Harry Potter and the Serpent Items: Part 14

“Worked it out faster than your tenant.” Sirius snorted, amused.

“My... you met Powel?” Harry asked, pausing for a moment before pulling himself back on track. “If you don’t want to kill me why does everyone think you do? Aren’t you a Death Eater?”

“Because I was an idiot and no.” The last was said so firmly that Harry winced slightly, “I was never a Death Eater, but I made the mistake of trusting one, as did your parents. Now.” Sirius straightened slightly, not wanting to have the same conversation twice, “As your Godfather it’s my job to look after you, so I think I’m going to stick around for a while as your pet.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re apparently a trouble magnet and I can’t walk around on two legs.” Sirius chuckled, “Disguise charms only go so far after all. Besides, everyone thinks you have a dog now, so it’s a good cover.”

Harry couldn’t deny that fact. “So you’re really not trying to kill me?”

“No.” Sirius looked less amused this time, “Or do you not remember the guy who attacked you a couple of days ago?”

“People kept telling me that was you.” Harry defended himself, “Besides, I don’t remember anything after I felt the spell go past.”

Sirius grumbled something about ‘Powel not Harry’ and then shrugged, “It doesn’t matter. Now, if you don’t mind, I want a nap.” With that Sirius took dog form again and curled up under the table and went to sleep. Harry stared at him for a moment, trying to work out how Sirius was in clothes when he took human form, but had his collar when a dog then shrugged and turned to Luna. 

“I was hoping you could help me with something...”

“Helga’s already spoken to Powel.” Luna smiled at him, “So don’t worry. Unless he forgets he’s not going to get you chucked out of reality.”

“Chucked out of...” Harry trailed off, deciding that since it was Luna he probably wasn’t going to understand everything that came out of her mouth and the faster he understood that and worked around the fact the better.

Luna got off the bed and scooped something up off of the floor. Harry recognised it as one of the cards that he’d missed when he’d been collecting up his small army of Duel Monsters cards.

“You didn’t get this one from me.” Luna commented, showing his the Shining Friendship card that she’d picked up.

“No, I went into London and found Forbidden Planet. Then I bought almost all their stock...”

“It’s nice to have that sort of money in the Muggle world.” Luna nodded, amused by Harry’s embarrassment. “Do you have a deck built or would you like some help?”

“I have one built from cards that seem to like me. It’s untested though.”

Harry recognised the look Luna got. It was very similar to the one Ron gained when someone suggested a game of chess and he couldn’t help but be amused.

Several hours later he was in a rather different frame of mind as while he’d put up a decent challenge, Luna had squashed him six of the eight times they’d played against each other.

“It was the Ludios.” Luna patted his hand consolingly as she shuffled her deck and slipped it into her box, “They were stealing all your luck.”

“Maybe.” Harry let out a soft sigh and nodded, shuffling his bird cards and putting them away.

Luna got up and dusted herself off before offering Harry a hand to his feet. “You did well for your first time.” She informed him with an oddly serious look on her face. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Sure.” Harry nodded, surprised that Luna was willing to spend so much time with him, “I mean unless you have something you need to...”

Luna gave him a patient look, “I’m Loony Lovegood, remember?”

Harry did and then he felt a little guilty about thinking that Luna might just be humouring him. After all, while he had Hermione and the Weasleys, Luna didn’t have anyone except him to talk to. “Sorry.”

Luna just waved it off with a smile. “It doesn’t matter.” She turned to leave but paused at the doors, “Actually you’re going to be busy tomorrow, and for a few weeks... See you on the train?”

“Huh?” Harry replied intelligently, not used to Luna’s predictions.

“Enjoy your trip. Make sure you take lots of photos.” Before Harry could get Luna to explain she was gone, slipping out the door.

“I swear,” Harry complained at Padfoot, “She picks when to be crazy.”

Sirius just barked his agreement on that one, wondering when his Godson would work out that it was a female trait.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Harry insisted, “Though if the spirit of the Bracer’s going to behave I might visit the Weasleys...” Still musing he stepped into the bathroom attached to his room, got undressed, dumping the Bracer on a high shelf, told Padfoot to stay in the main room and started having a bath, only to get interrupted by a knock on the door and the sound of Padfoot barking.

“One minute.” Harry yelled, wrapping his towel around him and pulling on a robe, grateful that they were rather covering as he opened to door to an assortment of Weasleys at the door with huge grins on their faces. “Uh. Hi?”

Before he could get another word in edgeways, he had been glomped by a rather overenthusiastic Ginny, who swiftly realised he was soggy and not wearing anything under the robes and let go, blushing bright red.

“Not that I mind the invasion.” Harry spoke, just as tomato like as Ginny, “But I was kind of in the middle of a bath.”

“I apologise Harry.” Arthur said as he entered the room,  “But the kids wanted to share the news and I was hoping to extend an invitation.”

“News?” Harry asked, his hand on Padfoot’s collar as he watched Ron’s wriggling pocket, surprised that his friend had brought the rat back here after the last little episode.

“We won the lottery.” Ron grinned, “Us. The Wealseys. We won.”

Harry blinked at him, “What?”

“The Daily Prophet’s lottery. You know, the grand prize rollover jackpot?” Fred asked, settling on Harry’s bed, “The one we were talking about the other day?”

The information finally sank into Harry’s head and he grinned at the family who had been looking out for him since he’d met them, “Really?”

“Uh huh.” Ron nodded, amused that his little sister had gone silent after her enthusiastic hug, “Three thousand Galleons. All for us. And...”

“And that’s where my offer comes in, Harry.” Arthur interrupted his son, “I know Molly’s extended an invitation to you to stay with us over the summer, but we’re planning on using the money to fund a holiday in Egypt and we were kind of hoping you’d join us.”

Harry stared at him. “Seriously?”

“Of course if you don’t want to, we understand but...”

“No, no, of course I’d like to come.” Harry shook his head, “I just...” Harry glanced at Padfoot, who licked his hand and nudged him towards the oldest Weasley, “I’d have to find someone to look after Padfoot for me and I don’t have a passport.”

“You only need to fill out a couple of forms to get assigned a magical passport,” Mr Weasley grinned, “Unlike Muggles we have ways of making sure you’re who you say you are and we’re not going for a week or so. I need to arrange cover for my shifts in work after all. Why don’t you take the opportunity to send a letter to Hermione or Luna and see if they’ll take your dog for the duration of the holiday?”

Harry paused for a moment, then decided he was going to ask Luna since she knew about Sirius, while Hermione had been told about Padfoot but didn’t know about the bigger issue.

“You’ll finally get to meet Bill.” Fred or George grinned at him, “He’s wicked. He works for Gringotts as a Curse Breaker, gets to explore all sorts of ruins and tombs in Egypt. He’s got this awesome earring and...”

“And your mother will murder you if you even think about getting one like it.” Arthur told the twins, who looked like they were sulking. Harry knew better. If he was right they were probably scheming ways to get one without angering their mother.

“So where do I get a passport and how much do I need to pay?” 

“I picked up the paperwork on my way out.” Arthur grinned at him and handing it over, “We need passports too after all. And don’t worry. We have it covered.”

“But...” Harry started to protest, thinking of how much money was in his vault and how little money the Weasleys had.

“Now don’t go thinking that we shouldn’t be spending the prize money on you.” Arthur chuckled, interrupting Harry before he could get going, “We’re using it to treat the family to something we wouldn’t normally get and you’re family.” Harry frowned slightly, confused, “I assure you, Molly decided that back before you stole the flying car.”

Both Harry and Ron grimaced at the mention of the damned car that was currently haunting the Forbidden Forest.

“If it helps, think of it as eleven years worth of Birthday presents.” Arthur suggested, “Since we missed your first eleven.”

Harry nodded, still shocked that they would be willing to take him along on their family holiday, and made a note to take plenty of money with him anyway, so he didn’t have to spend the Weasleys’ any more than necessary.

“Now, as much as you all want to talk plans I think we should probably leave Harry to his bath, don’t you?” Arthur asked his children. Ginny and Harry went bright red again, but Fred and George took a rather different route. They picked Harry up by his armpits and his legs, carried him into the bathroom and dropped him into the bath.

Harry surfaced, coughing up bubbly water, to find Padfoot sat on one of the twins, while Percy was lecturing the other.

“You stupid idiot, you could have killed him...” Harry listened, rather amused, as Percy laid into the twins, but stayed in the bath, not really wanting to climb out in wet clothes while he had company. “...Don’t you ever think about what you’re doing?”

“Lighten up Perce,” Fred spoke, having been identified by his brother halfway through the rant, “It was only a bit of fun.”

“Yeah,” George added from his position underneath Sirius, “After all we have to prank our brothers. It’s mandatory.”

Any irritation Harry felt at getting dunked was washed away at that. He liked Fred and George. He wouldn’t have been able to get through the second year quite so easily without their teasing, and that they liked him enough to go along with his inclusion into the family was a relief and a joy. 

Still he let the Weasleys see themselves out and quickly locked the door behind them, before darting back into the bathroom and his nice, luckily still warm, bath.