Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Reality to Live	By : ShadowCat13 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 13165 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I could say otherwise I do not own Harry Potter. Sadly I don't make anything from writing this either.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
"Normal speech"

'Thoughts'

{Speaking Parseltongue}

.....

Chapter 5

Harry returned to the Manor with his new six month old Savann'zle kitten, Lerus, on a leash. When he'd been told the cat had been trained to walk on one by the shopkeeper Harry had been rather surprised, but as they'd left the shop and headed back to the Leaky Caldron he decided it was nice. It was easier than having a pet carrier he needed to carry around.

Of course he had still gotten one, along with the dark leather harness and leash the kitten wore that Harry though looked good with Lerus's fur. He had a lot of other things too. Eleanor had told him he needed things for his kitten and had started picking out a ton of supplies for him. Which ended up including a lot of cat toys.

"Do you remember the way back to your room?" Eleanor asked as they left the entry room with the large fireplace and stepped out into the room with the grand staircase.

Looking up at the balcony above them Harry thought a moment. "I think so."

"I'll let you go sort through your things in peace then," She told him. "If you do take a wrong turn though, call for Nizzy. He'll be your house elf from now on, so feel free to ask him for anything you need. Right now he should be putting away your clothes."

He'd have a house elf of his own? Given the size of the Manor and the fact Eleanor had spared nothing on him while they'd been out shopping, Harry likely shouldn't find that surprising. So after a moment of letting it sink in Harry nodded, even if he'd rather not have had one. He didn't want to insult the Potters by telling him he didn't need an elf.

Eleanor noticed the changing expressions, but chose not to comment on them, instead she told him. "Dinner is in three hours. Normally you'll be expected to come down and eat with us, but as you just arrived today, will let you eat in your rooms tonight if you're tired. If you feel like joining my husband and I in the family dining hall you can have Nizzy lead you there."

"Alright," Harry said, nodding again. He wasn't sure what he'd rather do at the moment, but was glad for the choice to not go if he felt like it. He was a bit tired from the shopping trip.

Leaving him alone with his new kitten, Eleanor left the marble floored room though one of the ground floor doorways he'd not yet been though. Wondering for a moment why anyone needed a place as big as this, Harry headed up the grand stairs and entered the family wing. As he went, Lerus trotted at his side, his curious eyes darting here and there in interest.

His memory of the way to his room turned out to be right, and soon Harry was back in his grayish blue carpeted rooms. Harry shut the door and then bent down to unleash Lerus. He immediately started to explore the room. Harry watched the curious kitten for a moment before he went into his bedroom. Harry sat down in the center of room and removed all the shrunk packages from his pockets. He spread them out in piles around him. Cat toys and such in one, while the games and books in others. For a bit Harry just sat there looking at all of it. He still felt a bit overwhelmed they'd gotten so much.

"Would Young Master bes wanting help putting these away?" A high pitched voice asked from somewhere behind Harry.

Jumping where he sat, Harry twisted around and come face to face with a large blue eyed and pointy eared, house elf. "Uh…. I think I've got it. If I need help I'll let you know," Harry said after he relaxed. "Are you Nizzy?" He asked looking over the elf. Its big eyes reminded him of Dobby but that was about all that was the same. This elf, that Harry thought was male because of the blue pillow case he wore, had a little bit of light brown hair on his leathery head between his big ears, and his nose wasn't as long as the other elf's had been, though was still pointy. Something about him made Harry feel the elf was younger then Dobby had been as well. Maybe because of the hair and the elf's skin. It was still a bit leathery looking, but much smother then most elves' he'd seen.

"Yes Young Master, sir. Is be Nizzy. Master Potter told Nizzy to be seeing to your care," Nizzy told him bowing.

Harry looked at the elf for a few long moments. He still didn't really want a personal elf, but he supposed he'd just have to deal with having one. And first off was seeing if he could get Nizzy to stop with the young master bit. It made him feel weird to be called that. He'd not even like Dobby calling him Master Harry.

"Nizzy, can you just call me Harry?" He asked, and hoped it would go easier than it had been to convince Dobby.

"Young Master wants Nizzy to call him by name?" The elf asked, looking shocked.

"Yes, I would very much like it if you would. I really don't like being addressed like that," Harry told the elf. He thought maybe it was going well. Nizzy wasn't crying anyway. A moment later though the elf started to shake his head from side to side.

"No, no. Nizzy mustn't. Nizzy must show Young Master proper respect!" Nizzy said as he shook his head.

Sighing Harry turned around more and reached out to hold Nizzy still. "It's not disrespectful if I want you to. Wouldn't it be more disrespectful to not do as I want?" He asked. Harry didn't like manipulating the elf like that, but he also didn't want to be call 'young master' all the time either.

Nizzy blinked and then slowly nodded. "Nizzy will do as youn…. Harry asks."

"Thank you," Harry said smiling. The elf still seemed unsure, but beamed at the praise.

"If… Harry has nothing for Nizzy to do, Nizzy will go do his other chores," The elf told him and then vanished with a pop after Harry nodded.

Harry looked at were the house elf had been for a moment longer before he turned his attention back to the packages on the floor around him. Harry decided to take care of his books and games first as he thought they would be the easiest to take care off. Unwrapping the books, Harry brought them over to one of the empty shelves. For now he just put all the fantasy on one row, the mystery on another and the fable books below that.

It didn't take him long to put away his Puzzles and Wizards and Monsters stuff either. He just picked one of the cabinets and put them all inside for the time being. He decided he could sort the stuff later once he knew more about the game.

The cat care supplies and toys though he had to do more with. He could, and did, just dump most of the care stuff, like a brush and some special shampoo in a drawer he noticed, near his bathroom door. The other stuff thought he needed to decide where to put. Eleanor had grabbed a lot of toys. Balls, squeaky toys, even some that when activated would run or bounce around for Lerus to chase. Deciding the kitten didn't need all of them out, Harry put over half away in the drawers as well and drop the five or so remaining ones on his bed for now. That left the cat tower and kitty bed for him to find places for though.

Thinking Harry looked around his room for a place to put the tower once he put it together. With all the shelves though, there really wasn't a good spot. But maybe he moved one or two…

"Nizzy?" Harry called, thinking it might be better after all to let the house elf help him.

As soon as he'd said the elfs name there was a pop and Nizzy stood before Harry. "Young… Harry called for Nizzy?"

Harry nodded, "Can you help me move the shelves around? I need a place to set up the cat tower."

Nizzy smiled and nodded, "Where does Yo… Harry wants room for it?"

"Over there," Harry said pointing to a spot long the wall a little away from his bed. There was already a bit of space between two book shelves and he thought if they just moved one of them somewhere else, maybe they could put the shelf in the sitting room, the tower would fit.

Looking to the spot Harry pointed to Nizzy waved his hand. He didn't make the shelf fly across the room as Harry would have expected though. The shelf stayed where it was, but the space between it and the other got bigger, without actually getting any bigger. Harry blinked then laughed. With magic he didn't need to move something to make room.

"Thank you Nizzy."

The elf beamed again at Harry. "That's be all Harry needs?"

Harry nodded and Nizzy disappeared with a pop again.

"Yeeow,"

Turning around Harry saw Lerus sitting on his bed near the toys. His attention wasn't on them though, but rather were Nizzy had been. Hoping the Kitten didn't view elves as something to 'hunt' Harry walked over to the bed and held his hand out for the cat to sniff again. He may have taken Lerus home, but he still need to let the kitten get use to him.

After a moment Lerus butted his head into Harry's hand so he petted the kitten till he'd decided he had enough of that, and swatted at his hand.

Glad Lerus was better tempered then Crookshanks, he might have used his claws to get the point he didn't want to be petted across, Harry got up and went back to getting the Cat tower set up. Its pieces were wrapped in brown paper. After unwrapping it Harry saw the stone like material was colorless. Picking up the instructions, which weren't much, Harry read that all he had to do was set the pieces where he wanted the tower and then command it to build its self by saying 'Make the grand kitty tower'. Harry rolled his eyes at the code words. The paper also said once it was built it the stone would turn a shade that would best match its surroundings.

Deciding to give it a try, Harry used his phoenix wand to levitate the pieces were he wanted the tower. He chose to use that wand as it was still the one he felt most comfortable with. Once they were where he wanted them he did as the paper said.

"Make the grand kitty tower," Harry said, feeling a little ridiculous saying the words. They worked though, the piece floated up into the air and started to fit themselves together. In a matter of minutes, where it might have taken him an hour or so to do by hand, Harry had the tower built. It settled into place just where he'd wanted it to be and took on a darker grey color. It looked a bit like a classical wizard's tower with cone shaped tiled dark blue roofs. It was tall and had an extra tower stuck on the left side half way up. There were a few hollow areas and platforms for Lerus to lay on. And a few fuzzy hanging things for him to bat at. Its base was half hallow with some pillars for support.

Harry had though it would be a light color as the walls were pale and the carpet wasn't too dark either, but decided this shade looked better then what he had been thinking. It stood out, but wasn't too in your face about it.

Lerus hopped off the bed and wandered over to look at the tower. After eyeing it a few moments he ran his claws down a pillar, that was there for that purpose, before he jumped up to one of the higher openings and laid down. Taking that as Lerus liked the tower Harry picked up the large fluffy brown and bronze cat bed and tried to decide where to put it. In the end he placed it in an open area a few feet away from the fire place.

.....

Harry hadn't gone do down to have dinner with Eleanor and William. When the time came around Harry was feeling tired so had Nizzy bring him up a tray of food. The next morning though Harry did go to the dining hall after he feed Lerus his own breakfast. He'd been told fresh meats would be best for the kitten. This morning Nizzy had prepared Lerus' meals for the day, but Harry planned to start preparing them himself after this.

As Nizzy led the way to where Harry would eat breakfast with his foster family, the small elf told Harry there were two dining halls at the manor. A smaller one for just family and close friends, and a larger fancy one for stately diners. When Harry got to the small one for just the family though, he decided he didn't want to see the fancy one. This room was impressive looking enough for him.

The walls were wallpapered, a cream and gold design. The floor unsurprising was a rich polished hardwood. A few portraits hung here and there around the room and the right wall had a couple large windows that should the grounds, that harry was thought were magical. He as sure the room wasn't located along an outside wall. In the center of the room was a fancy looking long wooden table that like could seat twenty or so people with no problems.

William and Eleanor were already there when he entered the room, and smiled at him when he slowly made his way over. William gestured to a set to the left of where he sat at the head of the table. After Harry had sat down an English breakfast had appeared before him, as well as the nutrient potion he was expected to take every morning for likely the next year. As he picked up the potion, William asked, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes," Harry nodded after he'd downed the nasty tasting potion. "I sleep better than I have in a long time." Like at the hospital he'd had no nightmare while he'd slept. He hoped this continued, but he wasn't going to bet on it. He was too used to the nightmares and guessed it was only a matter of time before they came back. He was happy for the respite though.

Glad to hear that William and his wife smiled. "I'm glad. Today is likely going to be busy. I have a lot I need to talk to you about today, and Lord Slytherin-Black will be here at two this afternoon to look at the runes on your chest. James should also show up sometime during the afternoon."

Harry nodded slowly. He knew he'd likely be seeing Tom this weekend, though he'd rather not, but he was surprised to learn he'd be meeting James so soon. He was still going to school after all. "Why will James being coming to the Manor?" He asked curiously.

"Were students in your reality not allowed home for the weekend?" Eleanor asked.

Looking over at where she sat Harry shook his head. "No, or well at least not that I'm aware of," Harry said. He supposed it was possible that it had been allowed, but if so he'd never been told or heard about anyone going home.

William nodded, "Here the student are allowed to come home on the weekends if their grades are good. James normal comes home around lunch and stays the night, then goes back Sunday evening."

"Have you told him about me?" Harry asked. He wasn't sure what would happen if James didn't know and come home to a surprise… foster brother? Harry thought that was the best term for what he and James would be right now. He didn't want to think of his as his father. It would just be too weird as he was only a couple years older than Harry. And technically he wasn't here.

"We have," William nodded."He doesn't know the truth about where you came from, but he does know you appeared here and have been in St. Mungo's recovering, though not why you were there. I talked to him about the possibility of taking you in last weekend, and sent him an owl last Thursday to let him know I had taken you in as a foster," William told him. He continued to watch Harry as the three ate for a few minutes before he said. "I'm not entirely sure how well he's taken to the idea… We have rather spoiled him and I fear he may feel jealous towards you for a while. Don't hold it against him."

Harry could easily imagine them spoiling James. It was sort of what he felt they'd been doing to him when Eleanor took him shopping yesterday. "I'll try not to get too annoyed with him," Harry promised.

After that the talk turned to other things, like if Harry had gotten all his things put away, and then some talk of the books he'd gotten after William asked about his choices. It helped Harry relax some. After the meal was over William asked Harry to go with him to his study.

The room was in the part of the house across the balcony from the family wing, a part of the House he'd yet to see. On the way they passed a large archway that led to a library Harry thought might rival Hogwarts'. He'd thought the Manor would have a nice one, but hadn't expected it to be that large.

Williams study turned out to be a comfortable room with dark wooden floors and red wallpapered walls. It made Harry wonder again if it was the man favorite color. In the room there was a small fire place, a comfortable looking sofa, a large desk with a high backed chair behind it and a couple smaller one before it. There were also numerous shelves and cabinets full of all kind of things.

William led Harry to the sofa and asked, "Do you have any idea what it means to be a member of a noble pure-blood family?"

"Uhmm," Harry had a feeling the answer wasn't to act like a snob that was better than everyone else as Draco Malfoy had done. So he shook his head slowly.

William signed, but he had expected an answer like that. He didn't see how Harry could have learned being raised by muggles, and it didn't seem to him anyone had told him about his heritage after starting school. "For a lot of us it's a matter of great pride. It signifies us as wizards that are connect to magic in ways normal wizarding families are not. In ways that not even all pure-bloods are. That makes some of us feel we are superior. I personally believe we just have a lot more responsibilities is all. While an average wizard celebrates the old holidays and practices the old ways for fun or to feel closer to the noble families, they don't really have to. "

The old noble Families though do. Because of our stronger connections and promises to magic made long ago by our ancestors, we are duty bound to celebrate them. We practice old magic and perform ancient rituals for the same reason. We need to show we still remember and honor the raw natural magic all around us."

Harry hadn't expected to be told something like that, but it actually made a lot of since. It also explained why pure-bloods were so worried about wizarding ways being lost to muggle influence in his reality. "What would happen to a wizard of a pure-blood house that didn't?" He asked quietly.

William didn't say anything for a few moments as he looked at Harry. "The older, wild forces of magic would feel betrayed and punish that wizard. They'd likely go insane or lose all their magic."

Harry stared at William horrified. He was from an old noble family and no one had though he needed to know about any of this!? Pushing down his fear and anger he asked a William, "Is magic sentient?" The way he'd spoken almost sounded if it was.

William shook his head though. "Not in the way you and I are. A lot of us believe that magic in its purest form, raw and wild can have a will of its own, but that will is something ancient. Primal. It's not something any wizard has been able to fully comprehend. All we know is the magic's will can be influenced by us. That's what some believe accidental magic to really be. Wild magic reaction to unspoken desires and wishes."

Harry nodded slowly. He wasn't sure what he believed about magic yet, but that didn't sound too far out there to Harry.

For the next few hours William told Harry more about the old ways and the things the potters celebrated. Like Midsummer's day, Samhain, and Yule. He explained the special ways there family celebrated the holidays and a little about the rituals that they performed yearly. William kept purposely vague about the rituals though, telling Harry he'd have to see them to really understand them.

While they'd talked William had summoned Mizzy to bring them drinks and sandwiches as he didn't plan to end their discussion for lunch. So they ate in the study while they talked. Or William talked with Harry asking a question now and then.

After that, a little before Tom was to arrive, William changed the topic to other things Harry would need to learn. William told him he'd already contacted a tutor to come and teach Harry proper etiquette on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Harry had a feeling he wasn't going to be enjoying that, but just nodded. He also was told on Monday he was going to be tested to see if how his schooling compared to this reality's standards. Harry wasn't sure how that would go either. While he didn't have O's in everything like Hermione had, he did well enough. But the way William had said it, made him feel he didn't think much of the reality Harry was from. Not that he could blame him… Harry himself wasn't too happy about a lot of stuff there.

The one thing William told him he'd be learning to do that got him excited though, was that Eleanor planed to teach him how to ride a few time a week. They'd be starting with land bound horses and then go to the Pegasi when he was ready.

A pop and the appearance of Mizzy signaled the end of their conversation. "Lord Slytherin-Black be here's to see Masters new ward," The female elf said with a bow.

.....

On the way to the parlor they'd be seeing Tom in, Harry and William ran into James. It seemed he'd been stalking around the halls near his father's study. Harry stopped when he saw James. He couldn't help but stare. He really did look a lot like Harry. They both had mess black hair, though James seemed able to tame his better, wore glasses, and had similar facial features. Harry of course had Green eyes though, while James were a dark hazel. They both would have been tall and thinly muscled too, if not for Harrys childhood. Because of that Harry was a lot shorter then he could have been. And seeing James, who was easily six feet tall, made him feel even smaller, being only a few inches over five feet.

James was staring and taking in just how much they looked alike too. After a few minutes he seemed to get angry and turned, stalking off without having said anything.

"I'll talk to him later," William promised with a sigh as they continued on their way to meet with Tom. Harry was feeling even less like he wanted to do this now, but he went along. When they got there William went in first and greeted Tom. Harry hesitated in the doorway as he looked at the man. He was much the same as last week, no red eyes and just a different set of dark robes this time. They were a black and purple this time and even if Harry didn't want to, thought they looked good on him.

Entering the room Harry went to sit on the chair across from Tom and next to William. After he'd sat down Tom turned his dark brown eyes to him. "I don't have as much time today as I did last weekend. I'd like to get right to it. If you don't mind?" He added when he noticed his orders where making Harry start to look as if he might mind. Sometimes Tom really wondered why he'd decided to become a teacher… He really didn't like dealing with the stubbornness most teens had. But at least he did know how to read people and get them to do as he wanted.

Harry eyed Tom for a few moments before he decided the faster he did this the sooner Tom would be done. Standing up Harry took off his outer robe, smoky grey with some runes embroidered along the hem today, and set it on the chair. He then removed the chain like belt around his waist so he could take off the light under robed he had on. It was grey as well, though a little lighter then the over robe was, and had a bit of stitch work on it as well. Once he had it off all he had left on was his black pants. He had no need to remove those though, so Harry sat back down.

Tom stood up and walked round a glass or maybe crystal coffee table between them to get a better look. Harry tensed a little but held still, telling himself Tom Slytherin-Black wasn't a madman and didn't have any reason to want to hurt him.

Still he could help but move back when one of Tom's long fingers brushed against the carved runes.

"Hold still," Tom demanded not even looking up at Harry. All his attention on the runes. Harry glared down at his head, but didn't move the next time Tom's finger touched him. {Anchor, Bind, Home, Body, Magic, Soul, and Life…} Tom hissed in parseltongue as he traced each one.

"Is that what each one stands for?" Harry asked. "What do they mean all together?"

Pulling back Tom looked up at Harry with far more interest then he'd done before. "I said that in the language of the snakes. You understand Parseltongue?"

Realizing to late that Tom had indeed spoken in Parseltongue and not English Harry, inwardly cursed himself. He wasn't sure he'd wanted Tom to know yet. If ever… It was too late now though so he just nodded.

"Say something," Tom ordered.

Harry stared at him for a few long moments. He kind of felt like refusing till he asked if he would and stopped telling him what to do. "I can't easily without seeing a snake," He said eventually.

Waving his hand Tom conjured a small black snake with a few gleaming green scales. {Will this do?} Tom hissed softly.

Harry just nodded as she looked at beautiful snake and hissed back, {Yess.}

{Are the Potterss Parsseltonguess were you come from?} Tom asked, though from the tone of the hissing Harry knew he hoped not.

{Ass far ass I know, no the Potterss weren't Parsselmouthss,} Harry hissed back.

"Interesting," Tom murmured switching back to English. "Parseltongue is a rare gift, and is known to only exist in few families. Do you know if you line is the same as here?"

William answered that. "I performed the Blood-heirity test on Harry last Wednesday. I've compared it to my family tree and I am sure it's the same. There are little variations here and there, but nothing in the main line."

Tom nodded, still looking at Harry with interest as he stroked his conjured snake. Harry wished he'd look somewhere else, or maybe go back to studying the runes some more. "Does it really matter why I can speak to snakes?"

"It might," Tom told him. "For all we know it could have something to do with what happened when we first meet. Have you even been told anything about why you can?"

Tom did have a point there Harry realized. And thinking about what Dumbledore had said about why he could, Harry realized maybe it was a good one. Harry wasn't sure he wanted to tell Tom what he knew, he still didn't trust the man, but decided he needed to. "Dumbledore once said that he thought Voldemort accidentally gave me some of his power."

Tom lit up at that, "That Voldemort gave you power? That was his exact wording?"

"Accidentally did," Harry said, and nodded.

Tom looked back at the lighting shaped scar, before shaking his head. "I'd really like to talk to you more about this, but I believe I should finish looking at the runes Voldemort carved into you," He said and turned his eyes back to them.

For the next hour Tom continued to study them, now and then casting a charm. Mostly without telling Harry what it was for. He started to inform him though when Harry hissed he'd leave if Tom did it again. He also explained the others were just spells to give him more insight into various things. He never said what the various things where though.

When Tom was finally finished Harry asked again, "Do you know what the runes are for now?"

Tom just shook his head though. "No. I don't believe it's anymore harmful then the scar on your forehead is to you though."

Which didn't mean that much to Harry as the scar had given him enough problems over the years…

.....

After Tom had left Harry had pulled his robes back on and then gone up to his room. He caught another gimps of James before he went in his room, but before he could say or do anything the older boy went into his own room down the hall. Harry look where James had been, then shook his head. Harry didn't get why James was this upset about his father taking him in. Sighing he opened the door to his room and went inside. He was greeted by a meow, and Lerus running over towards him.

"At least you like me," Harry laughed at his kitten. He bent down to pet Lerus and after a moment picked him up. He meowed and wiggled a little, but other than that didn't seem to mind being held too much. Harry took him into the bedroom and set him on his bed. Jumping off Lerus picked up one of the jingling balls he'd scattered around the room then jumped back on the bed with it. He dropped it before Harry and looked at him expectantly. He had to meow and bat it a few times before Harry got want he wanted and started rolling it around. Lerus would whack it back at him with a paw.

As they played Harry accidently rolled it passed Lerus and off the bed. The large kitten just darted after it and brought it back. After that Harry on purposely rolled it off the bed as it seemed like Lerus had fun going after it. Soon he was tossing it across the room and into his sitting room for the kitten to dash after. It was rather dog like, but both he and the kitten were enjoying themselves.

After a while though the kitten was panting and looking rather tired, so Harry decided that was enough play for now. He called Nizzy to bring Lerus as some water. He watched the kitten drink for a moment before walking over to the cabinet he'd stored his Wizards and Monsters gaming stuff in. He had an hour before it was time for dinner, and decided to spend the time reading the games rules.

Taking the started box and core book set out, Harry went back over to his large bed. There he opened the box and started to look though what it came with. He set the small mat and figures on his bed after looking at them a moment, before turning his attention to the character 'sheets' and starter book. Though maybe pamphlet would be a better term for it. Looking at it Harry saw it was a just a few chapters from one of the core books he had. So he put it back in the box and used the book instead.

While he was reading though it, Lerus come to look at the stuff he'd spread around him, but grew bored after a bit and went over to his tower. Harry looked up as he left for a moment, before going back to his reading.

Harry had only gone over few of the chapters in the character creation book before it was time for him to go down to dinner. There was just a lot of information to read about in that one book alone. It started off by explaining the basics of the dice used to play, and then the different character stats and how they were decided. A lot of them had to do with race or class abilities. He'd only started to read about the different 'light' races before he'd had to stop reading. The book detailed each race in two chapters, one for the light races and another for the dark ones, and then had individual chapters for all the classes. And that was only the first quarter of the book.

Thinking this game was going be a lot more complicated then he'd originally though, Harry marked his place and left the room. As he walked Harry decided he didn't mind it wasn't a simple game. He didn't mind having to use his head, and anyway this was first game he had picked out on his own to learn, and he didn't want to give up just because it wasn't simple.

When Harry arrived in the dining room, he saw that he was the second to arrive. William was there, and gave Harry a smile as he came in. Harry headed over to where he'd sat before, but paused before he got there. "Should I sit where I did this morning?" He asked, unsure. For all he know there was different setting requirements for each meal. James being here might also change things.

William just nodded though, "That's the first foster child's place. You only need to sit there at dinner though. For breakfast or lunch you're free to sit father down the table if you wish."

Harry nodded as he took his place at the table. He wasn't sure why it mattered where they each sat. But guessed he would find out when his etiquette lessons started.

A few moments after Harry had sat down, the doors opened again and Eleanor and James strode into the room. Eleanor seemed her normal cheerful self, but it seemed to him that James was sulky. Not looking at Harry he walked over and sat in his place. That happened to right next to Harry on his left side. William sent James a look, and then sent an apologetic one to Harry.

Moment's later platters and dishes filled with all kinds of delicious smelling food appeared before them. To Harrys surprise before they started eating William said a few words in thanks to magic and nature for the food they were about to eat. Harry couldn't recall any other wizard 'praying' before a meal so it caught him a little off guard. He wondered if it was one of the things old pure-blood families did.

After he was finished William looked to his son, "James, I'd like to introduce to you your new foster brother, Harry."

At first James didn't say anything, just looked back at his father. After a few moments he gave in and turned to Harry. Holding out a hand he said in a neutral sounding voice, "It's a pleasure to meet you Harry."

Harry took his hand. If they'd hoped this would get James to stop acting as he'd been though, they were sadly mistaken. James pulled back his hand as soon as it was polite to and turned his attention to his own food without saying anything else.

At first they ate in silence, but after a little while Eleanor asked James how the past week had gone at Hogwarts. He told her about his classes and a prank he and Sirius had pulled to turn a fourth year Slytherins hair red and gold. Despite being annoyed that James was avoiding or ignoring him when that wasn't possible, Harry found that a funny, and chuckled quietly. As James was right next to him, he heard and glanced over at Harry for a moment before looking back at his mother.

When the meal was finished and the last traces of their desert pudding disappeared from the table James stood up. "Goodnight Mother, Father," James said looking at each in turn. He glanced over at Harry as well be didn't say anything, before he left.

Once he was gone William shook his head and sighed, "I don't know why he's taken such a dislike towards you, Harry. I do believe once he gets used to you he'll come around."

Harry could only nod his head and hope so. It hurt a little that James was acting like this. He could deal with it, he'd lived his aunt and uncles hatred of him for years, but he'd not expected it here. Sighing Harry bid the older couple a good night as well and returned to his room.

.....

AN- Sorry for the wait in getting this Chapter up. I was hit by a mix of writes block and no motivation to do anything... Anyway I hope it worth the wait.

And as always I thank all that have read this and reviewed. Seeing the odd review new and then when did help me feel like I need to get back to work on this.
- 5
- 6
- 7
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A Reality to Live