A Change Of Seasons

Half an hour later all of them were reassembled back in Dumbledore's office. Remus and Severus handed Sirius the items he'd requested, and Harry and Draco both had their trunks safely stowed away in their pockets, it was very lucky that they had learned that shrinking spell back at the end of 6th year after all because now it had surely come in handy.

"Allright then. I'm going to make the 'changes' to Harry and Draco after we've left the school cause we're definitely running out of time here. Harry, I hate to do this but we'll need your dad's cloak, can you get a hold of it?" Sirius said peering at Harry.

Harry was surprized but nodded. He took the miniature trunk out of his pocket and quickly unshrank it, pulling out the cloak he'd carefully hidden at the bottom, then reshrank his trunk and put it safely back away in his pocket. "Why do we need this though Sirius?" he asked puzzled.

"Very simple Harry. I arrived here as a 'dog' and alone, therefore I am going to leave here the same way, atleast so it will appear to anyone looking on by chance. You and Draco will have to stay under the cloak until we've gotten to the place that I have in mind to make the 'changes'." Sirius said.

"I take it you're going to the shack then first Paddy?" Remus said with a chuckle.

Sirius flashed him a grin, "You know of any place better Moony? Noone would think to check there right off, and we can use the 'back way' out to apparate to the spot in Coxley I used to come here after getting Albus's owl post. From there, I'll be winging it I guess." Sirius said with a frown.

"Err Padfoot, not that I hate bringing this up but...what are you going to do bout muggle money? Not like you can just get a place to stay without it, and what are you planning as far as your own appearance? Muggles may have short term memories, but any stray deatheater wouldn't, and would know you onsite." Remus said frowning as well.

"Good point. I suppose then I'll have to make a few 'changes' to myself as well. As for the money....I hadn't really thought of that but you're right again. I guess after we get done in the shack 'transforming' ourselves, we'll have to make a stop at Gringotts and get some currency transferred. Good thing those goblins will accept a key from anyone eh?" Sirius chuckled.

"Sirius, I want to give you something towards all this okay? You shouldn't be using what money you have left and..." Harry began but was cut off by Sirius.

"Harry, I never told you this but....I'm not exactly 'poor'. Oh I may not have as much money as you and Severus over there, but I'm by no means poor either. My parents, purebloods at that by the way, had quite a small fortune hidden away under Gringotts, and when they died all of it went to me, even though I was still in Azkaban when they died. I suppose they always hoped I'd be cleared of my charges, so they left me everything monetarily. The manor house we had went to a relative however, since I wasn't there to claim the deed at the time." he muttered.

"Oh Sirius, I'm sorry." Harry said softly.

Sirius gave him a small smile. "It's okay Harry, you didn't know. My parents went to their graves thinking I was innocent atleast, that's a comfort for me. As for the rest, I devised this plan, I'll pay for it. After all, I have no wife to spend it all on, and you're the closest thing I'll ever have to a son, so who better to spend it on eh?" he said tousling Harry's as always unkempt hair.

Harry grinned, "Never know Sirius, you might one day still have kids, after all, you're only 43 years old, that's still very young by wizarding standards! I mean look at Remus and Severus, they still have a chance too!"

Sirius rolled his eyes chuckling, Draco tried to hide a sound that resembled a snort, Remus grinned and gave Severus a coy look, and Severus just sat there torn between a scowl and one heck of a blush. Albus on the other hand just stood there with a twinkle in his eyes bright as the stars. "Indeed young Harry, anything is possible. However now is not the time to discuss that. Make you're way now to the Whomping Willow passage, and do what you need to do. We will see you soon, all three of you." he said ushering all of them to the door.

Sirius transformed back into his animagus form, while Harry and Draco both slipped under the invisibility cloak. They would have to move a bit slowly, but that was allright with Sirius, he rather they moved slow then trip and become exposed. Saying last goodbyes, the three of them made their way down to the great hall, and to the Whomping Willow. Soon enough, they were inside the Shrieking Shack, Sirius transforming from his dog form, and Harry and Draco removing the cloak.

"Well stage one complete. Now begins a new 'marauder' adventure boys! Harry, go ahead and put the cloak away now, we wont need it hopefully for a while." Sirius said getting out the vial of 'Reforma Potion' that Severus had given him earlier.

Harry put the cloak away, and looked at Sirius and Draco. "Well, what changes are you going to make to yourself Sirius?" he asked curious what was now in store for them all.

Sirius scratched his cheek in thought. "Hmm, well, since two of the three of us have black hair, and with Draco's silvery hair, that's more then noticeable. What do you think, we should be...redheads?"

Draco groaned, "Oh gods no! Anything but red hair, I'll look like a...." he glanced at Harry though and changed what he was going to say, "a carrot. I hate carrots!" he said muttering and Harry grinned at his choice of words.

Chuckling himself Sirius said, "Okay, not red, not black...blonde I never looked good in, so I suppose...brown then. All ayes on that?"

Harry and Draco both nodded, brown was tolerable at anyrate. "Eyes then. Grey, green and black eyes as we all have definitely noticeable. Brown hair, brown eyes I'd say agreed?" Sirius said getting nods of affirmation on that. "Good. Now, Draco much as err that 'pale' look does seem to suit you, it wont do. And gods know I still look sickly even though it's been nearly 4 years I'm out of Azkaban, so we will have to change our skin tone. Lets see, tan is out, I'm not a sun person, so we'll settle on a nice peachy look."

Again the boys nodded. "So far so good. What else?" Harry said hoping this would all really work.

"Well, we could change our height as well, but I think for now, what we have will do. Millions of people have the same height, so that shouldn't be a factor. Let's first find out how much of a change the rest makes and how we look, then we go from there." he said taking a small dropped from his pocket. "Now this wont hurt, though it might feel a bit strange. All you do is take the dropper, and in the places you want to change, put one drop of the potion, and say the colour you want. It's very powerful stuff, so only make sure to use one drop, no more. Wait till the change takes place, so we will have to do this in turns, then apply the potion to the next area. Got it?" Sirius said making sure that both boys had paid attention, and was glad to see they had.

Sirius was first with the potion. He did his eyes first, waiting for the few moments it took for the potion to finish doing it's task. Transfiguring up a full length mirror out of the cot that was in the room, he peer in, satisfied with the change. Next he did his hair, which turned a nice shade of brown with a few black strands for highlights, then his skin. After he was done with all of it, even Draco had to admit it was something quite unique this potion, for it had turned him into actually a very attractive man.

"Wow Sirius, I bet you could get a ton of dates looking like that!" Harry said with awe.

Sirius chuckled, also impressed, and very heartened at the changes. Not that Harry knew it, for somehow the issue never came up, but Sirius didn't care really which sex he would end up taking someday, if ever, for a lifemate. He'd dated both males and females while at Hogwarts, and found both to his liking easily enough. "Draco, you're turn next." he said.

Draco nodded, and did the same thing as Sirius had just done. After he was finished, he did look quite different. No longer pale, but nicely peach skinned, with brown hair and a touch of blonde for highlights (that must have been a flaw in the potion Sirius mused, somehow it wouldn't colour the hair 100%, but he didn't want to risk a second drop right just yet), and brown eyes like Sirius's, Draco was actually extremely fetching to say the least.

Harry caught his breath. If Draco had looked good as his normal self, he looked positively dashing as this 'new' self. "Wow Draco, you're...well...spot on." Harry said softly.

Draco smiled back, glad Harry liked the changes. Admiring this new look in the mirror he was a bit surprized, normally he loved his looks, not that he was vain, but that part veela side of him was something that had made him stand out in the crowd. Now though he had a sleeker look, and somehow it just didn't do the same job. However Harry's opinion of course, was the only one that mattered to him.

Harry was the last to go now. His hair, like Sirius's, changed to brown streaked with some black strands, and just like the other two, had grown to just past his shoulders. He supposed they would all end up putting their hair into a tie, for somehow he suspected that even if they cut their hair, the potion would make it grow back instantly to the same lengths, although in Harry's case, this wasn't really something that hadn't happened to him before. Next he did his eyes, which turned to a golden brown, and his skin a deeper peach then Draco's, but not tanned.

Over all, in Draco's eyes, he looked completely handsome, and told him as much, causing Harry to slightly blush, something that looked even nicer to Draco's eyes. That's when Draco noticed something else, something they had all forgotten, and gave a small groan.

"Draco? What is it?" Sirius said concerned.

"That's what's wrong!" Draco said pointed to Harry's scar. "How are we going to hide that?" he said worried actually.

Sirius and Harry both groaned as well. Neither of them had thought bout Harry's scar, and Sirius wasn't a'toll sure the potion would even work on it. Harry's scar was powerful magic, and the properties of said scar, might counteract any potions or anything magical a'toll.

"Try the potion anyway Harry. Put the drop on it, and ask the potion to make the scar transparent, and pray it works." Sirius said with a sigh, and watched carefully as Harry did as he was told.

The potion to his surprize, did work, however only to a degree. It certainly had made the scar lighter, but not 100% gone. Suddenly an idea came to him, something he'd remembered his mother had used all those years ago when she had blemishes on her skin, and summoned up a small jar of what looked like coloured cream. "Harry, this is a concealer cream. Muggle, and wizarding women even, use it to cover up spots on their faces, and other assorted maladies of the face. Lets see if it can cover up the rest shall we?"

Harry took the jar from Sirius and going over to the mirror, applied a small dab of the cream. The scar was luckily light enough, and the concealer actually was able to blend it in almost perfectly. Now unless you physically knew it was there, you couldn't see it from a distance a'toll, and up close it only looked like a ghostly image of the famed scar. All three of them sighed in relief that it had worked.

"You have to be careful then Harry not to sweat too much if possible, or rub it off. Keep a jar on you a'toll times, even while in school okay?" Sirius said and Harry quickly put the jar in his pocket nodding.

Sirius appraised all three of them, but wasn't 100% satisfied yet with the changes. The heights were allright, but the muscle tone wasn't. Despite Harry and Draco both being seekers for their house Quidditch teams, and were in good shape, they still were both a little on the lean side. Sirius, though freed for the last 4 years, wasn't exactly on the muscular side. He knew he would never get back the frame he had before Azkaban unless he was really 'free' to lead a normal life again, and the meager scraps he fed off of as a dog didn't exactly make for a healthy diet. So that was the next step in the changing process.

Each of the three put one drop of potion on their chests, and using the words, "healthy looking muscles", gasped as their muscles began to change. In the end, though it hadn't been really painful, the results were well worth the discomforts. Each of them now were a little broader in the shoulders, had a little more chest width, and their arms and legs, though not befitting a rugged sportster, were most definitely agreeable looking. Satisfied now that there would be no way Lucius or any of Voldemorts minions would be able to tell them apart from any other muggles, he took the vial, restopped it, and put it, along with the dropper, back into his pocket.

"Good, everything then is set far as stage one of the plan. And might I add, you boys are looking quite nice!" Sirius said with a grin, causing both boys to blush a bit.

"You're not so bad yourself there Sirius, careful now or you're going to give all the ladies a start at this new town!" Harry said with a grin.

Sirius chuckled. "Remember now boys, I'm a widower, and from now on, I'm you're 'father' okay? I fully have no intentions, good looking or not, to get shacked up right now with anyone, so dont even try it." he said waggling a finger at Harry.

"Okay then 'dad'. What's next?" Harry said unable to take the grin off his face.

"Are we going to apparate out of here cause I dont know how, we haven't taken the test yet remember." Draco said thoughtfully.

Sirius shook his head, "You two wont be, I will be. Rather, I mean I will be apparating with both of you in tow so to speak. First we have to go to Gringotts anyway, and I know just the place to apparate to that's out of the way, and wont cause attraction. You two ready then?" Sirius said, transfiguring back the mirror into the cot, and taking hold of Draco and Harry's hands.

The boys nodded to him, and with a concentrated look on Sirius's face, they felt a pull unlike even using Floo Powder. Similar, but less whirlwindish, and not so messy atleast. A moment later, they were standing in a small alleyway, which walking out of Harry recognized as being next door to the Quality Quidditch Supply Shoppe. Stealing a quick glance at it, he knew there were far more important things to do at the moment then go browsing off with the latest broomstick.

Arriving at the vault, Sirius told the head goblin that he had a withdrawal to make, and told the boys to stay put while he went with Griphook, the smallest goblin. As the boys waited, several people passed them, both goblin and human alike, Harry even thought he saw an elf somewhere's in the lot, but none of them so much as paid heed to the two boys waiting. The potion was doing it's job right proper, to Harry and Draco's immense relief. Ten minutes later, Sirius arrived back, and going over to the "Wizarding Coins to Muggle Monies" window, exchanged what looked to be quite a large sum.

"Come on boys, lets go." He said, and with a quick step, they followed him out of the bank back round to the alleyway in which they first arrived.

"Sirius, if I remember muggle money right, that's well...a heck of a lot of notes and shillings. You sure we need all that?" Harry said still a bit surprized.

Sirius nodded, "Yes Harry, better to be safe then sorry. Who knows when we'll get back to Gringotts, or the wizarding world, and this has to last atleast a while. Since I've been 'living' there for a bit now, I've gotten adept at figuring out the cost of things and what I have should last quite a while. Now, let's head to Coxley eh?" he said taking both boys by the hands again and apparated out.

They arrived in a little forested clearing bout half a kilometer from the edge of town. It looked pretty enough, and was quite atleast, but it was the people he would have to worry bout. "Okay now, first we will go to the estate office and see what is for hire. Hopefully there will be a two bedroom flat or a small bungalow somewhere's quite and not in the middle of the town. The only thing we'll have to decide is, what our 'names' will be from here on out." Sirius said giving this some thought.

"Names? What do you mean names?" Draco asked a bit surprized.

"Obviously Draco we cant use our 'real' names, that's a dead giveaway, right Sirius..err..dad?" Harry said again grinning. He hoped it wouldn't take too long to stop doing that when he would have to call him that.

"Oh, I see now. Of course, why didn't I think of that!" Draco said in a huff. "Gods, I haven't a clue what I would call myself besides Draco though." he said trying desperately to come up with something.

"Well, I think I'm going to use Daniel. Daniel Patrick, how does that sound?" Harry asked.

"Nice, I like it. Let's see then, I guess I'll go with hmm, Tomas. Tomas Sidney, sound allright?" Draco said, and Harry and Sirius nodded.

"Well, suppose that leaves me then. Let's see, Alan I think with do nicely. Alan David, and our last name will be err, lets see here...ah yes, how bout Brandon?" Sirius said, and Harry and Draco agreed to it. "Okay then, we'll be Daniel Patrick Brandon, Tomas Sidney Brandon, and Alan David Brandon. Well then my 'sons', off the estate office it is!" Sirius said laughing at the expressions on Harry and Draco's faces. Suddenly he stopped short as he saw Draco take Harry's hand in his.

"Si-dad? What's wrong?" Harry asked suddenly seeing the look on Sirius's face.

Sirius sighed. "Harry, Draco, I realize this is going to be tough for you, however...you have to keep in mind that you are 'brothers' now. It just wont do to have the two of you holding hands, atleast not in public anyway. In private I could care less what you do, though mind you I may not be your father Harry but I still am your godfather, and I know James wouldn't err, well...want you two rushing into anything you might..." he mumbled something then under his breath.

Harry grinned at him, knowing full well what Sirius meant. "Dont worry Sirius, I promise Draco and I wont do anything to make you embarrassed, but dont expect us not to err..well, you know when we're alone. That's a promise I cant and wont make, sorry." he said blushing and gazing for a moment softly at Draco.

Draco smiled softly back. "I agree Black, public fine, we wont try to err, well you know, but in private...." he said leaving that open to the imaginations.

Sirius glanced up to the sky and shrugged his shoulders. "Guess I wont ask you both for the stars while your alone, just remember, it's hands off in public, got it?" and waited till both Harry and Draco nodded in affirmation. As soon as they did, they both dropped each others hand, and the three of them continued on to the town, wondring what exactly would be waiting for them there.

Each of them were very much lost in their thoughts as they traversed the half a kilometer journey towards the town of Coxley. They all prayed this would go smoothly, and Harry and Draco silently hoped they could remember to keep their hands to themselves while at this school, and hopefully even remember to call Sirius 'dad'. All they would have would be their nights, and somehow that was suddenly a very comforting thought to them both.

Sirius stopped again, only this time groaning at something else he'd completely forgotten. It was all well and good to be the boy's 'father', and for them to be 'brothers' but how was he going to explain how they were the same ages? Suddenly he glanced at the two boys, and an idea struck him, and with any luck, it just might work. "There's one more slight issue you need to remember boys. You're going to have to be 'twins'. Thank Merlin there's such a thing as fraternal twins, not just identical ones. That would explain why you're the same age, and why I'm enrolling you in the same year. And before there's any arguments, Draco you're going to have to have Harry's birthdate, July 31st, 1986. Only because it's the only one I'll be bound to remember when I have to enroll you both at school. As to where you were born, we'll use London Hospital, that will be harder to trace for records hopefully."

"Spot on for me, atleast I'll remember it." Harry said.

"As it happens, my birthday is August 1st, so I shouldn't have any problem remembering it one day sooner I suppose." Draco said.

"Good, now let's try this again, and hopefully we make it there this time!" Sirius said in a huff. This was alot more work then he first thought it would be. He'd forgotten all the little details they now had to plot out, and since he hadn't a clue what the muggle schools, or anything else would need for proof, he tried to think back to all the times he'd watched the muggles while in animagus form. Luckily due to total bordem usually as a dog all day, he had actually paid attention for some things, and he hoped now he'd remembered everything he would need.

Thanks to Albus, he had special magic paper that would require a special quill and the paper would automatically turn into any documents or forms needed to survive in the muggle world. Being as the quill wasn't a 'spell', nor was the paper, it wouldn't be detectable either by Mafalda Hopkirk, the woman in charge of the Improper Use Of Magic Office at the ministry. He'd given Sirius quite a small stack of these papers, and 3 of the quills to be safe as well, and assured Sirius that although they weren't exactly legal to use them, it wasn't completely illegal either. How that differed was beyond Sirius's guesswork, however right now he really didn't care either way. He was breaking a hell of a lot more then just use of an improper item law at the moment by basically 'kidnapping' Harry and Draco, and such a trivial matter as the papers were hardly cause for alarm. They were a needed object at the moment, and that's all that counted.

As they arrived at the town, the streets became a bit busier, and they could see various types of muggles going bout their daily routine. A puh-lease man was standing on a pedestal in a roundabout directing muggle vehicles, a few people were standing at a trolley stop, one of them chatting up on those muggle 'mow-byles' to what sounded like his girlfriend or wife. Outdoor stalls at the open air marketplace advertised their fruits, vegetables, and the like, and everyone else seemed to be heading off in all different directions. To Draco, it was unlike anything he'd ever seen afore. He'd been to London of course, but London always seemed foggy and rainy, and above all too noisy. Here he could hear the birds still chirping, mainly because there were trees everywhere, unlike in London where the trees only seemed to grow in small squared off areas called parks.

Harry of course, wasn't as astounded as Draco. He'd grown up in Surrey, and although it was a township of London, it had it's prettier side. Still though, being here, and with Draco by his side, this town seemed far more nicer then Little Whinging ever was, or could be. The fact that the Dursley's resided at 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey most likely was the forefront of the reason why it was as such.

Shortly they came acrost the estate offices, a 2 story red brick building with gold trimmings and a sign hanging out front that said in large letters, "Fisher and Abbots, Estate Agents. Est. 1870." Underneath it read in smaller letters, "Specializing in Bungalows, Housing Estates, and Flats." and Sirius led them in.

He approached a rather young looking lass, but without lifting her eyes from the magazine she was reading, nor even saying a single word, she pointed to a register book on a stand nearby. He understood, and quickly went over and put his name down to be seen. The boys followed him, sitting down on one of the smaller sofas adorning the office. It was a rather nice looking office, plants at the doorway, the desks cut away from public viewing by little cubicles. The walls were a greyish in look, with a few pictures on the walls of some rather dour looking men (of which Draco whispered in Harry's ear his amazement at them because they didn't move a'toll!), and the carpeting was a similar greyish. Overall, despite the ringing up of the phones and the clacking of some strange looking devices on the desks, the place was rather cozy.

A few moments later, a man came out, spoke briefly to the young lady at the desk who finally had no choice apparently to put her magazine down and do some real work, and walked over to the register book on the stand. He crossed out something, then adjusting his glasses, read it over. "Ah, here we are then. Brandon? Alan David Brandon?"

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2002-02-27 1:10:58 AM