Sirius did not in fact keep his explanation brief. He spent the entire walk down the drive, and at least a full minute after they apparated, still talking about robes. Apparently Harry needed at least seven sets of formal robes, one in each of his House's colours and another that was just black, as well as a full week's worth of regular robes. The moment Sirius had mentioned underwear though, Harry was out the alley and he was forced to follow with a chuckling Remus. Sirius trotted along behind them, his black furry head raised to breathe in the air. "You should go right to Gringotts Pads," Remus said softly. "Meet us back at the ally later." Sirius barked and ran off.
"Right," Harry pulled the Hogwarts letter from his pocket. "Books or robes first?"
"Robes," Remus said. "We can order them and then pick them up when we've finished so Twilfitt has the chance to make them perfect."
"Twilfitt?" Harry asked. "I thought we could just go to Madam Malkin's like I always do."
"Madam Malkin's is very good for school robes and casual things... but she is not as refined as Twilfitt and Tattings," Remus explained, leading Harry towards the latter store. "The Lords often shop at Twilfitt and Tattings."
"Alright," Harry said slowly. He didn't really understand what the difference could be but he would just go with what Remus said.
"Mister Lupin!" A voice called the moment they entered the store. "I wondered if I would ever see you again."
"Hello Mr. Twilfitt," Remus smiled. "I didn't think I would be here again. But Harry needs some new robes."
The man, an older gentleman with grey hair and dark eyes, glanced at Harry and smiled. "A pleasure to meet you Mister Potter."
"Lord Potter," Remus said before Harry would respond.
Mr. Twilfitt's eyes widened slightly before he gave a slight grim nod, "of course. Well what exactly do you need Lord Potter?"
"Everything?" Harry grimaced. "Uhhh Lord's robes for formal events, and a set of just regular black formal robes. And also... four sets of everyday robes."
Mr. Twilfitt blinked, "okay. Over here my Lord," he waved for Harry to step onto a platform. He did and the robe maker instantly started taking measurements, the tape moving without hands, just like Ollivander's had. "What exactly do you need for the Lord's robes?"
Harry cleared his throat. "Completely formal with spaces for crest brooches. Uhhh... red and black ones," he paused to think about the colours for all the houses. "dark yellow, like a pretty yellow if you have that-"
"Let me get my yellows and you can decide," Mr. Twilfitt said. He turned and walked to the back of the shop before returning with cuts of a few different shades of yellow fabric. "What do you think?"
Harry stared at the fabric. "That one," he said, pointing to dark golden yellow fabric. "That one is perfect."
"Very well," the robe maker said, flicking his hand to send the rest of the fabric back to the backrooms. "Any others?"
"Yes, uhhh, a set of green and silver, and another of green and black. Red and gold and dark purple and black."
"That is a lot," Twilfitt said.
"Yeah..." Harry dragged out the word, not offering an explanation, other people didn't need to know yet.
Mr. Twilfitt seemed to want to ask questions but realised Harry wouldn't answer them so he moved on. "And you said regular black formal robes?"
"Yes," Harry nodded.
"Do you have preferences for informal robes?"
"Uhhh.... just whatever colours you think would work," Harry shrugged.
"Alright," Mr. Twilfitt nodded. "They should be ready in an hour."
"That's fine," Harry stepped off the platform. "We need to get my school books anyway."
"The Standard Book of Spells Grade 4," Remus said as he pulled a book from the shelf.
"The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection," Harry smiled, as he raised the book he had grabbed.
"Now... I do believe the Ancient Runes book for 4th year was... this one," Remus took the book from the shelf. Ancient Runes: The Basics and the Intricate. The title read.
"What if I can't change classes?" Harry asked worriedly.
"You can," Remus said. "But even if you couldn't, Ancient Runes are important for Lords to know, you could self study them."
Harry shrugged but nodded, "I'd hate that."
"Good thing you won't need to then," Remus smirked. "Let's go get these books."
"I can go in if you want?" Remus smiled. "You look like you really want that ice cream."
Harry's eyes widened and he blushed. "They're my robes, I should buy them."
"You are also a fourteen year old boy and you want sweets," Remus rolled his eyes. "Give me the money, and go get your ice cream." Harry blushed deeper but pulled the galleons from his pocket and handed them to Remus with a thank you before running off to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
"Mr. Potter!" Mr. Fortescue smiled. "Lovely to see you again."
"Nice to see you too," Harry smiled. "I'd like the... strawberry please."
"Right away," the ice cream seller smiled.
Remus was out soon, and he and Harry sat to talk while he finished his ice cream. Soon they were waving goodbye to Florean and heading towards the alley where Sirius would hopefully already be waiting for them.
He was leaning against one of the brick walls, tapping his foot. He stood the moment Harry and Remus entered the alley, reaching out his hands for them to take. "Let's go home please!"
Harry laughed and Remus smiled at his tone. "The goblins were...their usual selves?" Sirius just groaned and Remus' smile cracked into a laugh.
"Now what did you need to tell us?" Remus asked, fixing the ring on his finger that Sirius had just returned to him.
"Oh right that," Harry cleared his throat. "Severus thinks Voldemort is coming back."
Sirius dropped the book he had been looking over and it hit the ground with a thump, Remus let out a strangled gasp. Harry winced, he could have said that better. "He what?" Remus finally managed to croak out.
"Well... you see his Dark Circle mark is coming back stronger. He said that uhh... over the years it got darker sometimes but never so consistently as the past few weeks," Harry explained.
Sirius closed his eyes and leant back. "Is it completely visible?"
"Uhh no."
"Okay... so it may fade again?"
"Hopefully," Harry eked out. "I really want more time to practise my... ya know... Master stuff before having to deal with him."
"As do I," Remus said. "Let us pray that he finds himself again halted in his plans."
Harry rolled his head back, "yeah..." All three of them fell silent, all thinking and hoping.
A loud chirping sound rang through the house and Harry looked up to see a small shape coming towards them. Was that an owl? The little thing hurried towards Harry, barely managing to stop itself and land on the chair behind Harry. Oh... it was an owl and Harry recognised it. "Oh... you're the owl Siri gave to Ron huh?"
Sirius looked up at that, "oh yeah... that's the one."
Harry reached out his hand towards the little owl. "You have a letter for me then?"
The bird jumped up again and dropped a letter onto the couch before taking off to fly around the room again. Harry bent down to pick it up. Recognizing Ron's scrawling handwriting written over it.
Harry — DAD GOT THE TICKETS — Ireland versus Bulgaria, Monday night. Lucky thing you wrote to say you weren't living with the muggles anymore because Mum was going to write them. Sent this to you with Pig instead.
"Pig?" Harry said aloud, glancing up at the little bird. It chirped but didn't stop its flying.
"Well... certainly a choice of name," Remus commented, staring at the owl. Harry hummed.
You have to come! You can't miss the World Cup. Surely Lupin will say yes. Send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday. If he says no, send Pig back pronto and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday anyway. Hermione's arriving this afternoon. Percy's started work — the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want the pants bored off you. See you soon —Ron
Harry chuckled slightly at the fast writing. "Apparently I am getting picked up on Sunday, at five o'clock to attend the World Cup."
"Are you now?" Remus asked with a raised brow. "I wasn't informed of this?"
"Oh come off it Rem," Sirius chuckled. "His friend is excited and wants him to come, James was the same with you."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Of course you can go Harry," He said instead of responding to Sirius. "But I don't know if they could come into the manor without being keyed in first, so I'll drop you off at the Burrow instead okay?"
Harry grinned. "Mipsy, can I have a quill?" An eagle feather quill appeared on the table in front of his and Harry sat to quickly squiggle a reply on the back off the letter.
Ron, it's all okay, Remus says I can come, but he says he can drop me off instead so don't worry about coming to get me, I don't even know if you can get in the manor. See you at five o'clock Sunday. Can't wait. —Harry
"Come here," He said to the excited owl. "Let me tie this to your leg!" The owl landed, though it still hopped in spot, and Harry struggled to get the letter tied to its little leg. As soon as the letter was secure the owl was off again; it zoomed out of the window and out of sight.
"Anyway..." Remus stared after the owl. "It's the full moon tomorrow, I really should go to sleep early."
"Oh I completely forgot!" Harry and Sirius said in sync.
"I noticed," Remus commented. "No matter. See you tomorrow."
Harry spent most of the next day alone, while Remus and Sirius explored the back forest to prepare for the night. Thankfully, they had enough space that Remus could transform without worrying about hurting anyone. The only important thing Harry really did was write that letter to McGonagall asking to change classes, with Remus' help to make it as polite as possible. That night was an odd one, Harry knew that Remus and Sirius were just outside but still... It was kind of hard to sleep without knowing that they were right across the hall.
By morning though, Harry had managed to get to sleep and sleep well. Remus was resting at breakfast, but Sirius came down just as Harry was finishing his. "Hey Siri," Harry said softly.
"Hey pup," Sirius said. "Any plans for today?"
"No, why?" Harry asked, cocking his head as he watched Sirius take a sip of the tea Mipsy had provided.
"Well then," Sirius put down his cup. "Noble House crash course." He reached out to grab Harry's arm and pull him up.
"Now?" Harry gasped.
"Now," Sirius gave a sharp nod.
Sirius pulled Harry up the stairs and to his study, before almost dropping him into one of the chairs by his fireplace. "What did Remus tell you about noble houses?" Sirius asked, ruffling through Harry's desk to find something.
"The estate files are in the second drawer," Harry giggled when Sirius grunted and opened the drawer. "And Remus explained like... the basics of the different titles."
"Basics," Sirius nodded. "Alright." He lifted the stack of estate files and crests from Harry's desk and carried them over to the fireplace, dropping them onto the side table. "So... should we start with your most important houses... or the ones you are in by blood... or heirships..." He trailed off.
Harry stared wide-eyed at Sirius, not having expected this when he woke up this morning. "How about we just take the one on the top of the pile and go from there," Harry suggested. Sirius gave a sharp nod and picked up the top file. SLYTHERIN ESTATE. "I already read these files ya know."
"Good," Sirius gave a nod. "But you don't know everything... Do you know why they hold the title of Mormaer?"
Harry narrowed his eyes, "no."
"It's Gaelic," Sirius explained. "The Gaelic word for... the ruler of a province. The House of Slytherin used to rule a region of Scotland near Carrick-"
"Neither of the Slytherin properties are in Carrick," Harry said.
"No," Sirius agreed, reading over the file. "I think they gave up that land for rights to the land where Hogwarts is now..."
"Oh," Harry nodded. "That makes sense."
"Yes," Sirius nodded. "The exact age of the house isn't known... This file starts in the 8th century."
"8th?" Harry squeaked out.
"Mhm," Sirius smiled at Harry's expression. "And that is just when Gringotts first started keeping track of money. Do you have a family tree?"
"Uhh no... but I can ask Zoopy to bring it?" Harry shrugged.
"Hmm," Sirius cocked his head. "Yeah... do that." Harry laughed at Sirius' distant expression as he kept reading through the entire file, and Sirius had said he didn't like all this 'lordly business.'
"Zoopy?" Harry called into the air.
There was a pop and the little elf appeared in front of him, "Yes Master Harry?"
"Hi," Harry smiled. "Umm do you know where the Slytherin family tree is and can you get it?"
"Yes, Zoopy can gets it," Zoopy nodded and disappeared with another pop before appearing a few moments later with a silver box floating behind him. "Heres be the family Master Harry."
"Thank you Zoopy," Harry reached out to take the box. "That was all I needed." Zoopy clapped his hands and disappeared again. Harry clicked the box open and a large piece of parchment flew out to unfold in the air before him. Sirius put down the estate file to look at the tree too.
"Right there you can see the oldest ancestor listed, Cassian born 689, died 775, great great grandfather of Salazar Slytherin," Sirius traced the tree down three generations to the name Harry knew. Salazar Slytherin 890-1080.
"He lives a while," Harry commented, looking closer at the tree to make sure he read the numbers right. "His wife even longer, Isabeau Slytherin, 891 to 1089."
"A very long lived woman," Sirius agreed. "They had one son, Elis, who also has a son... Here we can see where the name died out," Sirius said, pointing at another part of the tree. "1543, Cronus Slytherin dies and leaves the title of Mistress Slytherin to his granddaughter, Evadne Gaunt."
"Hopkin Slytherin had a daughter... who was older than her brother," Harry said. "Do wizard houses work like... muggle ones then?"
"Hmm?" Sirius asked. "Oh you mean with inheritance because of gender... It depends on the house." He flicked open the file again and took a piece of parchment from it. "Here are the Slytherin inheritance rules. Every house has different requirements, some prefer males, some females, some are even matrilineal instead of patrilineal."
Harry took the parchment to read it. One sentence stood out to him from the paper. All inheritance shall follow the rule of cognatic primogeniture. "We should move on," Sirius said when Harry didn't comment again. "Or we'd stay stuck on Slytherin the whole day."
"Wait," Harry said, as he handed the inheritance paper back to Sirius. "I want to find Voldemort on this tree." Harry lowered his head to the bottom of the family tree. There it was. Tom Marvolo Riddle Junior. 1926- "Son of Merope Gaunt, so he's a Gaunt. Could have guessed that because of the other title I inherited through conquest."
"A half-blood too," Sirius said, looking at the name of his father.
"I knew that," Harry said, waving his hand to make the parchment refold and place itself back in the silver box. "Let's move on then."
Sirius smirked at Harry, opening the next file on the pile. "House of Peverell."
"This one Remus explained," Harry said. "They're called Storied because of all the stories about some of their oldest members."
"Correct," Sirius nodded. "Ancient and Storied, a well deserved title that you already understand. So instead, let's talk about family history. James and I researched this when he had his inheritance and found out he was related to them."
"I read the Potter family tree," Harry said. "Iolanthe Peverell married into the family in the 13th century."
"Correct. Now the eldest brother, Antioch, had no children but Cadmus' line continued down until they married into the Gaunt family in the 19th century, when the name died."
"Which is how Voldemort is related to them."
"Apparently," Sirius sighed. "The Peverells practise cognatic primogeniture too. And their uhh motto, do you know it?"
"Not by heart, it's something like..." Harry paused to think. "Novissima Autem In-"
"Inimica Destruetur Mors," Sirius finished when Harry couldn't. "The Last Enemy That Shall be Destroyed is Death."
"Because they 'met' death," Harry nodded.
Sirius nodded too. "Well since you seem to know the important stuff about them, House Gaunt."
"Slytherin's line... old but not well respected right?" Harry said slowly.
"Yes, the Gaunt line is perhaps as old as my own family but over the years their proclivity for... close relations made them lose some respect," Sirius said with a huff. "Old as they were and still..."
"Close relations?" Harry said. "Please don't tell me that means incest." Sirius just gave him a look and Harry gagged. "Right... okay can we move on quickly then? I really don't want to have to look at their family tree."
"Sure," Sirius laughed. "But one thing you need to know is their founder and their motto."
"Right... does the file list the founder somewhere because I don't think they have a family tree anywhere."
Sirius hummed looking through the file for a moment before nodding. "Yes, right here. Nuno Gaunt."
"And the family motto has something to do with purity right? I remember that..." Harry narrowed his eyes in thought.
"Right," Sirius nodded. "La Mort Avant L'impureté. Death Before Impurity. Cognatic primogeniture" He scoffed and Harry mirrored with his own, all too happy when Sirius dropped the file to pick up another. "Potter. I'm sure you know all this information right?"
"Founded by Linfred of Stinchcomb. Motto is Militia, Familia, Amor, chivalry, family, love," Harry said proudly.
"Correct!" Sirius grinned. "They follow absolute primogeniture. The eldest child inherits."
"Good," Harry nodded. "That's more like it." He stopped to consider Sirius. "Now we have reached the one you wanted to the most right?"
Sirius huffed a little but smiled. "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black," he said in a mocking tone, drawing a file from behind him (Harry had no idea how he had hid it but he wasn't going to question it) to present to Harry. "My family. Bunch of pureblood nuts really but we do have a notable history."
"Do you?" Harry asked, leaning forwards.
"Hmm, some claim that we can trace our heritage back to Morgana herself, but the oldest known ancestor lived in the 10th century. Lady Royse." Sirius cleared his throat. "We have held land since then and have stayed 'completely pure' throughout our history." The mockery in his tone at the note of their 'pureblood' made Harry smirk. "I am the last surviving member of the male line, but I have cousins."
"Cousins?" Harry asked.
"Hmm... you'd like Andy, Andromeda, she was disowned too, just like me because she married a muggleborn."
"Really? Just because she married a muggleborn?" Harry grimaced.
"Really," Sirius nodded. "My other two cousins were not as smart, let's say. Bellatrix and Narcissa both married purebloods from old families like good little girls."
"I know those names," Harry said, taking a moment to think. "Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy right? Narcissa is Malfoy's, that's Draco's, mum?"
"Right," Sirius nodded. "I hear he takes more after his prat of a father, Cissy was a pureblood supremacist but she was nice enough."
"He does," Harry nodded solemnly. "Arse."
Sirius laughed. "I guessed. Bella was less nice, and she hasn't taken the Azkaban well I can tell you that."
"Oh... were you uhh... close to each other in there?" Harry asked in a stilted voice.
"Yes," Sirius winced. "Insane woman." He shook his head as if to clear it before speaking again. "Toujours Pur. Always Pure," he mumbled.
"The family motto," Harry said. "It's on the ring." He raised his hand to show off the heir ring.
"And on mine," Sirius said, flashing his own. Harry looked at it for the first time, it was enclosed unlike the heir's ring, but made of the same black metal with emerald gems all over it. "Bella's going to freak out when she hears that a half-blood has been made the Black heir. My mother would hate it too."
"Well... given my other status, she might be okay with it," Harry said with a smirk.
"Maybe," Sirius responded with his own. "Only one house left pup, let's go quick." He paused to consider something. "Since we don't know who Lord Gryffindor is... we don't have the file or the family tree but I can recall some details for you."
"Just the basics?" Harry asked.
'Just the basics," Sirius confirmed. "The Gryffindor's had land near the Slytherins but they also gave it up to trade for Hogwarts. Now I think they have land near Godric's Hollow, where you were born."
"Makes sense, it was named after Godric Gryffindor right?"
"Yep, his birthplace too. I remember hearing something about an Eda Gryffindor, a spellcrafter but Remus probably knows more about that. Their motto has something to do with chivalry."
Harry narrowed his eyes in thought. "Courage, Puissance, Chevalerie," he said after a moment. "I think it's on the ring too." Harry twisted it around his finger.
"French," Sirius said. "Courage, Power and Chivalry."
"Makes sense," Harry shrugged.
"Sure does," Sirius agreed. "Sounds very much like us"
"Very much like us," Harry repeated.
Sirius stretched. "It's lunch," he said, nodding to the clock. "Let's eat before we talk some more."