A/N after the amazing reviews and all the follows and favorites I decided I couldn't wait to get out another chapter. I don't own Harry Potter. This is not beta'd so please forgive my mistakes.
"Ok Harry I think well get you clothes next. How does that sound?" Aingeal asked.
"OK mum." Harry replied with the biggest smile he'd ever produced.
As they walked to the clothing shop Aingeal decided to start asking about things that kind of worried her. "So Harry, what was your home life like?"
"Um, uh, it was fine I guess." Was Harry's nervous reply.
Aingeal knew something was off with his reply so responded "you do remember we promised to be honest with each other, right Harry?"
"I hated it there!" he rushed to tell her afraid he'd lost his chance at a mom who loved him by evading her question. "If I did better than Dudley I got beat, if something strange happened I got beat. If I tried to fight back when Dudley and his gang tried beating me up I got beat. I never got as much food as I wanted. I never got Christmas or birthday gifts I didn't get to go on any of their vacations. Until I started school I thought my name was freak. I had to do all the chores Dudley never had to do anything." Everything came out in a rush and in one breath. Harry was desperate not to lose him mom he'd tell her whatever she asked. "I'll be good mum I promise just please don't make me go back."
What he'd said broke her heart and she decided then and there that he was going to live with her or so help her she'd make their lives miserable. "It's ok Harry you'll never have to go back to those disgusting animals ever again, I promise."
Aingeal led Harry into the store they had just reached. "Harry here needs his school clothes." She glanced at him and had a thought if he was under nourished as badly as she suspected he'd probably grow quite a bit over the year so added "he'll need as strong a growth charm as you can on them all as well. Then he needs a full wardrobe of everyday wear again with the growth charm. I expect him to grow more than normal over the next year."
The attendant just nodded her head and starts getting the measurements she needs on Harry. "We can only do so much with a growth charm so what I'm going to do is give him a size to large with the fitting charm on it and the growth charm. That should give him twice the room to grow. How does that sound?"
Aingeal nods her acceptance.
After the attendant finished her measurements she goes into the back room and comes out a few minutes later caring a set of clothes. "It will take a few hours to get everything done. So here is a set for him to wear for now. Would you like to come back or would you like us to mail it to you when all of your stiff is ready?"
Aingeal looks thoughtful for a few seconds before replying "just mail it to me please. How much do we owe?"
"50 galleons 8 sickles ma'am" the attendant replied.
Aingeal quickly coined out the coins and gave them to the attendant. "Harry dear, will you go into the changing room and put those on? We'll toss out those horrid clothes once you get out."
"Yes mum." Harry dutifully replied.
A quick trip into the changing room and Harry came out looking much better Aingeal thought. "Ok Harry, next we're going to go get you checked over at the hospital. What those disgusting pigs did to you isn't good for you so I'd like to get you checked on, ok?"
A quick apparation later and they were at Saint Laurent magical hospital. Aingeal let Harry up to a large desk near the entrance. "I'd like him to get a full check up please."
IIIIIIIIIII
Three hours later a surprisingly smiling Harry is led out without glasses and already looking more healthy is not larger yet. "So, they think my scar will fade mum?"
"Yes baby, the healer they brought in devised a way to cleanse dark magic, so as long as you put the stuff in that jar they gave you on it every night it will fade, they believe completely." Aingeal said with a smile to her baby boy. It's amazing how fast a person can developed feelings for someone and Aingeal though of Harry as her son and nothing could now change that.
"How bout we go look for a familiar for you dear?" Aingeal smiled at the look of confusion on Harry's face. "Familiar are generally animals. And they become your friends and help you with your magic. They kind of help you guide your magic to preform how you want it to. It's not something you can see but you'll pick up how to cast spells just a bit faster. A strong familiar bond will even allow you to understand your familiar. They have several benefits that will help you some you'll probably never notice, on the other hand some are very hard to miss. Every witch or wizard should have a familiar, though to be honest not many do in today's society Harry."
"Why not mum?" Harry asked. He didn't understand why people wouldn't have one if it helped them.
"Because they take more work than not having one, or just having a pet would. You have to spend time with them the closer you are to your familiar the stronger the bond between you becomes." Aingeal knew her son would take care of his familiar better than most, in fact he would probably have a very strong connection with his familiar.
Another quick apparation and they stood in front of a small hut on the edge of a large forest. Aingeal led Harry to the door and knocked hard on the worn wooden door.
A few minutes later they heard a man yell from behind the house "BACK HERE."
After waking to the back of the house and seeing several containers with hundreds of creatures in it they saw a man caring for what appeared to be an injured frog.
"What can I help you with?" a tall muscular older man asked in a naturally gruff voice.
"We were hoping to find my son a familiar, so I brought him here to check first and if he doesn't find one here I've been told you are the best person to give him advice in finding and caring for his familiar. I won't have my son mistreating his familiar because of ignorance in how to care for it." Was Aingeal's happy reply.
"Well boy…" a he said this he saw Harry finch at the word boy and stopped mid sentence and looked him over carefully. "You were abused? Verbally and physically?" at Harry's sad nod he continued "ok I'll help you….?"
"Harry sir" Harry replied a bit ashamed.
"Forget them, you appear to be in a much better situation now. Now first thing you need to know is every familiar is different, so I can only tell you basics that would still be true if I knew what type of familiar you had I'd only be able to give you the generalities for that species. Understand so far?" at Harry's nod he continued "now to find your familiar you close your eyes and feel your magic, feel….."
"Hi daddy." A young girl interrupted. She was a small girl even smaller than Harry but still looked to be about his age. She had a cute hat on. Her skin looked to have a greenish tint to it and her hair was red. She had the most beautiful blue eyes Harry had ever seen. "Oh I'm sorry I'm Aife, Aife O'Connell. It's a pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand to Harry.
Harry stammered for several seconds before saying something he wished he'd kept in his head "you're so pretty." Harry turned bright red in blush realising that he had in fact said that our loud before mumbling "sorry. I'm Harry Potter."
"It's ok Harry Potter. Would you like to be my friend?" Aife asked the cute boy in front of her.
To her surprise Harry got a very excited look on his face and was giving her a hug saying "please yes, I've never had a friend before. I'd love to be your friend."
Aife had never had a friend either, people didn't usually come to her house, they lived a long way from other people. Aife had spent her life with only her father. Her mother was a marrow and had gone to sea shortly after giving birth to her. As a result she didn't see her mother often only about once a week when she came to give Aife lessons about swimming and life underwater. As her mother was a merrow so was she. One thing she had decided ,after seeing what her mother leaving her father, was that she might sound time in sea but she was going to live on land so she could take care of her daddy.
After Harry let her go she said "I've never had friends either, just my daddy."
The man note identified as Mr. O'Connell cleared his throat and said "as I was saying before my princess interrupted us feel your magic feel how it reaches out follow where it is reaching to your magic wants you to find your familiar and had always been trying to guide you to it."
Harry focused for a few minutes before he felt the 'pull' and began walking to where the feeling led. Harry walked, to everyone's surprise past all the animals in the back yard and into the forest. Harry walked into the forest for about 20 minutes before he felt he was close and started paying attention to his surroundings. As he looked up he saw a tree right where his magic was leading. This confused Harry a great deal, that is until he saw what looked to be a small for in the tree about four feet off the ground.
Harry decided to lightly tap on the door with one of his fingers. After a brief pause the smallest woman Harry had ever seen answered the door. The woman was about six inches tall and quite beautiful.
"Do you understand me?" Harry asked in the only language he spoke English.
To Harry's surprise the tiny woman nodded her head. So Harry explained as best he could that he was looking for his familiar and that his magic led him to her tree but for some reason not her.
The tiny woman smiled, held up one finger to tell him to wait and went into the house, tree? Harry wasn't sure what to call it.
A short time later the woman led out three beautiful girls that if Harry had to guess were just about his age. One has dark blue hair and a slight blue tint to her skin with a set of wings. As he looked he also noticed slight webbing between each of her fingers and toes. The second had dark red hair with a slight red tint to her skin. She also had wings but aside from the color softener and the webbing was identical to the first. The third was the same as the red except her colouring looked more 'natural' or human she however had pink hair.
Harry guessed the tiny woman wanted him to see if one of the girls was his familiar do he closed his eyes and felt for his magic.
As soon as he closed his eyes the woman directed each of the girls to a student location around him so it was easier to pick the one he felt drawn to. The woman was actually very happy one of her daughters might become his familiar. It was a great honor to be a familiar especially to one that gave the feeling that he would treat her daughter well.
Harry was confused. Once he reconnected to the 'pull' it was leading in three directions. Figuring he was wrong he pointed to each feeling then opened his eyes. Confusion evident on his face.
"Um I don't understand I felt a pull in each of the directions I pointed. Do you know what that means?" Harry asked worryingly. He just knew he messed up finding his familiar, he just couldn't figure out how.
To his surprise the little woman had a very large smile on her face and nodded. She bags speaking in what sounded to Harry like squeaks. Each of the three girls stayed smiling and flew over to land on each shoulder and on top of Harry's head. To further Harry's confusion further the one on his head then started… well to Harry it felt like if he could understand what she was squeaking she would be saying giddy up.
Harry looked at the small woman again only for her to start gesturing for him to get going. In a state of utter confusion Harry turned back the direction he had come from and began walking back to him mum, maybe she could explain what was going on.
A quick walk back and he saw his new mum still taking to Mr O'Connell outside. The form was now feeding done of the creatures scarred around the yard.
Once he got close to them Harry said "I think I messed it up."
Mr O'Connell raised a bushy eyebrow and asked "Oh, how so?"
Harry thoroughly explained everything that happened after he left the clearing behind the house. And to his surprise Mr O'Connell stayed laughing.
"You didn't mess up anything, what you did was discover that you are one of a few who have more than one familiar. They are sisters with different aspects. First you have a fire sprite so you'll find your connection to fire at done point in your life. Next you have a water sprite, same this as fire just you'll find your connection to water. Lastly you have a normal sprite though why she had pink hair I don't know. That will probably be some aspect of what you'll connect to. What it is I have no idea. Now having sprites as familiars means that you shouldn't get an owl. Owls tend to hunt sprites. So I would recommend placing the mail charms on your sprites, if you can get their permission that is. All it does is allow them to find you and any person you send mail to, provided they aren't blocked that is." Mr O'Connell patiently explained.
Harry held out his hand palm up and the three small girls, now identified as sprites, flew onto it. "Would it be ok with the three of you if he placed the spell on each of you?"
The three of them huddled together on his palm and had a brief discussion before looking back at Harry for a second then going back to their discussion.
After about a minute more the three pulled apart and nodded.
Harry smiled at his three new familiars and said "thank you I promise to try not to abuse it and if you want something in exchange please let me know, well if you want anything let me know. I want you to be happy, so let me know and I'll do my best to get it for you, ok?"
The three just nod excitedly.
"Ok, the general information I can give you about sprites. They will prefer foods grown in there element. For fire it will be things that tend to be a spicy hot. Water will be things grown in water. The normal sprite will prefer fruits and berries. They can and will eat meat. You'll want to have a small house built for them preferably out of a log. I can do it but if you want it to be nice it will cost you. The nicer you want it the more it'll cost." At this all three of the sprites put there Harry's on there good and gave Harry a look that said if you cheap out on us well make you miserable.
Harry quickly handed Mr O'Connell his entire pouch of coins. At this Mr O'Connell just laughed pulled out a few coins and handed it back. Seeing his three sprites just raise an eyebrow, Harry quickly pulled out another few coins and poor them into Mr O'Connell's hand looked over at his sprites and sighed in relief that they looked happy. Women were difficult was Harry's only thought.
Meanwhile Aingeal and Aife were both leaning against each other laughing at Harry's predicament.
"I'll start working as I have time." Mr O'Connell said with a chuckle. It wasn't every day you saw I boy get bossed around by three six inch tall girls. He was going to make some girl a great husband. "Last thing you need to talk to them the closer you are emotionally to them the stronger your bond. I'm going to cast a spell on the four of you that will establish the initial familiar bond, as you grow closer it will grow in strength."
After a long series of swishes, flicks and jabs a violet light shot out of his want and slit into 4 balls before connecting one with each of them.
Harry felt the 'pull' he felt earlier change to what he could only describe as a phone line, like his and their magic was connected and shared going back and forth between Harry's and each sprite individually. The connections made Harry smile a happy smile as big as it was when Aife asked to be his friend.
After introducing his familiars to Aife and telling them she would probably be the only person they'd be delivering mail to for a while anyway Mr O'Connell realised what he had forgotten, the mail charms.
After asking each sprite for permission he cast a long charm on each that would allow them to fly faster, longer and know where to go.
With that Aingeal led Harry away. "Don't worry Harry, you'll see her soon enough at school she's in the same year as you. We still need to finish getting your school supplies."
"Yes mum." Was Harry's only response. Today was the best day ever he had gotten new friend, learned magic was real, and gotten a mum who loved him.
The rest of the shopping was over quite quickly. Followed by a brief stop at the Irish Ministry of Magic for Aingeal to turn in the forms needed to become Harry's legal guardian. (Both magical and muggle)