Chapter 17 Some Time With Harry

A few weeks later Hydrus got some pictures of the Dursleys playing outdoors from his detectives, and doctored half of them to include Sirius and Harry in the background. He sat Sirius down one day, showed him the pictures, described each person and asked him to talk to Harry.

"Why me? You know them, I don't," the godfather said, a curious look on his face.

"Yeah, but what Remus said might be true, and it'd be easier if you explained to Harry who they are, so if he slips it'll be 'Uncle Padfoot told me…'" the immortal explained. "I want us to do our best not to have Harry lie, so if we give general descriptions of each family member's attitude that might be enough."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sirius agreed, rubbing the back of his head and going over what he had just been told about the Dursleys.

"If you want I can be there to help, but most of the information has to come from you," Hydrus offered, he had wanted to stay out of it, but that was a bit unreasonable. No one in the house knew the Dursleys as well as he did. Besides, he was better at explaining things to Harry. Well, Remus was good at dumbing things down, but Hydrus was better at full-on explanations. His education from his timeline served him well, though the way kids think still confused the hell out of him.

"When did you want to do this?" Sirius asked, getting comfortable in his recliner.

"Now, actually. The sooner the better."

"Okay. Hey, Pup, come here a minute," the dogman yelled up at the ceiling.

The sound of small feet was heard running through the house and coming down the stairs.

"Don't run down the stairs," Hydrus yelled, being the one who disciplined the child the most, since he was the oldest adult and wanted the child to be well rounded. Sirius was the more playful uncle and let Harry get away with a lot. Remus was the calmer one, and would only tell Harry how disappointed he was if the child caused trouble.

The sound slowed down and soon the little dark-haired boy shuffled in the room.

"Yes, Uncle Padfoot," he said timidly, thinking he may be in trouble for flushing his toy down the loo. He thought they didn't know, but you never know with adults, though his uncle didn't sound mad.

"What did you do?" Hydrus asked at the guilty look, the scuffing of feet and the wringing of little hands.

"Nothin'" the child said hurriedly, waving his hands in front of him.

"Harry," came the stern voice.

"Nothin'" the child tried to look innocent, but only looked guiltier.

"I'll find out," his oldest uncle said.

"I didn't do apurpuse," Harry defended himself, firming his little face.

"On purpose," Hydrus corrected. "What did you do?"

"Well, I might have flushed my duck in the loo," was the shy response. When he saw his Uncle Hydrus was going to scold him, he hurried to explain, "But, it's otay, it disapperiated and everythin'." Then he turned a bit sad and said, "I just wanted to see if it would float."

"Harry, the toilet is not a toy. Don't do that again," the immortal said firmly, shaking his finger at the child. He remembered Dudley doing the same when he was about this age, though not for the same reason. Harry was a bit more advanced than his cousin. Without being repressed by the Dursleys, his curiosity was something to be admired.

"That's not why I called you," Sirius butted in before punishment could be handed out, earning a glare from the immortal. "I want to show you some pictures of some of your mum's family. So come up here and let's look at them." He patted the arm of the chair.

"Otay," Harry said warily as he gave Uncle Hydrus a cautious look and climbed on his dogfather's lap.

Hydrus sighed and let it go for now, since there was no damage done. He watched as Sirius pointed to each person and told Harry who they were. He did have to stop the godfather from saying things like 'This horse of a woman…' by sending a stinging hex.

"Where does they live?" the dark-haired boy asked, thinking it was great to have more family.

"Do they," his uncle corrected.

"Do they," Harry echoed.

"They live far away, but we think you should not tell people that," Sirius answered, hoping in vain that the boy wouldn't question the request.

"Why?" the dark-haired boy asked, confirming that four and a half year old's questioned everything.

"Because they are hiding, and if you tell people where they are they might be found. We don't want them to be found," Hydrus explained, when Sirius got a blank look on his face.

"Oh, why are they hidin'?" the child asked with a scrunched up nose. "Are they playin' hide-and-seek?"

"No, they just don't like magic," Sirius said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. He still had issues with what this family had done to Hydrus, even though the time traveler had let it go. "They're afraid that people with magic will hurt them."

"Really? That's 'tupid," Harry said, folding his arms and pouting, maybe he didn't want to know these dummy people.

"Stupid. And that's not a nice word," the oldest Black corrected.

"So," Sirius once again interrupted, "if anyone asks you tell them that they are hiding, which is the truth." He patted the boy on the head.

"Otay, Uncle Padfoot. Can I go play now?" the child asked, bored with the conversation about people he might never know.

"Yeah, go play. If you ever have any questions about the Dursleys just ask, okay?" the godfather said as he lifted the child off his lap.

"Otay." And Harry ran out of the room.

"No running," Hydrus said loudly and the noise once again slowed.

"That went well," Sirius said, putting the pictures on the table.

"Yeah, it could have been more emotional, but then again I could be projecting." Hydrus picked up the pictures and put them in his pocketspace. He knew when he was Harry's age all he wanted was a loving family, but Harry had one, so, yeah, projecting.

The rest of the day was spent normally, until after Harry went to bed and they got some wonderful news from the vengeful ghosts.

Voldemort was gone. The spirits told the Master of Death the Dark Lord had tried to do some magic to create another horcrux, but it was too much for the wraith and he vanished. The shades with no one left to haunt went back to the realm of the dead after imparting that information.

To say the men were happy about this turn of circumstance was an understatement. The adults of the house got Tippy to watch Harry for the night and partied till the break of dawn.

"The prophecy still came true," Hydrus said the next morning as he looked over the nice English breakfast Tippy cooked.

"How's that?" Sirius questioned in a quiet voice as to not jar his head, and then groaned and grabbed the hangover potion that Tippy sat in front of him with a loud bang.

"Well, I was still born as the seventh month died, marked as his equal and I had a power he knew not," the immortal said cheerfully. He only had a few things to solve now and Harry will have a good life, then maybe, just maybe, he could start looking for an immortal to settle down with. But first, he wanted to make sure that magical Britain wouldn't go the way his timeline did. If he could tie up those last few knots then he'd see.

"What was the power?" the groggy man asked, still nursing his head.

"Time travel," was the gleeful response from the chipper man. He had not drunk as much as his cousin, knowing alcohol was bad for his PTSD and someone needed to make sure that nothing happened to Sirius, who would not be dissuaded.

Remus walked in looking fresh as ever, like he hadn't drunk the other Marauder under the table the night before. He sat at the table and grabbed some sausage and eggs, and poured himself some tea.

"I hate you," the youngest Black said with a growl. "You never get hangovers." He put his still fuzzy head on the table, only to have Tippy thump him.

"Yous should not be puttings yours head on the tables," she said in her squeaky voice, shaking her finger.

"Ow. Sorry Tippy," he said as he sat up, rubbing his head. He then looked at the food and decided it was a good morning for toast.

"Part of being a werewolf," Remus said, between bites. "You should know that by now. You have never been able to out-drink me. You would think after all this time, you would give up trying." He shook his head and went back to his breakfast.

"I still hate you," Sirius grumbled, nibbling on his toast.

"Anyway, let's talk after breakfast," Hydrus suggested as he quickly glanced at Harry to make sure he wasn't paying attention, then turning back to his own meal.

Harry was eating away ignoring the whining uncle. His eggs staying on his fork was more important than what the older man was complaining about. When he was done with his food, he watched Tippy clean the table and went to the living room and the uncles followed.

After settling in their seats, Hydrus brought up a touchy subject. He threw up a Muffliato, shocking the other two men. Hydrus hardly ever used silencing charms at home. "So, I was thinking of telling Dumbledore about the horcruxes being gone, and with them Voldemort," he said, measuring their reaction. It was something he had been mulling over all morning.

The two men were stunned again. After all of this time hiding from the Headmaster he wanted to bring him in? What changed? Did something happen they didn't know about? Why now? Just how much was he willing to tell?

"Did you want to tell him the truth about Harry and you living in the same house? You'd have to explain the blood wards," Sirius asked, leaning forward and giving the man his undivided attention.

"I'm not sure," the immortal hedged, settling further into the sofa. "I think we'll keep that secret for now. I was just going to send him all of the artifacts with an unsigned note saying what they were and how I found them. Most of them should be at Hogwarts anyway. Then let him know I had spies on the Dork Lord and they say he is gone. I'm hoping that he'll leave Harry alone after that."

"What about the one in Harry? How will you explain that?" Remus asked as he looked at the happily playing child. They had discussed the time lapse from the night the Potters died, and realized that Dumbledore must have taken Harry to Hogwarts and known that there was a horcrux in Harry's scar.

Hydrus had always thought that the Headmaster figured it out in his second year. But with that missing day, it made more sense as to why the old man wanted the boy behind the blood wards, since the protection should keep him from being overtaken by the soul piece. It worked in his timeline, at least that's what they figured. In the letter that was with Harry that night, was a request that he be raised as a son. There was also a mild threat that the baby come to no harm under their care. Too bad the old man never counted on non-physical abuse.

It did make Hydrus more accepting of Dumbledore's manipulations, even though he was still miffed at the man for never checking on him. Not to mention all his stress from his school years. No, there were still things Hydrus was upset about, but he was beginning to see some of the reasons why the Headmaster did what he felt was for the best. Not that the immortal agreed with him, but you don't have to agree to understand.

Shaking himself from his musing, he turned back to the conversation. "Well, I could give him the ritual that removes horcruxes and say that I did remove the one from the last Potter. The only thing I can't think of is how to explain when I came across Harry," he said thoughtfully.

"Are you going to tell him who you are?" the werewolf asked.

"No, I was going to do it covertly. Type a note, send the ritual, hand over the artifacts and say that Harry is clean too. Except those who already do, I don't think anyone else should ever know about me. Well, maybe one other, but that's a later topic," he stated firmly.

"He's going to want to see Harry and question him about who had talked to him," Sirius said, glancing at Harry, who was quietly playing.

"Yeah, that might be a problem. I might just have to come clean about cleansing the horcruxes. I'd have to make up some story about how I knew about them, and I'm not sure I want to do that. Suggestions," he almost pleaded. He truly just wanted Harry to have a good life at Hogwarts without the Headmaster playing games. Now that the public was much calmer about the Boy Who Lived, he had hoped that none of the issues he had in the wizarding world would affect his younger self. If Dumbledore believed that Harry was free of taint then the two would never have to interact outside of the Headmaster's venue.

"Let's put that aside for now and think on it some more. Harry is only four so we have time," Remus said calmly, hoping to lighten the tension in the room.

"Well, I have another issue," the time traveler said uncertainly.

"Must be important," Sirius said, though he couldn't figure out what was more important than Dumbledore.

"Harry is getting to the age where he is asking questions. Do I tell him who I am, or let him think the story we have about me is true? The only reason I ask is because I hated it when adults lied to me growing up." He looked at his younger self, who was now paying attention to the adults. Hydrus gave a smile and wave, shooing the child back to his toys.

"That's another tough one," Remus said thoughtfully, running his hand through his hair.

"Well, we've already introduced him to Marius, so he knows some of your back story. You could always tell him that you have a mystery that he can solve when he is older. Besides, won't it create a paradox if he knows you are him?" Sirius asked with a hint of worry.

"Yeah, it might. Okay, that sounds like a plan, I'll keep to my story, but let him know that there are some secrets that can't be told. Maybe he'll figure it out on his own, he's a smart kid." And with a firm nod he lifted the silencing spell.

Harry came over and crawled into his Uncle Hydrus's lap. "What were you talkin' 'bout?" he never liked it when the adults talked where he couldn't hear. Uncle Remus said sometimes kids weren't supposed to hear what adults talked about, which was stupid because he was a big boy now.

"Nothing you need to know, right now. When you're older," the oldest uncle said and tweaked the child's nose.

"Not fair," the little boy grumped, folding his arms over his chest and throwing himself backwards on to the sofa.

"I know, but it's the truth, I promise I'll tell you more when you're older," Hydrus said firmly and lifted the boy back onto his lap. "What do you want to do today, Harry?" he asked, hoping to avoid a fit by changing the subject.

"Can I go see, Neville?" he asked with pleading eyes. He really wanted to see his new friend.

"No, not today, only on the weekends and today is Friday, so tomorrow we'll see."

"Can we go to the zoo?"

"I don't know it's awful cold out. Are you sure that's what you want? We could go out to eat or do something indoors," Remus suggested, thinking about what could keep a four year old entertained.

"I know," Sirius said brightly, "let's go and get Harry a broom." He almost bounced out of his chair with excitement.

"Can we, Uncle Hydrus, plllleeeeaaaasssseee?" the small child begged, with puppy-dog eyes.

"It'll have to be a training one," Hydrus said firmly, remembering the stories the other two men told of him riding a toy broom and almost killing the cat.

"Yay," Harry said as he jumped off the lap and started running around the room. Sirius turned into Padfoot and joined the chaos. The other two men smiled indulgently.

"Come on, get your coats and we'll hit Diagon Alley," Hydrus called over the noise

So family, sans Remus, who begged off, got their jackets and went to the Alley. They went to Broomstix and looked at training brooms. They were discussing which one to get when a child's voice interrupted them.

"Look, Mother, a baby getting a baby's broom," came the childish drawl from a kid's voice. They turned to see a young boy with white blond hair, and blue eyes. He was standing with his arms folded and trying to look at them with superiority, which was out of place on his young, angular face. "Are you sure you can ride, you look like Muggles?" he added with an adorable wrinkle of his little nose at their casual non-magical clothing.

Hydrus, trying hard not to laugh at the little boy trying to be a man, picked Harry up and shushed him from snapping at the other child. "Let your Uncle Padfoot take care of this. They're his family," he whispered in his nephew's ear. The boy nodded and they sat and watched the byplay.

Sirius glared at his little cousin, disappointed at his behavior. He then turned to his older cousin and said, "Cissy, how lovely to see you. I didn't know young Draco was riding adult brooms, how careless of you, dear cousin."

"Sirius," Narcissa greeted with a regal nod. "I assure you that Draco does not ride anything but a child's broom. Draco, apologize at once for you awful manners," the tall blonde woman snapped at her child.

"Sorry," came the insincere apology. The boy looked downright miserable at having been chastised in front of people. His mother never did that before, so it made him wonder who these people were to make her act so strangely.

Narcissa, not wanting Sirius to be offended, said, "I do apologize for my son, he usually is not so ill mannered. I will make sure that he sees the error of his ways." Once more sending a cutting glare at her son. He had been taught better than this. She had hoped with the death of her husband he would not be so forward, but her social circle was filled with Pure-blood women and spoiled children. He must have picked up that mannerism from one of the older boys.

"How are you doing, Cissy?" he asked for politeness sake, ignoring the pouting child.

"As well as can be expected, I suppose," she said airily.

"Well, it was nice to see you, however, we must be getting our errand done," the youngest Black said dismissively.

"Will you not introduce me to your friends?" she said softly. She knew who they were; they had just never actually met. She was hoping to get on her cousin's good side by making the acquaintance of the Mudblood and the Boy Who Lived. Sirius could pull her from the family for her son's slight, and while the Malfoy name carried a good deal of money and prestige, the Black name carried more and while Sirius was childless Draco stood a chance to inherit. She damned Arcturus for giving this Gryffindor the position of family head so soon.

"No, I don't believe I will. Perhaps another time, when young Draco has learned some manners," he said once more snubbing the widow. He had warned her to keep Draco under control, but judging from his behavior today, that wasn't happening. He would have let it go, were it not directed at Harry.

"As you say," Narcissa sniffed and turned away. "Come, Draco, we will return later." And with that they left the store, Draco complaining the entire time.

"Why was he so mean, Uncle Padfoot?" Harry asked, looking to where the two had stood, wiggling to get down.

"Well, sometimes people are just mean," the dogman said awkwardly, not really sure how to explain that to a child.

"But, why? Shouldn't everyone be nice?" the green-eyed boy asked, though he did remember there were not nice kids at the daycare center. There was that one girl who always fought over crayons, and that one boy who would try and take his snacks. But the teacher said everyone should be nice, was she wrong?

"Yes, everyone should try and be nice, but, Prongslet, people are different. Not everyone is a good person," Hydrus tried to explain as he set the boy down and knelt to his height.

"But, why?"

"Because if everyone was the same, the world would be boring," the immortal said, standing and patting the child on his ever-messy head.

"Oh," Harry said thoughtfully. He didn't like being bored, so that made sense. Then he turned back to the brooms, dismissing the whole scene.

There were three brooms to choose from, each progressively went to a higher altitude. The first was ten feet, the second was twenty and the third was thirty. Hydrus, knowing he had been a natural flyer, was hemming and hawing on the one that went thirty. He was trying to be a responsible adult, but he also wanted Harry to enjoy the air as much as he did. In the end responsibility won and they got the one that went ten feet.

They paid for the broom and went home. Taking Harry into the back yard, they decided to start in the sandbox.

"Okay, Harry, put the broom on the ground next to your foot," Sirius said and watched the child follow that order. "Now, hold your hand over it like this," he said, showing his hand just off to his side, palm down, fingers spread and waited for Harry to copy him, correcting him only a few times. "That's right, good. Now, say 'up'."

"Up," little Harry said and the broom jumped to his hand, making him beam with pride.

"Very good. Now, put your leg over the broom and just sit there a minute," Sirius said and then showed him where his hands needed to be. "Good, now, gently kick off." Keeping his hands near the boy in case he fell. The other two men with their wands ready for the same reason.

"Very good, Harry," Remus said proudly as the broom rose about four feet.

"Yes, well done," Hydrus added his praise.

The boy smiled at all his uncles.

"Now, lean a little forward, like this," Sirius continued as he bent at his waist, just a tiny bit. Harry copied and the broom lowered. "Good, now, lean back, like this." He straightened and showed how far to move. Once again Harry copied and the broom moved back up to four feet. The instructions continued until Harry was making circles around the sandbox, whooping with joy. His little face red from the cold and the flying, but there was a huge smile plastered on it.

After flying for about a half an hour, the adults called it quits for the night. And they all went inside to eat the meal of pot roast that Tippy made them.

Hydrus laid down some rules. "Harry, no flying without an adult, only inside the fence and not in the house," he said firmly. "If you do I will take your broom away."

"Okay, Uncle Hydrus," Harry nodded quickly, not wanting to lose his new toy. "Can I take it to Neville's?"

"You have to ask Uncle Sirius, he's the one taking you," was the gentle reply.

"I have no problem with that. Are you going to share?" the godfather asked.

"Yup, Neville'll be happy," the child grinned. If he liked flying everyone must.

"We'll see," Hydrus said, remembering that Neville didn't like flying at all. Not even when he was older, however, that might be because that bastard uncle of his dropped him out of a window. So, maybe, he wasn't scared of heights this time. He grinned internally at how he heard that Frank got the man sent to Azkaban for attempted murder of a magical child.

They moved to the living room and watched the evening news. Then Hydrus put in one of the educational cartoons and let Harry have the TV until bedtime.

The next day after a breakfast of omelets, while Harry was playing in his room, the newspaper came with the headline:

The Dark Mark Gone: Death Eaters In A Frenzy

The story that followed was about how all the incarcerated followers of He Who Must Not Be Named were screaming their denials that their only chance to escape was now gone. Some of them went so far as to hurt themselves by bashing their heads on the walls of their cells. The Dementors were agitated with all the emotions in the air; though very few of those thoughts were happy, at least none from the Death Eater. The prisoners had been examined and their arms were clean of the mark, and all of them were severely weakened. It was a mystery that the Department of Mysteries was determined to solve.

"Well, that's one less thing we have to tell Dumbledore," Hydrus said as he laid The Times on the coffee table.

"Maybe you should send those Founders artifacts to him anyway," Remus suggested.

"Yeah, I will. I just won't tell him they were horcruxes. He's a smart man; he'll figure it out for himself. Though, now he's going to want to see Harry," the immortal said. "I've been thinking, Sirius, you know the ritual, you can tell him you rid Harry of his. Use your brother as a reason for knowing. Tell him Kreacher gave you the story and that you found the ritual in the Black library." His mind was working furiously, going over scenarios. "You could say you were worried about the scar not healing and checked it out. When you figured out what it was, you found a way to rid Harry of it."

"That's not a bad idea," the godfather said as he picked up The Times to read over the other headlines to make sure there was nothing else going to hit them on the head.

"Well, I, for one, am glad that I do not have to lie to anymore," Remus confessed, he was always the more rule-abiding person of the house. Though he was upset with the Headmaster for Hydrus's past, he just didn't like lying.

"You never had to lie to begin with," Hydrus corrected the werewolf, a bit confused. "As far as I know the last you heard from the Headmaster was right after you moved in here," he said, since Dumbledore was the only man that Remus was asked to fib to. With his book store the werewolf hardly ever venture into the magical world.

"Well, you are correct, but I do not like lying," the werewolf said, running his hand through his hair. "It agitates the wolf, which in turn, makes me jumpy."

"Oh, I didn't know that. Why didn't you say so before?" the time traveler asked, though if you asked him a lot made the man in front of him jumpy. There was still so much he didn't know about werewolves, since Remus wasn't a typical one, and there was little truth written about them.

"You made me take a vow," was the quiet answer.

"Yeah, and I'm still holding you to that, but I also said to tell the truth when you could. Lies are too easily torn apart, which is why I'm concerned about my cover story," Hydrus said, looking at the wolf a bit upset at where this conversation was going. He would not be blamed for making them take a vow, his secrets are too important.

"Hey, Hydrus, it says here Gringotts is upping their fees," Sirius interrupted, lowering the paper to look at the immortal. "I was wondering why you never opened a bank to shut them down."

"I was going to, but Mr. Jasper, my lawyer, said I couldn't because there's a Merlin bedamned treaty. If I open a bank then they revolt. Those greedy bastards have a monopoly on finances in Britain and parts of the continent. I won't be responsible for them attacking innocents because of revenge," he huffed, folding his arms in frustration. He had been very put out when he heard that bit of news.

"Oh. So, why didn't you do like last time and get people to move their vaults?" the confused dogman asked. "Come to think of it, you wanted me to keep all my gold in Gringotts."

"If I shut down Gringotts without an alternative then the economy will fall. I want this timeline to flourish, so until I can work a way around it, Gringotts stays." The unhappiness with that issue showed in his green eyes. The fact that he banked outside of Britain had not gone unnoticed by the goblins. They had sent representatives to his lawyer, but were turned away, since Hydrus still spent his money in Diagon Alley, therefore adding to the economy.

"I guess that makes sense," Sirius answered, and went back to the paper.

"I think it is time to play some tricks on the Alleys," Hydrus said suddenly. He still had all those items from WWW that he never used. He wasn't selling them, because they were solely the Weasley twins' inventions and he would be damned if he took their dream away. Though there were a few things, like the non-magical Halloween items and stuff he and George invented, that he could put in Fun For All.

"Really?" Padfoot perked.

"Yeah, let's see what I have in the pocketspace," the immortal said, rubbing his hands together excitedly. So they cleared an area in the living room and he called all the joke items.

Sirius was in heaven. He never heard of any of these and never would have thought of half of them.

The closet Ravenclaw was also happy to see all the new tricks. His inquisitive mind was itching to take them apart and see how they worked.

"Some of these are exclusively WWW products, so we won't use them. However, there are some that only me and George invented and I want to market them, giving the Weasleys a cut of course. So as a gimmick let's set up a few of the harmless ones around the Alley and advertise the shop. I'd better talk to my store manager first, but let's say this week or the next?" Hydrus said as he sorted all the pranks into two piles, to be sold and not to be sold.

"Which ones were you thinking?" Remus asked as he read the package for the Peruvian Darkness Powder. "This would have been really useful in the war," he added handing it to Sirius.

"You bet it would," the dark-haired prankster said after reading it. "Would have been helpful getting away after curfew in Hogwarts too."

"Yes, I imagine it would have," the werewolf said distractedly as he looked over a few more items.

"So, nothing that shocks or hexes, I'm looking to startle not hurt. We'll keep the more painful items for people who piss us off," Hydrus said, still sorting, but now he was adding a pile of the more harmful pranks to a not to be sold yet pile.

"What's this?" Padfoot asked, picking up a disk that would stick to your hand.

"A joy buzzer, it's a big seller in the non-magical world," the immortal explained and then held out his hand to be shaken.

The two hands met and Hydrus's got the jolt, which, even though he was expecting it, still made his hand jerk. Sirius laughed and looked to Remus, who was shaking his head no. They played with a few more pranks; Sirius was turned into a canary, which caused Remus to accidentally fire off a few fireworks, which made Harry come running, which hurried Hydrus to quickly put harmful stuff in his pocketspace. The whole house had a good laugh and continued to sort through the prank items.

Two hours later, Hydrus looked at his watch and said he had to go and talk to his manager for Fun For All and set a toy section and prank section up. So he put most of the pranks in his pocketspace, causing groans and pleas from Sirius and Harry, which he ignored, and left to his shop.

Fun For All was a large square building, the cashiers' counters were in the front of the store with three registers and an anti-theft alarms on the doors. The back wall was lined with TVs and the two aisles in front of them housed VCRs, cameras, and video recorders. In front of those were aisles and aisles of movies. The computers were in their own section off to the right. There were five well trained witches and wizards to answer any of your questions. To the left was a repair counter, which was manned by the most electronically knowledgeable wizard Hydrus could find and train. Not that many of his products broke, but things happen.

Hydrus looked around the store trying to figure out if toy and prank sections could be added without taking away from the rest of the merchandise. He might have to open yet another store, and this one he couldn't pass off to anyone, because the Weasleys would be getting their share. Maybe, an annex in the back, Fun For All Kids section.

He made his way to the front left corner of the store where the offices were. Ellie Sanderson, a petite, auburn-haired woman was sitting behind the largest desk, poring over paperwork. She was a Half-blood raised in both worlds. Hydrus was an equal opportunity employer, he didn't discriminate with anyone. There was even a squib cashier. The repairman and one of the floor people were Pure-bloods. The rest were Muggle-born. She looked up when her boss entered the office and huffed when she saw the mischievous look on his face.

"What has that look in your eye? Are you going to make more work for me?" she said arching her eyebrows and folding her arms across her ample chest.

"Well," Hydrus hedged as he sat in the chair in front of the desk. "I might have a few ideas for an annex or two, if we can build an expanded room in the back. It'll be for kids and teens."

"Let me look at the lease," Ellie said and went through her computer files. "According to this we can add two rooms to the back of the building, so two magically extended rooms should be okay. If we build small rooms and enlarge them, we only have to pay for the area of the pre-expanded add-ons," she read off. "What are you planning?" she asked as she looked up.

"That's good news, since I have two types of items to sell. Do you think we should do both rooms? One for the kids and one for the teens. That would mean hiring more people. Do we have the budget for that? They wouldn't have to be as trained as the ones we have now, however, it might be a good idea to do so anyway, so they can help pick up slack when it gets busy up front," the immortal said, tapping his fingers on the desk in thought. The Christmas rush had been a nightmare.

Ellie smacked the tapping fingers and looked over the budget. "We're doing really well, the profits are amazing. I never thought I'd see the day when magicals would use electronics. So I would say yes to all the above."

"Wonderful." He rubbed his hands together. "We're going to do a promotional on the pranks next week. Do you think you can get the rooms up and ready by then, or should we hold off?"

"I'm not going to like that… promotional, am I?" again with the arched eyebrows.

"It'll only be a few harmless pranks," Hydrus defended with a pout.

"Fine, whatever, you owe me a raise," the manager waved it off; there really was no stopping him anyway.

"Great, you get that set up and I'll go talk to Jesse about the inventory," Hydrus said, standing and giving his manager a wave he left the office and made his way to the repair counter. "Jesse, just the man I wanted to see," he greeted the shorter, skinny, dark-haired man, who was looking rather bored, behind the counter.

"What's up, boss?" Jesse asked, perking up at the man who looked like he was going to give him work.

"I'm going to open a kid's annex with toys that work on magic. The only problem I have is that if the toys don't work the child could be named a squib and be hurt or worse. So what I need for you to do is, before we sell them, fix them to work for anyone or at least anyone with squib level magic. Maybe have the runes run off ambient magic. I've worked out most of the figures, but I don't have the time like I used to. Do you think you can get me some up and running before next week? If not give me a time estimate and I'll hold off the opening," the immortal rambled on as he pulled all his notes from his pocketspace and handed them over to the excited repairman. He had weighed the pro and cons and decided that it would be better not to have them run off the child's magic. While it would tell if a child was a squib, it could also lead to the deaths of children, and he didn't want that on his conscience.

The skinny man looked over the notes and got more excited as he read. He could do this, since the notes were almost complete. "Do you have prototypes?"

"Yeah," Hydrus said and pulled both the magic using ball and the prototype he fixed up a few days ago and gave them to Jesse.

"Give me a few days and I'll let you know, but I should get them out on time."

"Thanks, Jesse, do your best." And with that the immortal left the store for home. He told the others what he was planning and they all sat and came up with pranks for the Alley until dinner. When they were done with the duck dinner Hydrus cooked, they decided to put off more planning until the next day and settled down for a good ole family movie night.