The next day, Harry woke much earlier than he usually did. He had experienced several revelations the previous day, the most notable being that his parents had not been drunkards who died in a car crash; they had died protecting him from an evil wizard. And apparently, Harry himself was also a wizard. This was perhaps the more shocking news, but it was far overshadowed by the fact that his parents had been more than he could have possibly imagined. He supposed he shouldn't have been too surprised that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had lied to him, but he was angry that they had lied about something so important. They clearly knew about magic, since they were constantly going on about his freakishness.

After Harry finished his morning chores and had a small sandwich, he went to the local park. When he spoke to Jack and Sandy the previous day, Jack had promised to help Harry learn more about magic. Harry had learned to create snow and mimic Dreamsand, but he had no idea what else he could do with magic. He also wondered if he would continue to do things accidentally, like when he changed the colour of his teacher's wig.

The Wind swirled around Harry in greeting as Jack dropped from the sky.

"Hello, Jack!" Harry chirped cheerfully. "Are we going to learn more about magic today?"

Jack grinned back at the enthusiastic seven-year-old. "Hey there, Snowflake. I did some investigating while you were asleep. Turns out the secret magic societies have some kind of wards around them hiding from non-magic people. Now that Sandy's confirmed magic is real, I can actually see a whole bunch of magic places. It's really cool!"

"You couldn't see the magic places before?" Harry asked, confused. "I thought you immortals could see everything."

"Apparently not," Jack admitted, "which is really unsettling."

"Maybe it's kind of like how normal people can't see the immortals unless we believe in you? You didn't know about magic, so you couldn't see it?" Harry suggested.

"Maybe," Jack agreed. "That does make sense, in a weird way. I don't like the idea of wizards hiding from immortals, though."

Harry nodded in agreement, then twitched with excitement. "Enough with the creepy hiding aspect, though! What kinds of magic places did you see?"

Jack laughed. "Let's see, the Wind took me through London, and I saw a crazy purple bus zooming around, as well as a rather suspicious looking pub. I didn't get a chance to go in, though. We flew over Wiltshire, and I saw a huge mansion with a bunch of white peacocks and weird plants in the gardens. And when the Wind took me over Devon, I saw a crooked house that looked like it was about to fall over and some weird little men in the garden. They looked like demented lawn ornaments. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were naked beardless garden gnomes come to life."

Harry burst out laughing at Jack's description. "Naked beardless gnomes? Seriously?"

Jack nodded solemnly before he also laughed at Harry's contagious delight. "Seriously. They were ridiculous. They had really big heads, too."

"And white peacocks? Is that a wizard thing?"

Jack waved his arms helplessly. "I don't know! But it was definitely a magical mansion. Even in the dark, I could tell those plants were not normal. One of them looked like it had teeth."

"Wow." Harry was impressed. "I wonder how Aunt Petunia would react to seeing one of those in her garden."

Jack rolled his eyes. "I'm not stealing one for you," he admonished lightly.

Harry groaned in mock despair. "Spoilsport."

"You didn't let me finish telling you about Devon, you know."

Harry's eyed widened. "There were more weird things at the crooked house?"

"Well no, other than a few rings on poles in a field. But there was another house a little way away that was shaped like a giant chess rook, and there were weird plants there, too. One of them looked like a radish bush, but radishes don't grow on bushes." Jack sounded puzzled.

"They probably weren't radishes, then," Harry remarked sagely. "Maybe there's a magic plant that looks like radishes. Is that everything you saw, then?"

"Yep, I only really had time for London, Wiltshire, and Devon. Still, it's pretty cool that I saw so many magical places so close to Surrey."

"Very cool," Harry agreed. "I bet there's magic houses all over. And Sandy mentioned a magic school yesterday; I wonder where that is."

"We'll ask him the next time we see him," Jack promised. "Now, how do you feel about a little experimentation?"

Harry lit up with joy. "Magic experimentation?"

"We know you can make snow and faux Dreamsand on purpose," Jack began, "and we know you accidentally turned a wig blue. Do you think you can you change the colour of things intentionally?"

"I can try."

"Great!" Jack plopped down cross-legged in front of Harry. "I've wanted to try black hair for a while now. Think I'll look like your older brother?" He wiggled his eyebrows mischievously.

"You…want me to turn your hair black?" Harry asked sceptically. "Hang on, older brother?" he added, Jack's question registering in his mind.

"Yep. Our messy hair is pretty similar, and we act like brothers already. Might as well go for full resemblance, right?"

Harry beamed and fell awkwardly onto Jack's lap to give him a hug. "Thanks, Jack. I've thought of you and Sandy as family for a while now. It'd be really cool if you looked like my brother."

Jack ruffled Harry's hair as the boy moved to sit in front of Jack instead of on his lap. "Well then, you'd better start trying, Snowflake," he joked.

"Right. Okay, here goes." Harry took a few deep breaths and assumed an expression of deep concentration. He stared intently at Jack's hair.

Nothing happened.

Harry furrowed his brow and continued to stare.

Jack sneezed.

"Jack!" Harry complained, blinking rapidly. "You distracted me!"

"Sorry!" Jack said, holding up his hands in a placating manner. "The Wind sent some dust or something up my nose."

"Well, don't sneeze again. I need to concentrate," Harry scolded.

"Were you concentrating when you turned your teacher's wig blue?" Jack asked curiously.

"Not exactly," Harry confessed. "I was mostly angry that she was scolding me for something Dudley did. Then it just sort of happened."

"Maybe the strong emotion triggered your magic," Jack mused.

"Yeah, but I wasn't angry when I made the Dreamsand or the snow. I was excited and happy," Harry objected.

"I didn't say the strong emotion had to be negative," Jack pointed out. "You were angry at your teacher, and excited with Sandy and me. Now you're just concentrating on the change. In addition to thinking about how much you want my hair to turn black, think about how exciting it would be for me to look like your brother."

Harry smiled widely. "I can picture Sandy's expression," he laughed. "He'll be so confused!"

As Harry laughed, eyes closed in mirth, Jack felt a strange tingling on his scalp and forehead. He reached up and pulled at his hair. "You did it!" he exclaimed. "Harry, you turned my bangs black! Is the rest of my hair black, too?"

Harry opened his eyes and his jaw dropped. "I did it?" he gasped disbelievingly. Then he jumped up and danced in delight. "I really did it! Jack, your hair is just like mine! And so are your eyebrows!" Then he paused and tilted his head. "Why did you call your fringe 'bangs,' though?" he asked.

Jack blinked. "Uh, maybe it's an American thing? You know I'm from Pennsylvania, right? I've never heard it called a fringe before."

Harry accepted the explanation and promptly resumed his celebratory dance, pulling Jack up with him. "I just can't believe I did it! It took me forever to do the Dreamsand and snow, remember?"

Jack spun Harry in a circle and tossed him in the air. Harry laughed gleefully as Jack easily caught him. "I'm really proud of you, Snowflake. I'm impressed you got it so quickly; I thought it would be at least a few hours."

Harry smiled brightly. "And now you really look like my big brother."

"That I do, Snowflake."

Harry bit his lip. "I told you I think of you and Sandy as family. Can I…" he trailed off.

Jack had a feeling he knew what Harry wanted to ask. "Can you what, Snowflake?"

"Can I call you my brother? Please?" he begged, eyes wide.

Jack pulled Harry into a tight hug. "I'd be honoured to be called your brother, Harry," he said seriously. "I wish I could take you away from those awful Dursleys and keep you with me forever. I love you, little brother."

Harry buried his face in Jack's chest. His words were muffled, but Jack could hear still him. "I love you, too, brother."

A/N

It turns out I was correct about updates being sporadic. I've had this partially written for over a year, but I couldn't find the inspiration to write the rest. At long last, the inspiration came and I ended up with my longest chapter so far. For everyone who has been following the story, I hope it was worth the long wait. Thank you all so much for your continued support. I hope the next chapter doesn't take another eternity, but we'll see what life brings.