Vita Magicis (HP SI-WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 15: Reunion

(A Week Later)

It had been a busy few days for us getting Sirius a fake ID, retrieving the locket Horcrux from 12 Grimmauld Place and helping Sirius buy a home out in the country and getting it fully furnished but we had done it.

The girls had been a huge help with the furnishing along with Kreacher once he was fully Stamped and healed making the process much easier.

Tonks had even paid a visit and boy was she surprised when she saw Sirius Black the supposed mass murderer calmly having breakfast with us while telling us about his days at Hogwarts.

It had taken about half an hour until she had calmed down and another half so I could explain what was happening and introducing the girls to her. She had surprisingly taken the news that I already had a harem of demi humans much better than the news about Sirius but I blamed that on the effects of the Stamp.

After her first visit, Tonks promised to come and visit at least once a week having become quick friends with the girls, especially Maya who was just as mischievous as her. Though I did have to endure a rather long talk with Sirius about dating his cousin before being teased mercilessly at every opportunity when she came over about liking older girls.

All in all, I found the Marauder a fun company to spend time with probably because I was mentally the same age as the man but no way was, I ever telling that to a known prankster.

Now we were making our way to Surrey with a nervous Sirius in tow who couldn’t stop muttering nervously to himself about Harry and Rose not wanting to move in with him.

I had long ago given up trying to correct the man and only rolled my eyes at his antics.

So, on the early 29 June, we made our way to 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey. Sirius was dressed in a common but expensive black and white muggle suit trying to look professional while I was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt.

Walking down the street to number 4, we made our way to the front door before politely knocking on the door frame. Hearing voices inside it only took a few moments before the door was opened and we were greeted with Petunia’s horse looking face.

“Good morning. Mrs. Dursley, I presume?” Getting in role Sirius greeted the woman politely though not quite being able to hide the anger behind his eyes that thankfully went unnoticed by Petunia.

“That’s right and who are you?” Ever the rude bint, Petunia stuck her nose in the air only making her look more like an ugly horse.

“I’m Sirius Black. Hmhm you probably don’t remember me but I was very good friends with James and Lily to the point I was named their Godfather.” Sirius introduced himself with a giant grin on his face loving the way the woman immediately turned pale and tried to slam the door in our face only to be stopped by my foot.

Shaking his head Sirius pushed the door open forcing the woman to back away in fear. “Now now, that wasn’t very nice Petunia. And here I was being very nice to you in spite of the rumors I’ve heard about how you treated Harry and Rose.”

Also entering the house, I silently closed the door behind me and just stood back for now and enjoyed the show that was about to come.

“W-What do you w-want with us?” Petunia managed to stutter out in fear her gaze fixed on Sirius and especially on his wand that he had taken out just to give the woman a scare.

“I want you to release custody of Harry and Rose to me immediately.” Getting straight to the point Sirius pulled out some papers from his coat that we had managed to acquire from a muggle government agency with a little ‘persuasion’.

“I hear that you have not very kind towards them so I’m kindly taking them off your hands.” Sirius continued setting the paper down on the desk in front of us before turning to me.

Already knowing what he wanted since we had discussed all of this before I pulled out a briefcase from my inventory not wanting to use any magic in the vicinity in the off chance that Harry and Rose could get in trouble with the Ministry and set it down next to the papers before stepping back again.

“Of course, if you do this, I’m willing to compensate you for it even if you don’t deserve it.” Sirius continued opening the briefcase and turning it towards Petunia showing it was filled to the brim stacks of 100 American dollar bills.

Upon seeing such an amount and in dollars of all things, Petunia widened her eyes in shock with a hint of greed appearing in them. “A-Are those real?”

“Tsk of course you would ask that. What did I expect?” Sirius shook his head in disappointment. “Of course, they’re real. I’m willing to offer you 1 million American dollars. Think of it as a way of repaying you for taking care of Harry and Rose all these years.” He finished trying to sweeten the deal.

“I-If I do this, what reassurance do I have that others of your kind won’t come looking for us in the future?” The woman finally asked after thinking about it for a while.

“You don’t. The ministry currently knows your address so if you really want others to leave your family alone, then just use this money to move somewhere else.” Sirius responded ‘seriously’.

“I…”

=====

(Rose POV)

It had been an awful start of the summer for Rose and her brother Harry. After years of feeling like an outsider, Rose had finally thought she had found a place she belonged in Hogwarts. Rose and her brother Harry had finally found those whom they could call friends after Dudley had managed to scare away all the kids in the neighborhood and school.

When Rose had said goodbye to her friends at the platform, she thought that it would only be a few days at most before she got a letter from one of them. To be more specific she had been hoping from a letter from a certain someone that had managed to worm his way into her heart since the day they first met.

Rose could still remember that day perfectly as if it only happened yesterday but at the same time seemed so long ago. She and Harry had been wandering around the station for minutes trying to find the correct platform after uncle Vernon had dropped them off and immediately drove off. They had been getting desperate and even asked a muggle only to be dismissed as some simple kids playing a prank.

Rose remembered she was only moments away from bursting into tears as she thought they were going to miss their only chance at getting away from the Dursleys.

Then he had appeared.

Aether.

An impossibly handsome boy with soft black hair and the prettiest blue eyes she had ever seen in her short life.

At first, she had been wary of him much to her shame as he was dressed in almost the same manner as that rude boy, they had met at Madam Malkin’s. Rose could not have been more relieved to learn that he was the complete opposite as he immediately offered to help them with a friendly smile on his handsome face.

Aether turned out to be full of surprises the more she got to know him. Even though he came from an old wizarding family like the Malfoys, he was extremely knowledgeable in both the magic and muggle world.

Whenever she had a question about anything, Rose could always count on Aether knowing the answer or at leading her in the right direction. He was even smarter than Hermione much to the girl’s annoyance as she looked the type that always had an answer for everything.

Speaking of Hermione, Rose was a little ashamed to admit that she didn’t like the girl all that much during the first few months of term. Most of her dislike stemmed from Hermione’s almost obsessive need to be first at everything and the girl’s obvious jealousy to Aether for always outdoing her whenever they had classes together.

Thankfully the girl had mellowed out after Aether had saved her from a Troll that managed to sneak into the school on Halloween and Aether being as nice as he was, invited the girl to hang out with us.

The next person whom she could call friend was Ronald Weasley, a boy they had met on the platform and by sharing a compartment with him on the way to Hogwarts. Like Aether, Ron also came from a wizarding family but unlike him the boy had little knowledge about the muggle world so a lot of terms and conversations went over his head.

Rose didn’t much care for Ron if she was honest, she only put up with the rude and jealous boy because her brother Harry got along really well with him.

Finally, her last friend, well acquaintance really was Daphne Greengrass. A girl from Slytherin house that Aether had also rescued from the same mountain troll like Hermione. After her rescue, Daphne had taken to following Aether around during her free time much to her slight jealousy as Daphne was a really pretty girl.

Daphne had apparently also been the one to ask Aether to train her in magic and Aether had invited her and Hermione along not wanting them to be left out.

Like she said, Aether was a total sweetheart and Rose was beyond happy to have met him.

Now that Rose thought about it, Aether was actually really popular with the female population at Hogwarts. Anywhere he went he was always getting googly eyes from almost every girl they passed and they would always giggle obnoxiously when they thought he wasn’t looking.

Rose and Hermione had driven off a multitude of girls throughout the year who would come up to them and start asking them personal questions about Aether. Chief among them some of her own dormmates like Cho Chang and even some of the older girls.

It always served to piss her off as they were treating Aether more like an object than an actual person with his own thoughts and feelings. In fact, Aether had received more attention than even her and her brother Harry and they were supposed to be famous or something, well at least Harry was.

Not that she could blame them at the end of the day as Aether had many qualities about himself which could grab anyone’s attention.

Aether was smart, handsome, humble, charismatic, charming, had a beautiful smile and was very magically powerful. Since the day Rose met him, she had been surprised again and again by his magical prowess.

It almost seemed as if anything related to magic came super easy to him. Being able to perform spells years ahead of everyone in her year and according to Hermione when she started hanging out with them. Aether was even performing spells that they would not learn until fifth year at least.

It especially became apparent when Daphne and Hermione recounted how Aether had taken down the troll almost easily.

In spite of all that however, Aether still took the time to teach Rose and the others handy spells and always offering to help them with any assignments they didn’t understand.

Rose really admired Aether if she was being honest. Here was someone who also lost his parents and yet he was still able to smile like that every day despite losing his parents so recently.

Instead of despairing and retreating from the world Aether had decided to confront it head on with a smile on his face. Perhaps that’s why Rose didn’t find herself surprised when she came to the realization that she fell deeper and deeper in love with him with each day that passed.

Rose’s only problem with that was that she could tell that Hermione and Daphne had also developed feelings for Aether. Actually, Ron’s sister was also on that list based on the girl’s actions in the platform. She had no doubt that number would only increase as he got older and more handsome.

It made Rose feel slightly depressed as she didn’t really see herself as pretty as Daphne or as smart as Hermione. What would Aether ever see in her? She was just the sister to the Boy-Who-Lived and did not have any special trait that the other girls didn’t already have.

Those depressing feelings only grew as the days went on and she still hadn’t received any type of correspondence from the boy or anyone really. Her only slight consolation was that Harry also hadn’t received any word from anyone so their hope was that they were just too busy or so they kept telling themselves.

Right now, Rose and Harry found themselves in their small shared room once again bored out of their minds due as the Dursleys treated them as if they didn’t exist, which was a huge improvement in her opinion, and were told to stay out of sight as much as possible.

They couldn’t even do their homework since Uncle Vernon had locked their things in the cupboard under the stairs.

“Do you think someone will write back to us today?” Rose asked to her brother who was also lying in his own bed at the moment a few feet above her in the top bunkbed.

“…I don’t know. They haven’t written anything so far.” Came her brother’s response after a few moments of silence.

Rose frowned at the response slightly irritated at her brother. It was one of the things she didn’t like about Harry. He was always so pessimistic about everything and would brood for days.

Before she could respond they heard a slight commotion coming from downstairs and they quieted down trying to hear what might be happening. They stayed silent for a few moments hearing slight murmurings but nothing concrete until they heard the unmistakable sound of Aunt Petunia coming up the stairs.

A moment later their door was almost slammed open and they blinked at seeing their aunt looking afraid and jittery.

“Get your things. From today onwards you will be staying with a friend of your parents.” The woman got out in a hurry before she left leaving them reeling from the news.

…

What?

Rose and Harry stood still for a few seconds trying to process what their aunt had just said to them before they blinked and Harry quickly jumped down from the top bunkbed and turned to face her.

“D-did you also hear what I just heard or was I just imagining it?” Harry stuttered out while looking at her with wide eyes.

Rose could do nothing but nod her head in response at her brother’s question. I mean what else was she supposed to say really?

This was something that both her and Harry had dreamed about and wished for when they were younger but with each passing year, they had all but given up hope.

For a family relative, friend or someone to come and take them away from this hellhole that they were forced to call a home.

For it to be happening now of all days was unbelievable to them.

It took them a few minutes until they realized that they weren’t actually dreaming so with some caution in their steps but with a spark of hope in their hearts Rose and Harry slowly walked out of their room and down the stairs.

Before reaching the final step Rose finally caught sight of a man standing in the living room seemingly waiting for them with a smile on his face. Rose blinked in confusion at not immediately recognizing the man but nonetheless having a feeling that she should know him.

The unknown but familiar man suddenly gained a teasing grin on his face making her blink in confusion before he stepped to the side revealing that someone else was standing behind him. A boy to be precise.

Someone that Rose immediately recognized and caused a smile to spread across her cheeks.

“Aether~”

=====

(Regular POV)

I only had a moment to brace myself before a redhaired missile slammed into my chest forcing me to take a step back in order to keep my balance.

“Ooomph. Hahaha, I missed you too Rose.” With a smile I brought my arms around the girl and gave her a proper hug not minding how Rose almost seemed to purr at my actions as she tightened the grip, she had on me.

“Missed you too.” I heard the redhead whisper into the crook of my neck causing me slightly shiver in response.

“Heya Harry, none of you were responding to my letters so I came to see what was going on.” I greeted the boy who was staring at Sirius curiously grabbing his attention.

“Hello Aether. What’s all this about? And what do you mean you haven’t been getting our letters?” Harry’s curiosity kicked in and he immediately bombarded me with questions.

Looking down at Rose who was still attached to my chest and didn’t seem ready to go yet I coughed into my hand getting her and Harry’s attention.

It didn’t quite managed to work on Rose as she only lifted her head off my chest and looked at me with a rosy blush on her cheeks yet never releasing her grip on me.

Mentally shrugging and ignoring the raised eyebrow Sirius was sending me, I finally addressed the elephant in the room. “First, let me introduce you to your Godfather, Sirius Black.” I pointed at the man who’s grin only increased and he playfully bowed.

 “It is good to finally see you again Harry, Rose. You two are almost the spitting images of your father and mother.” The man greeted the twins with a happy smile on his face.

“…”

“…”

“WHAT!?”

I stood back and watched as Rose finally released me before she and Harry started bombarding Sirius with tons of questions making him slightly panic and look at me for help.

Of course, after all the teasing from the man I had my little revenge and completely ignored him as I headed to the cupboard under the stairs in order to get the twins Hogwarts things.

‘That solves the matter of getting Harry and Rose out of the Dursleys. Now I just have to make sure there are no problems with the Ministry. Luckily my dutiful Asako already Stamped the minister so I’ll have to pay him a visit rather soon’