Family
By danu40k
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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The week passed quickly, and before anyone realized it, it was Friday.
Ron had taken Xander’s words to heart and was writing everything he could on his new broom, proud to have something so important to do.
The two had finished their homework with the aid of Sirius and Remus and were now preparing to go to the movies in London.
The Lion King had just come out and Xander thought that it would be a good movie for the family to see.
They had watched some movies on the VCR system Xander had fixed up, but it was something else again to see it in the theater, as they were going to show Ron.
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They came out of the movie with Ron and Sirius singing Hakuna Matata, and he other three in the group stayed away from them trying not to be seen with them, while at the same time trying to keep them in view.
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The next morning, saw them off to the airport. They were taking a plane to New York, and from there, a portkey to Wyoming and the town outside the Quidditch Camp.
It was another first for the group since none had ever been on a plane.
Xander had gotten them first class accommodations. After all, if you are going to go, why not do it in style. The flight attendant had told them that it would be best for them to get some sleep through the flight as it would help them with jet lag.
When Ron asked what that was she had explained it to him and then said that it would be harder coming back since they would be losing time as opposed to gaining it like they were now.
Xander had been smart and had brought several things to keep the boys - including Sirius - occupied for the thirteen hour trip.
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By the time they arrived at the hotel, it was one am their time and Xander sent everyone to bed, telling the boys that they would get them up at eleven so that they could have breakfast before going to camp.
The next morning everyone had pretty much slept through jet lag and the boys were bouncing everywhere waiting to head out.
At one pm, they were at the camp, Sirius fussing over Harry. The camp area they were in was large, allowing it to hold everyone easily. In the distance you could see the Quidditch Fields.
Finally it was time for the adults - and Sirius - to go, leaving the boys to enjoy themselves.
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The next week was filled with meetings in New York. There were a lot of businesses opportunities that Xander wanted to take advantage of. He had already had the Goblins invest heavily in tech stock for him, now it was time to meet several of the American companies that combined magic and mundane tech.
Xander had already bought several items of note; CD walkmans, stereos, computers, and he was thinking of putting a home entertainment system in the Manor to replace the Game Room they used now.
They used the evenings to go to shows and to do adult things.
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Finally, Saturday came and it was time to pick up the boys.
When they portkeyed in they found the boys having one last quick game and sat around watching them play, with Remus and Sirius explaining the game to Xander.
Finally, the game over, the boys came down and got their things. Coming over to the group and giving them hugs.
Xander ran his hand through Harry’s hair and looked down at him. “Well how did the brooms work?”
“Great! Much better than my Nimbus. It was like it could read my mind and just did things right when I thought of them.” Harry exclaimed with Ron nodding. “Yeah, much better than my Cleansweep seven. Harry’s right, it was like it was reading your mind.”
“Good. So do we invest in the company or what?” He added looking seriously to Ron.
Ron grinned and bounced. “Yeah, I can’t believe we’ve never even heard of these guys. Their brooms are great.”
“Well, I’ll be ordering enough brooms to equip the school with new school brooms and the Gryffindor team with new brooms as well.” Xander told them as he shrunk Harry’s trunk and put it in his pocket while Sirius did the same with Ron’s.
Remus held out the portkey and they all held on while he activated it.
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They popped up in an out of the way area in an airport. The sign above saying ‘Welcome to Orlando Florida.’
Xander enlarged his and Harry’s trunk, while Sirius did his and Ron’s, and Remus did his. Then they all followed Xander as he led the way outside to grab a shuttle bus.
Walking out into the mid summer heat, the two boys immedeatly turned around and headed back into the relative coolness of the airport.
Xander went back inside and grabbed onto them and took them back outside. “Ah, come on guys, I’m finally getting warm. All that Scottish cool damp weather and all.” He said laughingly. “Though the humidity I could live without.” He finished.
They soon arrived at the hotel and, after unpacking the shuttle, went inside to check in.
Xander went up to the front desk.
“I have reservations under Harris.” He told the clerk.
She looked it up on the computer and nodded; getting the keys ready for him. “Yes sir, the Ambassador Suite.”
Xander handed over his credit card and grinned at her. She handed it back and also handed over several envelopes, before ringing for a bell hop.
Once they were in the room Xander tipped the man after he had placed their luggage in the various rooms.
Xander went over to the large bay window and sighed. He had, of course, been to Disneyland. But he had never had a chance to go to Disneyworld. And here he was. At the ‘Happiest Place on Earth.’
Harry came over and looked out at the scenery. Gasping when he recognized the Castle in the background. “We’re at Disneyland?” He squealed.
“Nope, Disneyworld. We’ll be hitting the parks starting tomorrow.” Xander told Harry.
Ron came over and looked out. “Looks like something out of one of Ginny’s fairy tales.” Ron said, pointing to the castle.
Remus came over. It’s based off of the Cinderella Fairy Tale. Or at the least the Disney version. At Ron’s questioning gaze, he added, “Disney is the company that did The Lion King. They did an animated movie based on Cinderella.”
“Yeah, gotta love Maleficent. One of my favorite villains.” Xander chimed in.
Sirius came bounding over. Giving everyone a hug. He couldn’t wait to go there. He had been hyped about it ever since Xander had explained his plans to him and Remus. It took a bit to explain the whole ‘Amusement Parks’ to him. But once he had it, he was all for it.
Xander clapped his hands together and turned to the group. “Everyone get settled. We are dinning out so be ready in an hour.”
“Where are we going?” Harry asked.
“Pirate’s Cove. I figured we could get a taste of things by going there. We have reservations for front row seating where can watch the dinner theater. Tomorrow we head to Disneyworld. Monday we go to Epcot Center. Tuesday we head to Disney‘s Animal Kingdom. Wednesday is a water park, and Thursday is Universal Studios. And Friday is shopping at FAO Schwartz and the LEGO Store. You will each get a credit card with money on it for souvenirs and things. That way we don’t have to play with the exchange rate.” At Ron’s confused look, Xander explained; “These credit cards show that I’ve already prepaid for everything so I have all this credit. The card has the information in it that subtracts the amount you want when you buy things.”
“But how does the card know?” Ron asked.
Xander pulled a wallet out and showed Ron the card inside. “See this black strip here on the back?” Ron nodded. It holds some of the information. When the vendors scan it, it talks to their computer and the computer talks to our bank computer which tells them that we have enough money.”
Ron stared at it fascinated.
“That’s yours by the way. It has two-thousand American dollars on it. This is roughly two hundred Galleons. The exchange rate is about ten American dollars to every Galleon. If you think that will help.”
Ron gaped. “But I can’t accept this. That’s too much money.” Ron tried to hand it back.
Xander gave it back to him. “Your parents chipped in most of that since Scabbers aka Pettigrew was your rat. I saved out enough for your school things and a pet if you want it when we go shopping. The rest is yours. Consider it an early Christmas present from all of us. You can keep the broom as a gift for your consultation. You helped me loads there.”
Ron bashfully took the card back.
“Here, the envelope’s for you as well. There’s a wallet in there as well so you have something to put your card and tickets in. I’ll keep the tickets here at the hotel so we don’t lose them.” Xander handed out the other wallets to the others. Each wallet had a credit card in it along with some cash just in case.
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The next morning it was hard to tell who was more excited to go. Xander, Sirius or the boys.
They got breakfast at a small restaurant, sitting outside, enjoying the cool breeze of the morning.
At promptly eight am they were using their special passes to enter the Park, heading for the first ride.
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By one am, they were tired but happy. The park had been a blast. Especially when Harry and Ron ran into Ed from the movie. Sirius had insisted that they all have their picture taken with him. And even went so far as to get stuffed animals of Simba and Ed for each of them (he made sure that the Ed could laugh like his character before buying).
In the end, Sirius went through six rolls of photos in his Wizarding camera. These included pictures of each of the tombstones on the pathway to the haunted mansion.
They all looked at Xander when they came to the ghosts. Asking him how it was done. At the shrug of his shoulders they tried to ask an employee only to receive the answer that they were real ghosts.
Not believing it, but not able to get any real answer they were left with the same question every other visitor had; ‘How did they do that?’
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The next day, while not as exciting ride wise, was still fun for the group.
They had fun going from place to place and sampling the foods and atmosphere of each country with Sirius taking their picture at each stop.
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Universal Studios was a different exciting with its different thrill rides.
They each tried to outdo each other on how many times they could ride a ride before finally stopping.
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Finally, their stay was over. Ron had to have all of his stuff shrunk to fit into his trunk. He had decided to take Xander’s idea and get his Christmas shopping done while they were there.
While everyone was going through to make sure they had everything, Xander went downstairs to check them out.
Once he came back up, they shrunk their belongings down and grabbed onto the portkey Xander had acquired for them.
Leaving for New York and home.
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End Chapter Seven
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