The Anger.

Harry didn't know what was going on.

Daphne reached out and took his hand as he approached and sat beside her.

"Harry, I think we need to show my parents and your godfather that little trick you showed me on Halloween," she said.

"Alright," said Harry. "No secrets from family. Do you want to do it?"

Replying only with a grin in return she turned to her parents and said, "Watch this."

With barely a pause or even loss of eye focus, she began to draw magic into herself. It took only a few moments before Harry literally felt the palpable energy roiling about her. It was making those few small loose items about the room start dancing a little upon what and where they sat.

And, of course, her eyes began to glow a little.

Cygnus, Isabel, Sirius and even little Tori were looking back in awe and not a little fear.

"Oh, wow!" said Tori, first to speak and not understanding what it looked like to her parents. "That's amazing!"

Daphne let her magic ease back down before calmly saying to Tori, "Thank you, Tori."

The three adults were still sitting there quite stunned.

"Ummm.." said Cygnus, before he cleared his throat. "I - did not realise just how powerful you are, Daphne."

Daphne grinned and said, "Wait until you see Harry." Turning to her betrothed, she said, "Alright, Harry; your turn."

Harry grinned and stood up. Then he quickly started pulling ambient magic into himself. Very quickly the air about him began to swirl. His hair began to rustle a little with it.

Everything become much brighter for him. He felt he could almost see magic moving through the room.

He pulled even more in letting it flow through him and overflow in great gushing waves of it. The area of affect was so wide he could see the hair of all three adults moving about where they sat apart from he and Daphne.

Looking down at his betrothed he watched as her hair moved about, even standing up a little with the charged particles of air.

All the while, Daphne just sat there, quite calmly. But, she was also used to it.

Harry then let it flow back out of him and he let his magic back down to it's normal resting state, and calmly sat down again.

"Sweet Merlin!" - daaaaaaamn!"

exclaimed

Sirius.

"You

"How in Merlin's name do you do that?" asked Cygnus.

Harry calmly told them how he had guessed it could be done while he was in hospital after reading Magical Theory. He told them how he felt it was a reverse of pushing your magic, and was actually pulling magic in to yourself. He told them of his belief of how drawing magic in allowed him to cast stronger spells for longer. And how it meant he didn't have to wait anywhere near as long for his magic to 'recharge' if he was approaching magical exhaustion.

He also said it left him tired after he did it for quite some time. And he told them how it had to be kept secret so others did not know they were actually normal on the power scale. It was mainly all for show to make others think they were much more powerful than they really were.

"So, in the same way as you folks probably originally thought we must be the reincarnation of Merlin and Morgana Le Fay, it comes in handy when you want to scare the bejeezus out of a person or people who think of attacking you," said Harry. "It looks impressive as Hell, and it's fun to watch people's reactions to it when we do it, like yours. But, I don't know how useful it will be, or if it's a hindrance, in an actual battle."

"And you shocked.

can teach this?"

asked

Isabel,

Nodding, Harry said, "Yeah. I taught Daphne within a few minutes. Then, a few days later, I taught Neville, Tracey, Susan, Hannah and Hermione. It didn't take me all that long."

Daphne said, "Since then we've all practiced it in private and improved in leaps and bounds. With Harry's help we've all also been practicing doing it while spell casting. As he said, it appears to have improved our abilities to cast. It makes our spells stronger. And we don't tire as easily."

"Again," said Sirius. "Daaaaamn!"

"If you like," said Harry, with a grin. "I'll teach you while we're here on break. It won't take long."

He received four answering grins. 'Oh, Tori wants to learn, too, does she?' he thought. 'I'll have to run that past her parents, first.'

"Alright," said Isabel, first to snap out of it. "What do you want to do first?"

"Christmas shopping," said Harry. "If we can get it out of the way this afternoon then we're likely to miss the mad rush that will be tomorrow in that place."

Floo'ing to The Leaky Cauldron and heading directly into the Alley, Harry, Sirius and the Greengrasses realised Harry was right to beg to do their final Christmas shopping the day the Express arrived. The Alley was packed. It would be even worse the next day, Christmas Eve.

The party weaved their way down to Gringotts first. They were only picking up some extra Galleons, this time. There'd be more than enough time to carry out the rest of his business with the goblins after Christmas, when they weren't so rushed. Besides, his time limit with Dumbledore for the return of property belonging to House Potter expired on Christmas Day. He'd still have to go after Christmas to sic the goblins onto him.

After quickly collecting some gold, the group left Gringotts. They immediately split up with Harry going with Sirius and Astoria while Daphne was with her parents.

As soon as they separated, Harry turned to little Astoria and said, "Now, my fair maiden; I need to buy a gift or two for your sister. I'm placing a lot of trust in you that you will not use the opportunity to tease your sister about the gifts I purchase for her. Are we agreed?"

The youngest Greengrass, who had immediately latched onto Harry's hand when it was decided on the split of the group for shopping, pouted and mock-whined, "Awww, Harry! I was looking forward to that."

"Well, I want your promise you won't," he said. "Otherwise, the gift I purchase for you will be - less. Alright?"

"Alright, Harry," she mumbled.

"Thank you," he said. "Besides, I was hoping you could help me pick out a gift for her and your parents."

That earned him a big grin. "I'll be good; I promise!" she sweetly said.

Looking at his godfather, Harry said, "Jewellers, first; then Ollivander's, I think."

With a smile, Sirius said, "Then lead the way."

After purchasing what he wanted at the Jewellers, and with Sirius's help distracting Astoria while he also purchased something for her, they headed for Ollivander's.

It took some sweet talking of the peculiar old man but Harry was able to purchase what he wanted.

From there it was over to the Owl Emporium to pick up supplies for the owls, and visits to a couple of other places. They soon met with the others at Fortescues before changing groups.

Harry was with Cygnus and Isabel, while Daphne went with Sirius and Astoria.

This time, the shopping was a lot quicker as he was only needing to purchase something for Sirius. However, he knew Daphne and her group were going to take a little longer.

Harry led his two to Scribbulus Everchanging Inks and the other stationery store, and he had a quick walkthrough memorising the bookshelves in Flourish & Blotts.

Just as many of the shops were closing, they returned to Fortescue's. This time, they were the first to arrive. Sirius brought the two girls a few minutes later.

"Ready to head home, are we?" asked Cygnus.

"Merlin, yes!" sighed Sirius. "I hate to see what it's going to be like here tomorrow."

Harry just smiled. He said, "We can always come and a have a look, if you like."

"No, no!" said Sirius, raising both hands in surrender. "I'm good!"

As soon as they were back at Greengrass Estate, Harry took his purchases up to his room. He'd wrap them later. He needed to get back downstairs as it was planned they'd have an early but leisurely dinner.

Talk around the table had Astoria trying to wheedle out of both Harry and Daphne what they bought her, unsuccessfully. And chit-chat about what the adults and Astoria had been up to while the two older pre-teens were at Hogwarts.

Now that he had his health back, Sirius was working hard to clean up his family London home. He'd also reconnected with his old school friend, Remus 'Moony' Lupin.

"My parents' old home is a mess," he said to Harry. "Their house elf, Kreacher, is possibly insane. He's done nothing to clean the place since Merlin knows when. So, I spend half my time there trying to get him to do his job, and the other half actually doing his job for him."

"I would have thought the Blacks had a Manor out in the country somewhere," said Harry.

"They had one," replied Sirius. "However, old Abraxas Malfoy demanded it as dowry for cousin Cissy. I don't know whatGrandfather Arcturus was thinking when he agreed to it. But, speaking with Great Aunt Cassiopeia, he told her the place held too many sad memories for him. Plus, he was pushed into it by my uncle Cygnus, Cissy's father.

"He moved into a smaller place and, on his death and as per his wishes, that place was sold with the monies going into the family vaults. It's a pity he passed only a few months before I was released from Azkaban. I might have been able to convince him to keep it.

"Until I saw the family home in London I would have thought he'd move in there. Even if old 'Warhorse' Walburga, my mother, was still living there. However, as soon as I saw it, I realised why he didn't; and why he never sold it. It would have cost more to clean it up than it was worth. And my mother wasn't the nicest of people to be around."

"So, you've been busy cleaning out the London home all this time?" asked Harry.

"Oh, no," replied Sirius. "I've also been spending quite a bit of time getting the Black finances back into order; learning what I need to be a proper Lord, now that I'm on the Wizengamot; getting back in contact with old friends, at least those who still don't think I'm guilty; and otherwise trying to recover my life."

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