The Meaning Of Family

Sorry, everyone for taking so long to update but life decided to take a detour away from me but I hope this long chapter makes up for the wait, I don't think it's very good but I hope you do, anyway thanks for reading my fic and enjoy. Please review.

Thanks to all my reviewers and readers, and for the help of a few for your ideas, and
even though I didn't use them I still appreciate the help. Thanks again everyone. Enjoy!


Mithrilandtj:
Thanks you for your review, and I just wanted to answer your review to clear up the matter that you mentioned, when I said about the snow in Australia at Christmas time, I meant in their living room that Sirius created, not outside, they also went to the beach because it's summer here in Australia at that time of year, so anyway thanks again for your review, I hope that helps, thanks.


Thanks everyone and I hope you all enjoy this Chapter.

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Chapter 7


The Magical Square



July 31st 1987.

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"SIRIUS" Harry's voice echoed through the large home to reach Sirius' ears in the dining room down stairs where he was sitting waiting for Harry. He had Harry's Birthday breakfast waiting for him, for the last ten minutes, and upon hearing Harry's yell a grin tugged at his face and a soft chuckle escaped him.


Harry had just woken up, stretched and slipped his feet out from the bed covers and onto the floor, when he suddenly felt something wet, cold and slimy on the bottom of his feet and in between his toes, he looked down and saw he was standing in something purple, glaring at his feet he muttered softly to himself "that's it he's going to be sorry by the end of the day I'm going to get him back for this, then we will see who has the last laugh". As he said this an idea was forming in his mind of his payback for Sirius and just the thought of it was enough to make him laugh aloud.


Grinning he walked into his bathroom and had a shower readying himself for the busy day ahead of him as this was going to be the day he and Sirius were getting his wand from The Magical Square in Salem, and he was very excited about it as he knew from what Sirius told him that pureblooded families got their children wands earlier then other families and even though he wasn't a pureblood Sirius was and had his first wand when he was 7 years old so he believed it was better for the child this way to learn as early as possible as much as possible, so with that they decided to get him his first wand on his 7th birthday.


He was dressed in his favourite emerald green shirt that hung out over his black jeans because he didn't want to tuck it in, the reason he liked the shirt so much was because emerald green was his favourite colour mainly due to his eyes being that colour and he hadn't seen anyone else with the same colour eyes as him so he liked the fact that it was not common, he knew from Sirius that his mother had green eyes too but he also knew that her's weren't emerald like his from the pictures he had seen from Sirius, and he liked to be different. Then he put his cloak over his clothes before heading down stairs.


Harry walked down into the dining room to see Sirius waiting for him to enter before he started eating breakfast himself, Harry sat down and stared at Sirius for a few long seconds before starting to eat his bacon, eggs and toast, "was that my birthday present from you this morning Sirius" Harry said after having a sip of his apple juice and sitting in silence for a few minutes to make Sirius stew for a while before thanking him for the breakfast, as he knew Sirius helped Daffy with it this morning due to it being his birthday.


"Nah I just wanted you to hurry up and get ready once you got out of bed, and it wouldn't be the same if you didn't have a good morning to remember the day by" Sirius replied with a grin.


"You do know I will get you back for it though don't you?" Harry asked before taking another bite.


"You can't prank a prankster Harry" Sirius said with confidence, although Harry could sense the uncertainty that Sirius was trying to mask.


Harry smiled at this and said "you should know by now that I always get you back, especially when you least expect it". Sirius just grinned at Harry and shook his head and replied "not going to happen". "We'll see" replied Harry, whilst hiding his devious smile behind his glass and taking a sip.


"Are you excited about today Harry?" Sirius asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence whilst they continued to eat.


"Yeah I can't wait, but I was wondering how we are going to get there, are we going by floo?"


"Yes we will get the floo to the pub in the square and make our way from there, are you going to tuck your shirt in though Harry?" Sirius asked with a smile.


"No, why would I do that?" Harry asked with a funny look on his face.


"Well you do look like nobody owns you, you know" Sirius laughed.


"I don't care what other people think I like what I look like anyway and that's all that matters, and besides you can't talk" Harry said whilst looking at Sirius' own shirt hanging out of his black jeans.


"That's because nobody but me owns me and I have to dress myself and when it comes to things like fashion and clothes I don't know what I'm doing, as long as it fits that's all I go on" Sirius responded with a laugh.


"Well nobody owns me either and it's not like I don't know fashion unlike someone I know" Harry said with a laugh "but I like this shirt just the way it is and I think I'll be taking you shopping and teaching you about fashion one day, besides if anyone says anything or looks at me strangely I'll just tell them that I learnt from the best" Harry walked out of the dining room laughing at the look on Sirius' face which looked like he was trying to stop himself laughing whilst glaring at the same time, in short it was hilarious.


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"The Drunken Nomad" Sirius said, with one hand holding Harry's and the other full of floo powder, Sirius threw the floo powder into the flames whilst standing infront of the fireplace, before stepping into the now green flames with Harry following his stride. Sirius didn't want Harry to go by himself first or last so he said they would be going together and that it was the safest way.


They arrived at the small pub, and if not for Harry holding Sirius' hand he knew he would've fallen over but as soon as the motion stopped Harry quickly let go of Sirius' hand and went to step out of the fireplace when Sirius grabbed his left shoulder and told him to stay very close and not to draw too much attention to them. Sirius had disguised Harry as much as Harry would let him by changing Harry's hair colour to a dark brown and covering his scar with a concealing charm, but only lightening his eyes a little as Harry wouldn't let him take too much of the emerald colouring out, he also disguised himself by making his hair from black to a lighter brown and his eyes from blue to brown, with his hair tied back instead of making it shorter as he looked different anyway since the public had last seen him many years ago.

With a small nod of his head Harry stepped out of the fireplace with Sirius right by his side, Harry looked around in interest, the small pub was dark and only lit by the numerous candles in their dragon candle holders on the tables and some put around the room on the walls and behind the bar. Directly across from them was the bar with many people sitting on the bar stools, behind the bar to his left was an open doorway that looked to be the entrance to the back room, to his left were tables along the back wall and also along the left wall and around the floor with a few people sitting at a couple of them and to his right he noticed was the door with tables along the right wall to the back of the room with a corner table set in the right back corner and along the back wall heading to the right side of the fireplace.


They walked along the small pathway through the middle of the room before turning to the right and heading for the door as they got closer to the door Harry noticed a staircase to his left on the right of the bar heading upstairs and figured it must lead to the rooms where the owners lived, just as he was about to step out of the pub he saw movement to his right and turned to see the dragon on the candle holder was moveing and twisting around the candle instead of staying still, and stopped to look at Harry before blowing a small cloud of smoke at his face and lifting it's head up in a self satisfied manner before turning and continued to twist around the candle stick, making Harry chuckle at the arrogance of the small dragon, he had never seen anything like it before even though he wasn't knew to the magical world.


"The Dragons are a very proud race and you can never tell the mood or intent of a dragon until it makes it's move and by then it's usually too late to do anything about it, they are also very patient and can stay there staring at you for a long time until you don't know if to run away or talk to them" Sirius explained after seeing the Harry looking at the Dragon and the Dragon's reaction to Harry looking at him.


Harry just nodded his head at Sirius before looking to the Dragon once more then stepping through the doorway towards the outside.


"They sound like the kind of species that could hold a good conversation then" Harry said, as he looked around the big square, there were shop signs all around that moved and changed along with the pictures they showed.


"Yes, if you could manage that in the first place though, they don't talk to many people now"


"You mean they did once before?" Harry asked.


"Yes but that was a long time ago Wizards went Dragon hunting a century ago and the Dragons were hunted until they were almost extinct and then Voldemort came along and made a deal with the Dragons and must have promised a lot to get them to side with him, because after the hunting started they stopped talking to anyone but each other, so for them to start talking to a Wizard again they would have needed a good reason for it, and after they were allies of Voldemort they returned their numbers and hid deeper into the forests and mountains and only ventured out to do Voldemorts bidding, in some ways I'm glad Voldemort helped them but at the price it cost of all the Wizards lives lost im not sure it was worth it, but I wouldn't have liked to see the Dragons extinct after surviving for so long before we started to hunt them, as they are a very old race, so in a lot of ways I can understand why they sided with Voldemort as I'm sure they were promised revenge, and although I can't blame them for it they killed many Wizards."


"I would love to be able to talk to a Dragon one day." Harry replied with a smile. He loved the sound of the Dragons and would be happy if he just got to see one once in his life, even if he didn't get to talk to one.


They started off towards the left side of the square from the pub and headed for the wand shop. On the way Harry looked at the shop signs and through the shop windows with interest, he wanted to explore but knew he wouldn't be able to, but he promised himself he would come back here one day and have a look at some of the shops.


"I know it's your birthday Harry, so we can stay out and look around for a little while after we get your wand and have some lunch". Sirius said, as they continued to walk.


"Really?" Harry asked, with a look of shock on his face, he didn't think Sirius would want to stay out longer then they had to, as he got very on edge when they went out in case anyone recognized them as he was Harry Potter and missing and then there was Sirius Black and wanted for crimes he didn't do.


"Yeah it should be alright if we're careful, but we won't stay out for too long" Sirius said with a smile.


"OK" Harry said and nodded in agreement.


They walked the rest of the way in silence and just looked around at the shops and people whilst keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious, then came to a stop outside a small little shop with a dark window to either side of the door, which was also dark.


"I wish there was another wand shop in Salem's Magical Square, that we couldv'e went to instead of this place". Sirius said with a wary look on his face.


"Why?" Harry said with a frown, "I don't mind the dark and besides I like the look of this shop."


"How can you like the look of the shop from the outside if you can't see inside the shop?" Sirius asked with a look of confusion.


"That's why I like it, no one can see you inside." Harry replied with a shrug.


Harry looked up at the sign above the door and said to himself in a whisper "Darkness Le Mass"


Sirius looked up to where Harry was looking when he heard Harry whisper, and gave a shiver at the name.


"Plus it adds to the name doesn't it?" Harry asked.


Sirius just nodded and said "stay close to me Harry, I don't want anyone getting any ideas if he recognizes one of us or both." Harry gave a nod and followed Sirius inside the shop close behind once he opened the door.


Once inside Harry had the chance to have a look around the dark shop which had the counter infront of them and a staircase to the left of it and a door behind the counter which lead to the back room, from which a tall skinny man whom looked to be at least 6 foot tall with black hair that flowed down his back and stopped just short of his hips, white skin and dark brown eyes, entered from.


"Welcome to 'Darkness Le Mass'" He said in a quiet tone, once he saw Harry and Sirius standing at the counter.


"My name is Mr Bracken and this is my shop and I am the wand maker, but I am not just any wand maker, no" Mr Bracken said, shaking his head a little.


"Is this your first wand young man?" Mr Bracken asked, after he looked over the two of them and stopped his eyes on Harry's, in the same soft tone making Harry's skin tingle and the hair on Sirius' arms stand on end. He didn't like the way this man was looking at Harry.


"Yes Sir." Harry replied, not really bothered by the older man's scrutiny of him but all the same wary of the way he seemed to know who he was and worried about what he might do if he did recognize them, and not bothered by the way his voice made his skin feel nice. Mr Bracken gave him a slight smile.


"Which arm do you feel more comfortable using?" Mr Bracken asked.


"My right."


Mr Bracken gave a nod to Harry once he got his answer. "Right well now that we got that out the way I will need you to go through that door behind the counter" Mr Bracken said whilst motioning his hand towards the door the wand maker had come through earlier.


Harry felt Sirius tense at those words and he also felt uneasy with the thought of going through to the back room without Sirius. "Don't worry you don't have to go back there by yourself," Mr Bracken said after seeing them tense, "like I said before I am not just any wand maker we all have our own way of doing things, and my way is I don't have any wands already made, I make them for the customer after they arrive, so you get the right wand for you instead of an already made wand that isn't right for you, now what I want you to do is go into the back room and pick out the items that draw your attention away from the rest."


Harry gave a slight nod of his head before following the wand maker to the back room, Sirius right behind him. When he walked into the room the first thing he noticed was that it was darker then thefront room, lit by only one candle on the far wall that gave off an earthy smell, which brought thoughts of a dark and ancient forest full of tall, wide trees, and made him feel relaxed and at home.


"The reason it is so dark in here is because I want you to go by feel and not by sight and the scent of the candle is to relax your mind and sense's to enable you to feel what draws you the most." Mr Bracken said in almost a whisper that rolled off Harry's ears and made him feel all his sense's at once and he wondered if the wand maker was enchanting them with his voice and if Sirius felt as peaceful as he did.


Harry just stood there for a minute before he was drawn towards his left where there was a counter against the wall that had an assortment of jars and containers atop it. As he walked along the side of the counter he felt as though he was in a world of his own and all that mattered was what he was doing and nothing else, as he neared the middle of the counter he stopped as if something had told him to and was holding him in place and wouldn't let him go anywhere else, he reached out with his right hand towards a black container that had a carving of a large tree on the lid, Harry opened it up to reveal a long black stick, which he assumed would become his wand once complete. It was a long stick of Ebony wood, and removed it from it's tomb.


Harry then moved along the rest of the counter towards the back of the room where there was another counter but was covered in a black silk cloth from end to end and completely covering the table top, on which sat a numerous amount of jars filled with dark liquids, he stopped infront of a small jar with dark liquid that looked a lot like blood, but he couldn't be sure, he picked it up and couldn't help but notice that it was warm and had a slight glow to it that made it look like it was filled with liquid rubies, he added that to the Ebony wood stick he was holding in his left arm. He kept walking until he finished at the end of the counter to the right side of the room near the door and stopped next to another jar, this one almost as tall as the Ebony wood stick that was in his left arm, was long. With his right hand he picked it up and brought it closer to his eye to examine it better, and noticed it was filled with a large white tooth that looked a lot like a fang from a snake that would be at least sixty foot long, with some form of liquid at the bottom of the jar that he assumed was venom.


With his last item chosen, he walked to where Sirius was standing with the wand maker, who was waiting for him to finish choosing his items needed for his wand. Once there Harry handed the jars and the piece of Ebony wood to Mr Bracken and said in a quiet voice "This is all I felt was drawing me to them, Sir". He was feeling a bit at a loss after feeling so content and in his own world for what felt like a long time.


"Are you sure that's all there is?" Mr Bracken asked, after looking the items over for a minute.


"Yes Sir." Harry replied, unsure of why the wand maker was asking.


"Hm, I think we might be missing something." Mr Bracken said to himself. He stood there for a few minutes more looking at the items in his hands with a look of deep concentration.


"May I take something of yourself for the core of your wand seeing as though nothing here is calling for you, I believe the reason for this is because you need some kind of essence of yourself in your wand, it's what will connect you to your wand the most and I think it's what you need for your wand to work for you like it should?"


"What would you use of me?" Harry asked, looking at Mr Bracken as if he was asking him to cut off his arm just to finish his wand.


"I think a piece of your hair would do the trick." Mr Bracken replied with a chuckle at the look on Harry's face.


"OK", Harry gave a glance at Sirius as he plucked a strand of hair from his head, and noticed he was looking at him with a mix of concern and caution, Harry looked at the strand of hair in his hand and saw that it had turned back to black once he pulled it from his head, he handed it to the wand maker who looked it over for a moment before smiling at Harry and Sirius and telling them to wait in the front room whilst he made Harry's wand.


After what felt like a lifetime Mr Bracken walked through the door that connected the back room to the front room, and handed Harry a long, thin black box that had a silver snake head latched onto the front of the box with it's fangs connected to the bottom piece to keep it closed. After looking over the smooth black box and unclasping the snakes fangs from the little holes it was sunken into at the bottom, Harry gasped and couldn't believe this beautiful black stick was his wand and had all the ingredients he had previously chosen, inside it. Harry gently picked it up and looked at it more closely and noticed it had a carving of a snake with it's tail at the hilt and it's body wrapping around the length of the wand until it's mouth made the tip of his wand.


"How did you get the snakes fang in there?" Asked Harry, still looking at the wand in his hand and running a finger over it.


"I crushed it and mixed it with the venom that came with it in the bottom of the jar, and also with the Dragon blood you chose."


Harry's head jumped up at the wand makers words with a look of shock and noticed Sirius looked just as surprised.


"It's was Dragon's blood that I was drawn to?" Harry asked with wonder.


"Yes, but it's only natural as the Dragon's are very intelligent creatures, and I believe you are much the same, so it's only natural that one intelligent creature is drawn to another, they are special as I think you are." Mr Bracken replied in the same soft tones he always spoke in, with a sparkle in his eyes.


"Well we better get going now Harry," Sirius said whilst looking at the wand maker and asked "how much for the wand?"


"8 Galleons." Mr Bracken replied.


Sirius handed the money over to the wand maker, then touched Harry on the shoulder, and led him towards the door, when Harry was about to walk outside he turned his head to the side and looked at Mr Bracken one last time.


Mr Bracken watched them walk away towards the door and when Harry turned around he gave him a wink. Harry quickly turned away and walk outside with Sirius by his side and wondered what exactly just happened.


Once the door closed behind them Sirius told Harry to put his wand back in the box so he could shrink it and put it in his pocket, after Harry had finished he handed it over to Sirius who put it away.


"Well that was weird, I think he knew exactly who we were, I'm just glad he didn't try to do anything about it though." Sirius said in a whisper, Harry just nodded his head in agreement.


"Right, now we can get something to eat, I'm starving after such a long morning in that dark shop," Sirius said looking around for a place to eat. "How about we go over there, do you feel like eating at 'The Drunken Nomad' and then we can just go home from there or we can look around for a little while first, it's up to you birthday boy?"


"I just want to eat and then go home, will you teach me some spells today Sirius?"


"I dont know about some but I can start with an easy one for you, maybe the alohomora spell or something easy like that."


Harry and Sirius walked to the pub they had arrived through and found a seat in the back corner of the room, and ordered some chips with salad on the side. They ate their meals in silence then Sirius payed by leaving the money on the table, then walked over to the fireplace, Sirius grabbed some floo powder and whilst holding Harry's hand he threw the powder into the flames and whispered "Castle of the Seasons," before walking into the now green flames with Harry and disappearing.


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They arrived in the living room, they had left earlier that morning in, as the floo network was only linked to that fireplace in the house.


"I will teach you in the basement how to cast the alohomora spell as I think it would be safer in there then any other room in the house." Sirius said as he walked towards the stairs leading to the basement that was hidden behind a bookcase in the Library wall.


Sirius walked down the stairs with Harry behind him and took Harry's wand out of his pocket and unshrunk it, then handed it to Harry, who took with gentle hands and opened the box and took his wand out of it's protective casing. Fascinated by how smooth and well made it was, all 13 inches of it. Sirius conjured up a door with it's frame and locked it with a spell.


"OK, Harry I want you to point your wand at this locked door and with a little flick of your wand say 'alohomora', like this." Sirius showed him the flick of his wand and said "alohomora", and Harry heard a faint click come from the door, Sirius then opened it to show Harry that it was indeed unlocked before closing it, and relocking it once more. "Now it's your turn Harry," Sirius said as he turned to look at Harry.


Harry lifted his wand and gave it a little flick like he saw Sirius do and said in a clear voice "alohomora," but nothing happened, he tried again and again and still nothing was happening. He looked down at his wand and sighed.


"Never mind, Harry it's only your first try, just keep practising and you will get there," Sirius said with an encouraging smile. "You know the basics, now it can only get easier for you, so just stay possitive and you will do fine."


"Yeah I guess your right, I can't give up just yet." Harry said, with a shrug of his shoulders. Sirius vanished the door he had conjured earlier, then they made their way up stairs, out of the basement and back into the library.


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"HARRY" Yelled Sirius, as he looked at the pair of boxers he was wearing, after the rest of the day was spent just hanging around the house and having a nice dinner and cake for Harry's birthday, they were finished for the night and getting ready for bed, after Sirius had gotten into his black boxers, he noticed his they weren't the same as they where when he first put them on.


Harry was in his room getting changed for bed into his pajamas, waiting for the scream he was expecting to come any minute, when he heard "HARRY," chuckling to himself he quickly went to Sirius' room and stood in the door frame looking at Sirius with amusement, "yes Sirius," Harry said with a chuckle.


"What's this?" Sirius asked whilst looking at his pink boxers, with pictures of moving little kittens on them, and as pale as if he was trying to see if he could fade away, by becoming so pale you couldn't see him.


Harry couldn't help himself and lost what little control he had, and started laughing, "That's what happens when you try to prank me, I will always get you back," as Harry was saying this Daffy appeared next to him and took one look at Sirius and joined Harry at laughing at him.


"I had help of course, but it was my idea to make them change as soon as you put them on, and I wouldn't bother trying to take them off, as you can only do it after a few hours and I doubt your going to stay up all night waiting to take them off, so you might as well wear them to bed." Harry said chuckling, whilst Daffy was next to him trying to contain his laughter.


Sirius just stood there glaring at the two of them as Harry started laughing again, which then started Daffy off again, "Sorry, Master Sir, but i had no choice as I have to do as I'm told and Harry told me to do it," Daffy replied, laughing all the while.


"Goodnight Sirius," Harry laughed as he turned and walked back to his room, leaving an extremely annoyed Sirius in his wake, Daffy disappearing with a pop.


Sirius just continued to glare at the place where Harry was previously standing. 'I have taught him too well' Sirius thought as he started to get into his bed and mumbling to himself all the while. With a little smile tugging at his lips Sirius closed his eyes and fell asleep.


Harry walked back to his room feeling that revenge was sweet, with a smile across his face, he closed the door and hopped into bed, chuckling at the thought of Sirius standing there and the look on his face, Harry finally closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep, happy that he now had his wand and would soon know how to do magic himself.

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I hope you all liked this chapter, please read and review, Thank you all.

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