aloud from Narnia for a slumbering Dudley. Her son’s cheeks were streaked with tears, but he was calm again and she couldn’t see any marks on either her son or her husband. Harry and she sat at the sofa table and listen to Vernon read while she taught Harry to put on nail polish and watched him try with his tongue between his teeth in concentration.

Dudley woke after a while and wanted to try a nail polish too, and Harry willingly let him try the one that changed colours. It was obvious that Dudley wanted to try that one more than any of the others, as that one was more magical, even if Cassia could attest to the nail polish being magical in itself. It was much easier to apply, it dried faster and even if Harry never had tried to apply polish before, he made very little mess, suspiciously little mess. Cassia swore that she would never go back to Muggle nail polish after this.

They cleaned themselves up a bit, and Cassia could hear Dudley almost rant about how good Harry’s hair looked and how cool he looked now, and she knew that she would suggest a magical haircut as a birthday gift. He had gotten a rather expensive haircut the first day home from Smeltings, so it wasn’t like he actually needed it. She thought that suggestion was both fair, and would be well received.

Then they went to dinner in one of the restaurants at the hotel and afterwards they took a late tea in the orangery that gave them an absolutely fantastical, and no doubt magical, view of the night sky. A night sky they wouldn’t be able to see in London, much less before sunset. The orangery had set times where it switched between night and day, just to give people the opportunity to see the night sky. Magic was wonderful. Together, Harry and she managed to name a lot of the stars and constellations they could see, and Harry was grinning at her after a short competition between them.

“I wish we could have something like this at Hogwarts,” Harry said and looked wistfully up at the stars. “I thought that we didn’t have a planetarium, or something similar, at Hogwarts because it wasn’t any magical equivalent, but obviously there is.” He made a gesture up at the night sky above them.

Cassia gave a heavy, put-upon sigh and Vernon patted her shoulder consolingly. Planetariums had been relatively new in the Muggle world, or at least not widely spread yet, when Lily went to Hogwarts. But now they were, and it was very obvious, as Harry said, that there was a magical equivalent, so she had no idea why Hogwarts didn’t offer that to their students.

“Wait, you have a class for learning about stars …” Dudley said.

“Yes, Astronomy,” Harry cut in with a nod.

Dudley nodded back. “But you don’t have a planetarium or a star dome or something like this?” He gestured up at the starry sky above them. “How do you learn then?”

“With telescopes from the top of the Astronomy Tower, at midnight. It’s exhausting, especially because we still have a full school day the day after, and it most often starts at the same time as usual. This year one of the Astronomy classes was on Friday, that was great, but it probably won’t happen next year.”

Dudley looked from Harry to Cassia, to Harry to Vernon and back to Harry.

“They make kids stay up long past midnight, at a school, and then expect them to go to class as usual the next day?” he said, flabbergasted. “How does that even work?!”

“Poorly?” Harry said cheekily.

They looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

Soon after that they went to their rooms and after playing one of the new games, Vernon told the boys he would read to them if they went straight to bed without complaining. They did, and Vernon managed to read five whole pages before both boys was out like a light. For which Cassia was grateful, even if she wasn’t the least bit surprised when both of them woke screaming from nightmares during the night. Only twice each, which was better than it had been that first night, but still far from good. They needed a proper Mind Healer, most likely for the foreseeable future. Cassia would have to get a solicitor on retainer to help her with finding a Mind Healer of good repute and write an ironclad secrecy contract, amongst other things.

The next morning, they found Lady Narcissa Malfoy in the little square at ten, and after a new round of proper greetings, for which they all had practiced before leaving their rooms, they began shopping for Harry’s needs. And the rest of the family too, as Dudley soon pointed out that surely, surely, Harry wouldn’t go to whatever gatherings he would have to go to as Heir Potter, alone? There would be parties and balls and such where all of them would attend, wouldn’t it?

Lady Malfoy had answered that while Harry and a guardian would be expected at gatherings where mingling and networking were the main cause for the meeting, such occasions did indeed most often welcome the whole family.

Thus, Harry wasn’t the only one who got a magical wardrobe, even though his wardrobe would be the biggest. Vernon convinced Cassia to begin to fill her wardrobe with clothes she felt good in, again, as her wardrobe right now was filled with clothes she mostly couldn’t abide. The tailor had no trouble with making clothes that was more Muggle than magical in style. Lady Malfoy pointed out that the style Cassia preferred could easily pass as a somewhat eccentric magical style. Deep colours, longs skirts, classic cuts and preferably silk, velvet, damask, and satin. Harry got several outfits too, in the magical but can pass as Muggle, style, in addition to his many robes. Dudley easily took over the task of getting Harry to find his preferences in colours, fabric, and styles, as he had done the day before, and within two hours, everyone had their second order filled. Harry loudly hoped that that would be enough for three years, at least. Lady Malfoy just looked indulgently down at him, and Dudley rolled his eyes and told him that he still needed winter clothes. Harry’s school was in Scotland, and while the rest of them could live with the slightly heavier cloaks that they already had ordered, they had Muggle winterwear they could use after all, Harry needed even better winter garments, and also shoes and boots for the whole year. Harry groaned, but followed Dudley, who followed Lady Malfoy, into a shop for winterwear.

They had ordered winterwear for Harry, and some for the rest of them, just in case, and shoes and boots for everyone before Dudley got a look into a window and stopped.

“That’s so cool!” he whispered at the window display of classical pocket watches, he turned to Cassia. “Mum, I got two outfits with a west, and a pocket watch would be so cool with that. Do I have enough pocket money to buy one of those?” He looked back at the display.

Cassia looked at Vernon who thought about it before nodding.

“We haven’t told you yet, Dudley, but you may choose a Muggle friendly thing from a shop in the Alleys, if you want to, as a birthday gift from us. Within reason, of course. There will be a lot less gifts this year, as we have overindulged you in previous years and we want to pull back the amount to something more sensible. A pocket watch is something we would be happy to gift you.”

Dudley had already gotten a haircut this summer, so while it might be a good idea as a gift, this was something that might be better suited.

Dudley looked at the watch again and nodded enthusiastically.

“May I make a comment?” Lady Malfoy asked slowly.

“Of course,” Cassia said. “Please do.” Lady Malfoy’s comments had been good and helpful so far.

“I do not mean to put any pressure on you, Hadrian, what is yours is yours and you decide what happens with your inheritance, but I want to inform you that the chance of there being several pocket watches in the Potter vaults, are great indeed. Most Heirs and Lords buy or order several pocket watches during their lifetime, even if they do not actively collect the items, as I know some do. The Potter vaults most likely also hold much jewellery with the Potter crest. Hadrian, at the very least, should have one such piece in his wardrobe, in addition to his Heir ring. For the record, Draconis have enough family pieces to always find something that suits his outfit. That is not required, of course, but it is something that is done by many Heirs and Lords.

“There should also be family rings in the vault, if not also a Regent ring,” she added with a look at Cassia. “I believe they would be favourable for you all to use, to make it obvious to people that you are protected under magical law, as Potters, no less. The family rings can only be given from one of Potter blood to people they consider family, they do not have to be actual blood family.”

“If I give those rings to Dudley and Uncle Vernon, will people still hurt them because they are Muggles?” Harry asked Lady Malfoy.

“One thing that is true for all people, everywhere and at all times, Hadrian, is that there are always idiots around. I’m afraid this holds true in this case, too,” Lady Malfoy said with a sad smile. “Yes, there is unfortunately guaranteed to be people around that would harass or hurt your family, I’m sorry to say. I believe the Potters are one family who enchants all their family rings so they should be protected against some things, if they use those rings, but ultimately the rings only warn people that the wearer is protected by the Potters and that there will be a price if they are hurt in any way.”

Harry swallowed hard. “Will I be expected to make them pay the price? Because I don’t think …”

“Oh, no, no, no, Hadrian, no.” Lady Malfoy actually knelt in front of Harry on the cobbled street. “Others will make them pay. The Aurors, a lawyer or magic Herself at your aunt’s behest, but not you. You are a child and will have nothing to do with it, outside deciding who should have such a ring.”

Harry looked at her for a long moment before nodding and looking up at Cassia. “I want to give a ring to Dudley and Uncle Vernon, if it can protect them in any way. I also want to offer a ring to Hermione; she could need the protection too. She has been like a sister to me for over a year now.”

“Let’s go and take a look in the vaults at once,” Cassia decided.

Lady Malfoy got to her feet and looked around. “I will find a café and wait until you come back, or maybe I can …”

Cassia put a hand on her arm and Lady Malfoy turned and raised an imperious brow at her. Cassia raised one in turn, but then she smiled.

“We would welcome your help with finding suitable jewellery for Harry. Would you please join us in the Potters vault?”

“That is … a very … personal thing to invite me to,” Lady Malfoy said slowly.

“While I do know that much, I do not know what jewellery it is pertinent for Harry to have immediate access to,” Cassia told her. “James was able to teach me much in a relatively short time, but not details like this.”

Lady Malfoy hesitated, then she nodded. “I will do my best to advice you properly.”

“I believe that you already have given us excellent advice on several occasions,” Cassia said while they walked after Vernon and the boys, suddenly arm in arm.

“I do try my best,” Lady Malfoy said. “Do call me Narcissa, please.”

“Cassia and Vernon, then,” Cassia said with a quiet smile. Whatever Harry wanted the witch for, it would be easier the closer they were to her, the closer she felt to them. Not that Cassia believed Narcissa to be gullible, nor without her own agenda, she most assuredly had one. But Cassia’s own agenda was getting all the help she could for her family and figure out exactly why Harry was so very fascinated by the witch. She doubted that he wanted to hurt her in anyway, but his gaze was positively gleaming when he looked at her. Almost … possessive? What kind of instincts were driving her little nephew?

It took less than an hour to find all that Narcissa deemed necessary in the vault. Vernon and Dudley got a family ring each and three pieces of jewellery, one of those were the wished for pocket watch. Dudley had tried to refuse everything but the ring, as that was for his protection and Cassia hadn’t given him a choice in the matter. Harry had thought about it and told him that the two pieces of jewellery that wasn’t the pocket watch could be on loan and that if Dudley in the future wanted to loan something else, he could switch them out. When Dudley one day passed, the pieces would be sent back to the vault. The pocket watch however, a rather delicate one in silver and gold that had belonged to a long passed ancestor of Harry’s and was safe to use in the Muggle world, would be Harry’s birthday gift to Dudley. That one would be his forever, but it had to be kept in the family still. It was very obviously a Potter piece, with the Potter stag engraved on the outside of the watches’ lid. Dudley had taken several moments before he had accepted both the loans and the gift, while he profusely thanked Harry for both.

Vernon and Dudley both had found a wide leather bracelet with the Potter crest in deep red and gold. In addition, Vernon had chosen a beautiful tiepin in gold, with the Potter crest and several small rubies. Dudley had almost gotten teary eyed when Harry suggested a chain with a ruby wrapped in the antlers of a stag, with the full Potter crest in gleaming gold beneath the ruby. Somehow, Cassia suspected that that necklace would never be switched out.

Cassia had gotten the mentioned Regent ring, as Harry was the only one to have gotten a ring to that point. Then she found an elegant golden bracelet with the Potter crest as a charm hanging from it, a more delicate version of the necklace Dudley had gotten, and three hair ornaments, one with the crest on, one with the stags antlers on, and one with lilies on, that she suspected had been a gift from James to Lily, and that Harry gladly gave her when she asked. Even if both of them was a bit teary eyed after that.

Narcissa had been of great help with choosing Harry’s own jewellery. There were three pocket watches. One was obviously a gift from Lily to James on his twentieth birthday, as it was engraved. It was too big for Harry yet, but Harry looked at it like he would never let it out of his sight again, when Narcissa had found it and showed it to him. The two other pocket watches were something he could use now. Then there were both bracelets, chains with different pendants, tiepins, and rings, enough for him to always be able to find something to use with his outfit, if he wanted to. Better to have it and not want or need it, that to not have it and then want or need it, Narcissa said, and Cassia agreed.

Back in Fantastic Alley, after a most satisfactory and elegant lunch, Narcissa continued to prove both helpful and clever as she continued to give good advice about what Harry could need and want to fit better in and have an easier and better life in the magical world, and what the family as a whole could benefit from. The last thing on this day’s agenda was an expanded school satchel that would suit Harry and his needs at school. Narcissa was leading the way to a different trunk shop than Hollander’s Quality Trunks, as this shop also sold quality purses, bags, and satchels. Harry still needed school supplies and books, but that they could take care of later.

Suddenly Harry stopped, looked around, took a few more steps and looked around again, while he got stiffer and stiffer in his movements. His eyes, when Cassia caught a glimpse of them, were almost glowing.

“Harry?” she stretched out a hand towards him, but Narcissa caught it in hers.

“Don’t touch him. We will follow, but don’t touch him. That … I believe he feels a Call.”

“What?!” Cassia asked sharply and both Dudley and Vernon looked worriedly at Harry who now was walking again. Apparently not hearing any of them at the moment.

“It is like a trance where something or someone he needs, or who needs him, Calls out. Lady Magic helps the call to get to the right person. I have never heard of any negative effects from this, even though it happens only rarely,” Narcissa whispered almost reverently as she very quietly followed Harry.

They followed closely while Harry went down a side street and on down another before he stopped before a small menagerie. Narcissa’s eyes got huge, and she looked at Cassia with something that obviously were excitement.

“He might get a familiar, a true familiar!” she whispered, before she managed to put on her mask again. “That is very rare, and the bond between a magician and their true familiar is sacrosanct.”

Dudley’s mouth was a silent O as he watched Harry walk into the shop, before he hurried after him, while keeping his distance at the same time. The moment Narcissa was inside the shop, she waved down the attendant that had seemed like he wanted to cut off Harry’s walk into the shop. Cassia followed Harry and Dudley further into the shop. She got there just in time to see an almost blank eyed Harry remove a snake from a tank before his knees gave out and he clutched the little snake to his chest, protected by careful hands, while beginning to cry in great, heaving sobs. At first Cassia was terrified that the snake had bitten him or otherwise hurt him, but soon she heard words between the sobs.

“Mine, you are mine. You belong to me. You are mine,” Harry chanted while he cried and rocked on the floor, his long hair concealed most of his face because his head was bowed towards his chest and the snake in his hands. Cassia saw the snake slip out of his hands and coil around his wrist while hissing. Then they both began to glow in a silver light that pulsed in gold, it lasted for an eternity and no more than a second.

Harry was still crying, but silently now, while carefully petting the big black snake that had wound around him.

“Yes, I’m yours too, of course I am, of course. You are mine and I am yours. We belong together,” he told the snake in a reverent whisper. “We belong together now.”

Cassia could hear Narcissa and the shop attendant behind her, the attendant was protesting something, but Narcissa’s voice went from a whisper to a sharp bark of ice-cold anger.

“Do not dare to ruin this blessed moment for Heir Potter,” she said. “Heir Potter is bonding with his familiar, his true familiar, and you will not disrupt them.”

“But Lady, that’s a magical King Cobra! It’s bad enough when it’s a Muggle specimen, but these …”

Cassia focused on Harry again who was just petting the snake as if his world was absolutely perfect. The snake had grown from its very small size to something that could easily kill Harry by constriction, if this had been a constrictor. As it was one of the most venomous snakes, she didn’t even dare to consider how many times it could kill Harry, could kill any of them, without them being able to do anything. On the other hand, Harry was a parselmouth who could communicate with the snake and there was little that snake wouldn’t be able to defend Harry against.

“Harry, dear,” she said slowly, “would you please ask your new friend to not harm anyone who is not a threat to you? Preferably to not bite anyone at all, without an order from you? You have gotten a very deadly new friend, and I would feel better knowing they know that we are no threat to you.”

Both boy and snake looked at her, Harry’s eyes still glowed slightly with magic, as did the black eyes of the snake, but as she watched, the glow stopped, and Harry blinked.

“Of course, Aunt Cassia, she already knows, she knows everything! Isn’t it wonderful? Isn’t she wonderful?!” He turned his head and hissed at the snake and the snake looked at him before she looked back at Cassia and bobbed her head in a way that could only be a nod. “She won’t hurt anyone who isn’t a threat, and she will do her best to wait for a command from me or you if she is in doubt.”

“Does she understand English?” Cassia asked.

Harry slowly got to his feet, the snake shrank again and soon circled his throat with her head at the hollow at his throat, her scales went from pure black to something that reminded Cassia more of tarnished silver than anything. The snake was hiding herself in clear sight of everyone. That was a very, very smart snake.

“Yes, she does, isn’t she wonderful?” he said again, happier, and more relaxed than Cassia could remember seeing him since before his parent’s deaths. And why wouldn’t he be, he now had an ally closer to him than anything or anyone else. An ally who apparently had a mind connection with him, if she understood it correctly.

They went to the front of the shop where Narcissa, Vernon and the shop attended had been the whole time, and where Dudley had retreated to when he had seen that Harry was crying and that Cassia was there to take care of it.

“Hadrian, did you bond with your familiar?” Narcissa asked, beaming, while she looked around after the snake that she had seen at one point.

“Yes,” Harry petted the little head at his throat and the snake rose her head to look around at the new people.

“Wicked!” Dudley whispered. “That is so wicked!”

“Congratulations on your familiar bond, Hadrian!” Narcissa seemed to be unable to stop smiling. “You are blessed by Lady Magic herself.”

“That is a magical King Cobra, it is not supposed to be a pet!” the shop attendant almost screamed, and Narcissa looked ready to stomp on his foot with her sharp heels, but restrained herself to an icy glare. The attendant shrunk back to behind his desk. Harry had winced when the man had almost screamed at him, but the snake butted her head into his cheek and Harry remained calm. It was most likely hard to be afraid of a normal man when he had someone like that snake on his side.

Harry smiled at Narcissa. “Thank you. Let me introduce everyone. This is my family, Aunt Cassia, Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley.” The silvery snake nodded at all three of them and Vernon and she nodded back while Dudley grinned at the snake. “This is Lady Narcissa Black Malfoy, she has been helping us find what I need the last two days.”

The snake unwound a bit more from around Harry’s neck, or was she growing again, either way, she made a more regal nod, almost a bow, towards Narcissa. Narcissa curtsied back, without any hesitation. Cassia suspected that she knew what Cassia herself only just began to glean, that the snake might have the shape of an animal, but the mind inside was much more cognisant than any animal any of them had ever seen.

“Everyone, this is Naleen. She liked that part of my name so much, she wanted it for herself, only changed a little.”

“A magician and their familiars are a part of each other, it is not uncommon for them to share name,” Narcissa said, half in awe.

Cassia smiled and Narcissa beamed again while Dudley again proclaimed how wicked it was. Naleen shimmied in a way that Cassia interpreted as preening at their praise. 

Cassia decided to talk to the shop attendant without Harry there, as the man seemed intent on making Harry feel uncomfortable, and she was having none of it. Narcissa helped her get all that a magical snake could need and even went to ask Naleen if she had any special requirements or wishes. Harry translated for them and Naleen only wanted to have a warm place to sleep close to Harry, but preferably on him if he agreed, and she liked to eat other snakes, but would abstain and keep to mice and rats as apparently Harry became horrified of the thought of hearing the death cries of other snakes. So Cassia bought two warming rocks that always kept warm by magic, a fully kitted tank where Naleen could be if there was a need to seem like a Muggle snake for a while and two boxes with mice and rats in stasis for when she couldn’t, or wouldn’t hunt on her own. There were also information pamphlets on snakes, magical snakes in particular and what to do when one acquired a familiar.

The last thing Narcissa told Cassia before leaving them outside their hotel, was that while they had some grace time for the familiar bond to settle, the Ministry required Harry to enter Naleen into the familiar archives as she, as a familiar had extra rights, as did Harry. When Naleen was registered in the archive, nothing and no one could separate them. Not that anyone really could before that either, not without going against magic, but people might certainly want to try. This was the Boy-Who-Lived with his familiar snake, his magical familiar snake, his highly lethal magical familiar snake.

When they reached their rooms, Harry looked at Cassia with big, green guileless eyes, that she recognised only too well from her sister and said:

“Snake, what snake, I don’t have a snake?” he showed her his hands and wrists and made sure to touch around his throat to prove she wasn’t there.

Cassia raised and eyebrow at him and he grinned as the little silvery snake reappeared around his wrist, like a small, snake bracelet.

“She is able to do so much, even more now that we are bonded,” Harry said and petted the little head. “She doesn’t yet know all that she can do, as some of the powers are new, as she only got them through my magic. She is so wonderful.”

Cassia smiled. “She really is.”

They cleaned up after the long day and changed into some of their new garments that had arrived for them during the day, and included some of the jewellery that they had gotten from the vault. After that they went through some etiquette for dining out and went to a beautiful, high-end restaurant that Narcissa had recommended during the day, and that Vernon had snuck off to, to reserve a table for dinner.

The day ended in another board game and Vernon reading for the boys before they slept.

That night, Harry only woke once crying from a nightmare.

“Naleen ripped the other nightmares apart before they could become bad,” he whispered hoarsely when Cassia sat down beside him on the bed. “But this was the basilisk, and she became so shocked by the sight that she wasn’t able to stop it.”

Naleen hissed irritably and circled around and around the boy on the bed, very obviously agitated about not being able to help. Harry petted the long body that encircled him in many coils.

“It’s alright, you helped so much, it’s alright. Next time you will be able to stop that nightmare too, I’m certain,” he whispered.

“Do you want me to sing to you?” Cassia asked.

Fresh tears ran down his face while he stared at her. “Really?”

“Yes, of course, darling. Lay down and relax, both of you, and I will sing some of the songs that your grandmother sang to Lily and me when we were children.” She sang while she watched the boy and the snake curled together, not surprised that Harry wanted the songs that Dudley felt too old for. Harry had no memories of having heard the songs before, there was so much he had missed out on because of the many curses that had plagued the family. There was so much he knew little to nothing about and there was much work before Harry knew what he needed to know. The feeling of being safe, of never starving, of being cared for, of someone standing up for him, always, of being heard and believed, of being treated equally. He needed to know that he was allowed to be himself, he was allowed to excel in school, he was allowed to ask for and expect help, he was allowed to make his own choices. He needed to learn that touch, and hugs especially, could feel good and safe and comforting and that close physical contact would not bring pain on the regular. And at some point, Cassia dearly hoped that he would know the feeling of being loved, unconditionally. She had already decided that she would do her outmost to ensure Harry knew he was safe, even if that included giving him up to someone else that didn’t have the history she had with him. But by everything good in the world, she really, truly wanted him to feel loved.

The next day they did some more shopping. Harry still needed a book bag for school and Narcissa had mentioned wand holsters, and it was then, and only then, that Cassia realised that Harry didn’t use one, to her horror. James had told her stories about people that didn’t have their wand in an appropriate holster. After getting the school bag, they went back to the Potter vault, because Cassia was almost certain that there should be a holster or twenty that Harry could use, and that might make him feel closer to his family.

In the end he chose three different holsters. One was a broad leather bracelet in black, with the Potter crest on, that his wand would disappear into when put into correctly, and the wand would reappear in his hand when he twitched his wrist. That holster had belonged to his grandfather, Charlus Potter. The second holster was something that looked more like a wristwatch in silver, without the clock, and the wand would disappear into the holster when tapped against the flat disk with the Potter crest on. That one had belonged to his grandmother, Dorea Black Potter, she had had the Black complexion and had used more silver than most Potters did. The last one had belonged to Harry’s father and was a golden ring with a ruby. All holsters kept his wand safe from summoning, summoned the wand back into the holster if Harry should let go of it, was pretty much indestructible and could go invisible if Harry wanted it and pushed his magic into it.

On the way out of the bank, they were stopped by a goblin with a letter. The letter proclaimed Number 4, Privet Drive to be completely free of any curses or former wards of any kind and that there had been put up the wards and enchantments that Ragnok, the Goblin King, had agreed with Cassia they would put up. Number 4, Privet Drive was safe again, and would remain so, or whoever tried to meddle would answer to the Goblin Horde.

Cassia smiled as they spent the rest of the day at the pool at the hotel, the boys playing in the water and the water fall, before ordering dinner to take with them, packing all their things, and getting all of their luggage into Harry’s remarkable trunk, before finding their car and driving home.

She wasn’t entirely certain they would remain at Number 4 in the years to come, maybe not even out the summer. She remembered now that Harry owed several properties that was bigger, had libraries that would help them all learn the necessary things and rooms like duelling rooms, potion labs, rune labs and similar, and had parks that would give Harry the opportunity to fly. It was properties that gave Harry the opportunity to practice magic behind wards that could only be compared to the wards of Hogwarts. The Potters could boast of some of the best ward masters in Britain, and everyone had done something to improve their family wards, James had told her. She also remembered that Vernon and she had begun to talk about moving into such an estate before they became cursed and forgot everything, including how to be decent human beings. Maybe they would restore Potter Hall, that James had called the Pottery and where his parents had died in a gruesome attack just months before Harry had been born. Such a place with plenty of magic and history would be better for Harry to grow up in, than a place in the Muggle world where they would constantly fear breaking the Statute of Secrecy. It would be easier to make a magical estate Muggle safe, than a Muggle place magical safe.

In addition to that, she desperately wanted Harry to feel like he belonged in the magical world, even when he was home, and that was hard to do when they lived amongst Muggles and Harry had to hide his magic and his magical belongings, even his familiar now, every time he left his own room, so as to not break the Statute. Even Dudley, who had had to remove his colour changing nail polish, groused about going back to the Muggle world.

Now that the goblins were done with securing Number 4, they would begin to go through Harry’s properties, their wards, and their suitability for occupation. So, for now they would go back to Number 4, and they would clean out the guest bedroom and make it into Harry’s room, however he wanted it, and they would try to make this the best summer ever for Harry. Even with the lessons she had planned for him in both magical and Potter history, politics and etiquette, things he should have known for years, they would make plenty of time to take trips into the magical world and go on excursions to amusement parks, water parks, the beach and different museums and attractions in the Muggle world. Maybe even a small vacation to France or Spain if they could manage, but at the very least a weekend at the beach.

Yes, Cassia would make sure that Harry would remember this summer with joy.