Henry leaned forward slightly towards where his wrapped birthday present was floating in the air.
It unraveled, with a small flick from Mr. Augustus's wand revealing the present inside, a small miniature piano.
'A toy?' thought Henry, looking at his present, bewildered at the idea of getting a toy. He hadn't received a toy as his birthday present since he was 4. Even though he was a seven-year-old child, his parents knew he had little interest in toys.
He barely had 3 toys in his room. The first was his G.I. Joe toy, his favorite, not because he liked how it looked, but rather because it was the toy he used for his magic practice in the beginning, and it now held a special place in his heart.
The second was a dinosaur, which he had gotten for his third birthday, according to his mother. It sat under his bed, forgotten until recently, when he needed something light to practice his dual casting. The third one was a bright red fire truck the size of his limb. He had packed it back in the box it came in after using it for a day. He had gotten it as a present for his fourth birthday, and recently, he had been thinking about giving it to Ella to see if she was interested.
When he turned five, he had gotten a stack of Muggle story books, which involved work from Dr. Seuss, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Margaret Brown's Goodnight Moon. It also had other notable books, such as Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, and The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.
To this day, he still used the books and read them to Ella, along with other magical storybooks he had gotten for his sixth birthday; like the Beddle and Bard which had stories like The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, The Warlock's Hairy Heart, Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump, and The Tale of the Three Brothers.
For his sixth birthday, he had also gotten The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle, which he often read with Ella, and the Harry Potter Adventures series, which he put in his closet and never took out again.
He put both of his hands on the table and leaned forward even more, trying to see what was so special about the present that they would give him a toy again after so long.
The first thing he noticed was that it was made entirely of wood, from the outer case of the grand piano down to its legs. It was clearly a well-made miniature toy made to replicate a grand piano, one you would see at a concert.
He next focused on the keys and how shiny and clean they looked against the polished brown wooden body of the piano.
'Wow, I didn't know it was possible to create a toy from wood and have it be so accurate,' he thought as he estimated the number of keys on the piano, more than 80, which was standard for a grand piano.
He continued looking at the piano and saw the tiny logo of John Broadwood & Sons.
'Since when did John Broadwood & Sons start making toys?'
He looked at his parents and saw his mother smiling softly at him, her hands folded in front of her, as she stood by Ella. His father stood on the opposite end, in front of him, smirking at him.
He looked back at the piano floating in front of him, then back to his parents, then back to the piano again.
"No way!" Henry exclaimed.
Mr. Augustus chuckled at the outburst of his son.
Henry raised his hand and extended it towards the piano. It swiftly reached him, and he grasped it with both of his hands.
After looking closer at the piano, he said, "It's real!"
"It is," Mrs. Augustus said.
"I was speaking to some of the other parents in your dance class," she said, seeing that she had his full attention, " when one of them brought up that they had an old John Broadwood & Sons piano lying around the house, but it was beyond repair."
Henry looked at his mother, astonished.
Mrs. Augustus smiled at him and continued, "I asked her if she would be willing to part with it, and she agreed – it was taking up space in her house, apparently."
"It took a bit of magic to repair, but it's good as new now," she said, gesturing at the shrunken piano in his hands.
"An actual John Broadwood & Sons piano!" he said, looking back at the shrunken piano in his hands.
"Wow!" Henry softly muttered, staring, unable to believe he now owned an actual piano of his own.
"I have the same brand of piano that Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, and Chopin used?"
Henry set the piano down on the table, got down from the chair, and walked around the table towards his parents.
"Thank you, Mummy!" he said, throwing his arms around her midsection, "I love it!"
Mrs. Augustus put her arms around him and gently pulled him in closer.
"You are most welcome, sweety."
Henry then hugged his dad and thanked him, too.
He then came over to Ella, pinched her cheeks, and kissed them both.
"Thank you, Ella", he said, just to make her feel included as well.
"Now, why don't we pick a place to put it and enlarge it back to its original size?" his father said.
While they decided where to place the piano, his mother also told him the full story of how she came across it. After much discussion, they decided to place it in the living room, as it was the only place in their whole house large enough to fit a nine-foot-by-five-foot piano.
Apparently, the family that sold her the piano came across it back in the 1800's, and their family was big into classical music. The piano was over a hundred years old and had always been in their family. It was unplayable now, and the family couldn't afford to repair the extensive damage that had accumulated over time; it would be cheaper to buy a new piano.
Which wasn't an issue for them, as a good Reparo could fix all of the damage. She also told him how they had talked to Ms. Reed, his piano instructor, and she had it tuned properly.
Looking at the sofas that were now moved to the corner of the room just to fit the piano, his father said, "Merlin! We need a bigger place."
Both Henry and Mrs. Augustus nodded, and Ella followed along, seeing that everyone around her was nodding.
"Well, good thing we are looking at some houses tomorrow, eh?" he said, looking at his family.
The next morning, the whole family drove out to see the properties Mr. Augustus had found through discreet inquiries and gossip from his work at the Ministry of Magic.
To accommodate a growing family, and also because Voldernort was dead, Mr. and Mrs. August had been looking to move to a bigger house for a while now. Using his father's connections, they found out about some high-end properties.
They had a couple of options, like the houses in Peaslake and Albury.
Although the layouts and styles of the houses differed, both of the proterties they went featured modern, high-end 2-story houses.
The living room had a high ceiling, a fireplace, and plenty of space. The kitchens were huge with updated appliances. A gravel driveway and a garage with enough space for 2 cars and a front garden with flowerbeds and lawn.
A substantial back garden, with enough space for garden beds, a greenhouse, and trees. There were parks close to the houses shown, with swings and railings.
Overall, the properties they went to were in rich neighborhoods and were fancy. Henry was astonished by the idea of living in these houses; they were much bigger than the single houses he had lived in in his previous life.
Henry was astonished by the idea of living in these houses; they were much bigger than the single houses he had lived in in his previous life. When Mr. Augustus saw his son's reaction, he jokingly said to just wait until he saw the last house on the list.
After lunch, they went to the last property on the list.
That's when they went to Shere, which was a village in the Guildford district of Surrey, England. It was about 4.8 miles east of Guildford and 5.4 miles west of Dorking.
Henry's eyes widened as they pulled up to the property. It was a mansion.
It was old and run-down; the building's exterior stones were covered with moss. The front lawn was a huge space dotted with small, unkempt trees and overgrown grass.
The mansion itself had twelve rooms and three bathrooms, two of which were on the bottom floor in each of the wing, and one on the top floor. It had five bedrooms, all upstairs. As you enter the arched door, you were greeted by a foyer/entryway, then the living room with a fireplace.
On the left side of the living room was the study/library, and to the right was the dining room and the kitchen.
A lush, thick green forest surrounded the whole property. On the back of the mansion, there was even a larger garden/lawn area with trees and small bushes.
While the manor was smaller than other mansions, the large land and lake that surrounded the property were the main appeals.
It was in a remote location, with the nearest town more than twenty miles away.
Henry found out that the mansion itself was made in the early 1800's. It was previously owned by an aging couple who moved out 10 years ago because they could no longer maintain such a large property. They had the foresight to move to a smaller house as they approached their twilight years, since the upkeep and maintenance costs for a small property would be much lower.
His father found out about it from his Muggle-born colleague, who knew someone, who knew someone else, who knew about this place.
While the asking price was reasonable, the repair and renovation costs would be almost as high as the purchase price, and possibly higher if the buyer had to rebuild parts of the manor. Which is why they were having trouble finding a buyer.
If they could fix all the damage and make it look like new, it would be a perfect house; it was everything he imagined and more.
"Can we even fix all this damage with magic?" Henry asked his mother, as he imagined what it would be like to live here.
"Oh, decided on this one, have you?" his mother asked, looking at him with a smile.
"Of course! The other ones pale in comparison, if we can fix this place."
"I agree," his mother said, looking around what was supposed to be the living room.
"As for fixing the damage – we should be able to fix most of it, and if needed, we can bring in some builders to reinforce and restore the rest of the property."