Chapter Three – Summer Before Hogwarts:

It was a lazy summer afternoon at the Greengrass family manor and while Daphne was spending time with Tracy somewhere Harry Potter could be found outside on his broomstick, which was a cleensweep eight, with Katie Bell tossing around a quaffle.

Being a year older then Harry she had already gone through her first year at Hogwarts and she would now be able to go out for her house team, which happened to be Gryffindor. Since Harry loved to fly as well as play quiditch he was more then willing to practice playing chaser with his long time friend.

The plan for Harry when he got to Hogwarts would be to either play chaser, like his dad did when he was at Hogwarts, or to play seeker. Harry knew that he would be a better seeker then chaser most likely but what position that he would play depended on the needs of whatever house he would sorted into.

"Thanks again for helping me out Harry," stated Katie as she sent the quaffle his way by kicking her broom to the side and having the tail bash the quaffle in his direction.

Harry rolled over to his left, while catching it with his left hand. "Like you would even have to ask me to practice quiditch," replied Harry. "You know how much I love to fly and I also get to spend time with you as well."

Katie just laughed before saying, "You are right but quit showing off your reflexes. I know you have karate and fencing lessons, which have honed your already impressive reflexes, but come on we are just tossing the quaffle back and forth here."

Harry tried to look astonished at her comment, but it was ruined as he began laughing at her comment. "I know but I can still have fun doing it around the people who know me, now can't I," stated Harry all the while quirking an eyebrow.

The light brown haired girl just gave a small smile as she smiled at her younger friends antics. "All right come on I want to work on batting the quaffle around with my broom some more as well as diving to the side and leaping."

To her words Harry gave her a grin and started up their practice again by tossing the quaffle into the air and leapt off the foot holdings and hit the nose with his feet to send the tail into the quaffle smashing the quaffle away from him.

Slowly the afternoon drifted away as the two friends flew around behind the manor and practiced their quiditch skills. At about 5:30 the two of them headed towards one of the fireplaces and after giving Harry a hug she left for her home.

It was shortly after when Daphne appeared and said, "Well look who finally came into manor. Did you spend the whole afternoon playing quiditch?"

"Of course," responded Harry amusedly looking at his pseudo sister, who was growing into an attractive young lady with her blonde hair slender features and blue eyes with flecks of green. "Have you heard anything about what we are supposed to wear tonight?"

"Dress robes I think," commented Daphne as the two began strolling around the manor with no particular place in mind to head towards. "I'd rather be able to just wear a dress but o well."

"I know but there isn't anything we can do about it," responded Harry before smiling. "At least we get to see Fleur and little Gabrielle though. It has been a while since we have seen them last."

"Yeah… you know you are right about it," said Daphne as the two continued there wanderings. "I wish it wouldn't be at a party where it is more the uptight pureblood crowd. It means that the music will stink."

"I know what you mean," said Harry as he shook his head at her words. Listening to muggle music was something that his godmother thought would be good for the kids as there was a wider range of music as well as better music as a whole.

Harry's godmother had gotten into muggle fashion and music from his mother, Lily, as they had been close friends at Hogwarts. As his mom had shown his godmother there were things in the muggle world that were better then the wizarding world, even if she couldn't show his godmother that much. After all a pureblood witch that didn't really know about the muggle world could only take so much at a time. Music, clothing and money were some of the simplest as well as the most important to a degree.

"It could be worse though," said Harry before adding, "at least it isn't going to Malfoy Manor. I mean Aunt Cissa is fine but usually there is no one there that I want to talk to or be around for that matter."

"Last time you almost knocked Draco onto his arse for talking about his father so much," said Daphne before breaking out into giggles.

"You know I wouldn't have done that… I may not like the git or his dad but I can't just deck him because of it," responded Harry. "It is uncivilized… wait a minute I'm ten years old."

"Yeah," said Daphne between giggles "but we both know it is just because you didn't want to get into trouble with mom and dad."

At this Harry just broke into giggles as well. It was true and he couldn't deny the fact that he didn't hit Draco just so that he could avoid punishment.

"Point taken, but I'm going for a quick swim before we have to get changed and leave," said Harry. "You are welcome to join me if you feel like it."

On that note Harry left for the indoor pool, while Daphne went towards her room as it would take her longer to get ready for the party. As he entered the warm pool room and changed into a swim suit he found is magical iguana, Iggy, who he had received as a Christmas present, swimming in the shallow end of the heated pool.

This was his pet's favorite place in the house to spend its time as it was the warmest part and it had water for it to swim. Being raised with his godmother definitely had its advantages and getting a magical iguana that was only a couple of months old as a Christmas present was one of them.

Diving into the deep end Harry swam around for about twenty five minutes before he proceeded down to where Iggy was currently floating. "So you decided to take a swim," spoke Harry, while stroking the underside of Iggy's neck.

Harry couldn't blame the iguana for taking a swim as it was often what Harry would do to relax after his fencing or karate lessons, or when he was bored of reading and didn't feel like flying. Yes he enjoyed doing these things as well as practicing magic but it was always nice to take a swim and spend time in the warm water.

"You are definitely starting to get big you know," continued Harry, while his iguana just soaked up the attention. "Alright how about I get you some food before I have to go get changed and leave for the party tonight."

Picking Iggy up into his arms, while rubbing his back, Harry climbed the steps up and out placed him on a chair in order to towel off.

Slipping on a pair of flip flops after wrapping the towel around his waist before turning, Harry motioned for Iggy to follow him before saying, "Come on Iggy, I'll have a house elf put the food in my room and then you can take a nap on your warmed sand in the corner."

In response the brownish-green magical iguana hopped off of the lounge chair and made his way over to Harry.

Just before leaving the pool area Harry snapped his fingers together and a house elf appeared. "I would like some live crickets brought into my room in a container, please," he spoke clearly.

"Yes young master," responded the elf before disappearing.

Respect for house elves was something that his Uncle Rob had drilled into Harry at a young age. It was something that Harry was told more wizards should do because house elves kept their master's secrets and also did all the household chores. Of course freeing an elf was a horrible thing to do as the fact that usually the elves liked doing these sorts of things and being set free was a sign of brining shame to a household.

So Harry and his pet Iggy proceeded to make their way through the manor to Harry's room. It was about halfway to Harry's room before he had to pick up Iggy before he could make the rest of the way top his room for a shower and to feed his iguana.

After placing Iggy on the permanently heated sand Harry went and grabbed the box containing the crickets and other insects for his pet's dinner. Harry went over into the attached bathroom and turned on the water for a quick shower. The shower had become mandatory at the Greengrass manor when his Aunt Katherine moved in after the marriage.

Prior to her marriage to Robert Katherine had stayed over at Lily Evan's house prior to her marriage to James Potter, and there she had discovered the convenience of a shower instead of a bath tub. So upon her marriage she insisted having a shower installed in all of the full bathrooms of the manor.

After a quick shower Harry went into his closet and pulled out a new set of charcoal grey dress robes and dressed. Inspecting his appearance before charming the light over Iggy's sandbox, Harry left his room and proceeded to the entrance hall of the manor so as to prepare to leave for the Delacour residence.

Entering he found the two people who had raised him and said, "Hello Aunt Katherine." He then turned to her husband and nodded his head before stating "Uncle Rob."

Both adults just smiled before his godmother said, "Hello Harry, you are looking very handsome. Any clue where Daphne is though? We need to leave in a minute or two."

"Last I saw her was almost an hour ago and that was before I went for a swim," said Harry. "She said that she was going to get ready so I'd imagine that she is either on her way or finishing getting ready in her room."

Robert just gave a small laugh before saying, "Of course my daughter always uses the time allotted to her to the fullest. Knowing Daphne she will arrive just before we have to leave, and look like there is no rush at all."

True to her father's word Daphne showed up with thirty seconds left before they had to leave looking lovely in a light blue set of dress robes. Her parents and Harry just shook their heads as she greeted them with a smile before grabbing a hold of the portkey that would take them to their destination.

It was marble floored entrance hall in a large manor of southern France where the people reappeared, all of them standing although Daphne grabbed onto Harry's arm to keep herself steadied.

"Welcome Greengrass family," spoke a butler in French. "If you will all follow me I shall announce your entrance."

As the four of them waited near the entrance the butler entered into the ball room and cast a sonurus charm before saying, "Announcing the presence of the Greengrass family. Lord Robert Brian Greengrass head of the Greengrass family, his wife Katherine Annabelle Greengrass, their daughter and heiress of the family Daphne Rose Greengrass and finally their young charge the future Lord Potter, Harry James Potter head of the Potter family."

Upon hearing the beginning Robert and Katherine led the way out followed by Daphne and Harry towards their table. The four of them walked gracefully over to their table without looking around as it would lose some of the air of dignity to be seen looking around the room in search of other people.

A couple of other families arrived in a similar fashion and within a half an hour the meal started being served. While the first course was being brought out Harry and Daphne looked around the room to see who they would recognize so that they could hang out with later. To their dismay the only people that they knew and would feel comfortable hanging out with were Fleur and Gabrielle. The reason that it was dismaying was because it was always more fun when there were more people that they were friends with around.

The meal passed quietly and finally after all of the dishes were cleared away Harry and Daphne were able to get up from the table and go talk to Fleur and Gabrielle.

Switching over to french with in a moment Harry greeted the sisters, "Hello I hope that I am finding two beautiful young ladies well."

They both smiled before Fleur kissed both of his cheeks and Gabrielle hugged her surrogate older brother/cousin as she had no brothers or male cousins. "We are doing well as we hope that you are Harry," said Fleur before turning to Daphne and saying, "He hasn't been too cocky has he Daphne or does he need for his ego to be deflated?"

Daphne just laughed before hugging the two part veela sisters. "O he hasn't been too bad, just his usual confident self but I wouldn't expect anything else from him. He needs to have it with his celebrity statues. Only every so often he needs to be knocked down a peg."

Harry tried to look indignant while saying, "I am anything but cocky… well ok I am but I do try to back it up to the best of my abilities." He then turned to Gabrielle and said, "Come on Gabrielle how about we go outside."

Gabrielle just smiled and grabbed his hand as the two of them led the group away from the party to a terrace nearby.

There were some chairs on the terrace and they sat down and grabbed a deck of cards so they could play while talking, and as usual Gabrielle took her seat and moved it as close to Harry as she could.

The four of them spent the rest of the night chatting and playing cards out of the way of the adults as they agreed that it wasn't exactly a party that they would want to attend. It was fairly late when Harry and Daphne took the portkey back to Greengrass manor and went to bed.

As the summer moved along Harry continued with his lessons as well as hanging out with his friends when he could. When his friends were not around Harry would practice magic becoming more proficient with his spell casting ability and adding more spells to his repertoire as well as learning how to creatively use them for different reasons.

It was not until about two weeks before his birthday that Harry's birthday that the Hogwarts letters arrived for both Harry and Daphne. The two children were able to contain their glee about their letters as they had been prepared for them for as long as they could remember. (I'll skip going through the contents of the letter as it is the standard stuff and I am going to assume that most people know them by heart.)

Daphne finished just before Harry and turned to her parents before saying, "So… when are we going to get our school supplies because the sooner the better."

Harry just nodded his head in agreement looking between the two adults waiting for an answer from one of them.

Katherine just looked at her husband before saying, "We have to send out your replies first, and then we will go tomorrow morning. Now I want the two of you to leave your wands at home when we go so that way Mr. Ollivander will give each of you a wand that will be registered to you under the British government."

Both of the kids just nodded before Robert left to conduct his business, which mostly consisted of managing the Greengrass finances and recently running a new chain of restaurants all located in various parts of magical Britain and Ireland.

So Harry went to his fencing lesson, which would be followed by his karate lesson later that day, while Daphne would be left to her own devices in the mean time.

The day passed without incident and before they knew it Harry and Daphne were standing by the floo waiting to head to Diagon Alley to purchase their school supplies.

"Ok, you two don't have your wands, right?" asked Robert looking from one child to the other. Seeing both of them nod he smiled before saying, "I'll go first and then you two follow."

Tossing pinch of the powder into the flames Robert stepped forward and called out his destination before disappearing in a whirl of green flames.

A couple of minutes later Harry, Daphne, and his wife Katherine appeared as Robert gave a couple of flicks from his wand to clear the soot off their robes.

After stowing away his wand Robert led the group out of the Leaky Cauldron into the alley behind.

Katherine tapped the appropriate brick with her wand and then the group made their way through Diagon Alley in order to purchase the kids school supplies, second wands, a belated half birthday gift for Daphne, and a few other essentials.

The first stop was to Ollivander's Maker of Fine Wands so that Daphne and Harry would have a wand back on them again. Entering the shop followed by a ring of the bell on the counter both Harry and Daphne looked around the shop comparing it to where they received their other wand, which was made on the spot so there were no boxes of wands laying around. Both methods were different but still equally effective.

All of the sudden Mr. Ollivander appeared and said, "Hello Mr. Potter, I was wondering when I would see you, and young Ms. Greengrass a pleasure to see you as well."

Then Mr. Ollivander looked up at where Harry's scar was and said sadly, "I am sorry to say Mr. Potter that I sold the wand that gave you that scar. If I had known what it would be used for… well I guess that it would be best not to dwell on the past, so who shall go first?"

Harry gave a wave of his hand to indicate that Daphne would go first, and then him.

Out of nowhere a tape measurer appeared and began taking all sorts of measurements, while Mr. Ollivander began explaining what his wands were made contained.

"Each Ollivander wand contains a core of unicorn hair, dragon heartstrings, or a phoenix feather. The core is then contained in a wood casing and no two wands in the shop are the same."

Giving a snap of his fingers the tape measure dropped down to the floor and Mr. Ollivander asked, "Now Ms. Greengrass which is your wand hand?"

"My right, sir," stated Daphne respectfully.

So the process began as Mr. Ollivander would hand Daphne a wand and she would give it a flick for visual effect. It was finally after about twenty wands that Daphne found the proper wand, Spanish cedar and a phoenix feather at a length of ten and two thirds inches.

Then the tape measurer began to take measurements for Harry stretching out while Mr. Ollivander put away the wands that were not suited for Daphne's magic.

Finally the tape measurer disappeared as Mr. Ollivander asked which hand was Harry's wand hand. "The right one sir," responded Harry.

Just as Mr. Ollivander was about to go back to grab a wand Robert spoke up and said, "Why don't you look for some of the odder combination Mr. Ollivander as I have found that Harry is anything but normal."

Mr. Ollivander just gave a slight nod before pulling out wands for Harry to try.

It did not take long for Mr. Ollivander to agree with Robert as Mr. Ollivander said, "I wonder…"

He came back with a wand and said, "Try this young Mr. Potter holly with a phoenix feather, eleven inches."

Harry gave a flick of the wand a shower of red, blue, bronze, and gold sparks shot out with a strong force.

Harry just smiled as he expected this wand to be right as soon as he picked it up.

"Curious, curious," said Mr. Ollivander quietly.

"Excuse me but what is curious," asked Katherine.

"It is unique that young Mr. Potter should be destined for this wand, when it was the brother wand that gave him his scar," stated Mr. Ollivander. "I think that we can expect great things from young Mr. Potter here, great things indeed."

Harry just stood there for a moment before saying, "Well then I will do my best to achieve them."

Mr. Ollivander smiled before saying, "That is all we can ask for Mr. Potter." He then turned to Robert and said, "The total for the wands will be fourteen galleons."

"Add two of your best wand holsters as well," said Robert, while walking over to the counter to pay for their purchases.

A couple of minutes later the group was making their way down the alley to continue their shopping with Daphne and Harry having their new wands holstered and strapped to their forearms.

"Dear why don't you go and purchase the kids trunks, while I go with them to get their required clothes," said Katherine.

Robert just nodded and made his way down the alley to the magical storage shop, while Harry, Daphne, and Katherine went into Madam Malkin's shop.

An attendant appeared as they entered and asked, "Hogwarts dears?"

Both Harry and Daphne nodded before she motioned for them to follow her to two stools so that they could be measured.

While measurements were being taken, Katherine was talking to the attendant, "Top quality material for everything, and then the material charmed for all temperatures."

The attendant just nodded putting down a few notes before signaling for another attendant so they could begin working on the clothing.

Robert arrived at the shop just before the kids were finished hold two new trunks both with shrinking charms, compartment enlarging charms, and feather light charms.

Once the robes and cloaks were paid for the were placed into the appropriate trunks, which had the respective family crest on them to distinguish which trunk was Daphne's and which one was Harry's.

After putting the robes away, the group made their way through the alley picking up their potions supplies, a pewter cauldron for each of them along with two sets of crystal vials each, and a set of scales for weighing ingredients.

Then they proceeded on to the other shops where they purchased such items as dragon hide gloves, a telescope for each of them, and books.

Finally they headed to pick out some new animals, which would be two for Daphne and a bird for Harry as he already owned Iggy. Entering the Magical Menagerie both of them began looking around to see if anything caught their attention.

Harry was done fairly quickly as none of the birds called out to him so he just waited talking to the snakes. He had discovered that he could talk to them when he bought Iggy and when Aunt Katherine and Uncle Robert discovered it they carefully explained to Harry how it would be necessary to keep it hidden that he could speak parseltongue as most people unfairly assumed that it made the witch or wizard a dark wizard, and it would be better if Harry, who was seen as a celebrity of the wizarding world, not give the press any information to slander him.

Daphne on the other hand was having much more success as she found a peregrine falcon, which Daphne preferred as to having an owl, as that would be most likely what Harry would end up with as his bird.

As she handed the cage to her mother she began walking around the shop looking for her other gift. She slowly made her way through before she found what she was looking for, which was a magical white cat that could freeze anything as a defense mechanism. At the moment it was just a kitten and like Iggy it would mean that the kitten would spend most of its life with Daphne

Pleased with her choices Daphne took the basket containing her kitten towards the counter, while her mother brought the cage containing her falcon up to be purchased.

The person at the counter looked over the purchases before saying, "The total comes to seventy galleons, twenty for the falcon, its cage, and a perch, and fifty for the kitten, basket, food, and toys."

Katherine just reached into her money bag and pulled out the appropriate amount to pay for Daphne's two new pets.

The group the proceeded to the owl emporium so that Harry could find an owl that suited him. It took a little while as Harry had to make his way towards the back of the shop before he found the right owl.

In the back of the shop was a female snowy owl with amber eyes that just seemed to call out to Harry. "How about I bring you home with me," asked Harry quietly looking at the owl.

As a response she just cocked her head to the size and looked at him as if to see if he was worthy of her. Finally the owl gave a hoot of approval, so Harry picked up her cage and brought her forward to the front of the shop.

"That is a fine owl there young sir," said the owner from behind the counter. "Probably the most intelligent owl that I have ever had in this shop or seen for that matter, you will be very pleased with her. The total comes to twenty five galleons as it is incredibly hard to get a snowy owl, and because of her remarkable intelligence."

After being paid for Harry left the shop cage in hand, and the group made their way back towards the Leaky Cauldron. Just before getting there both birds were released and told to fly back to Greengrass manor as floo travel would not be suitable for the birds.

The summer seemed to slowly drift away Harry and Daphne spent it how they would normally, and before they knew it school was approaching. On the night of August 31st Harry could be found in his room packing clothes, books, and anything else that he would need into his trunk.

His owl, which he had chosen to name Hedwig, was on her perch looking inquisitively at her owner. "I'm getting ready for Hogwarts girl," said Harry. "We are leaving tomorrow and I'd rather pack my stuff now instead of worrying about it tomorrow."

As Harry went to bed that night he dreamed about what could happen at Hogwarts. He wasn't sure what house he would end up in but he would find out all in due time.

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay but with college and my other fic that I am working on I didn't want to rush it and go away from any ideas that I wanted. I figured that I have never seen a pet iguana in a fic before so why not do that instead of a snake like so many other authors do for Harry. Credit for the name goes to my future room mate.

For any author that is bored and looking for a fic to write I have some new challenges in my profile. Let me know if you feel like taking one of them up, and as always reviews are appreciated.