"Up!" The single syllable word reverberated through the air as the Firebolt- his prized possession since his Third Year at Hogwarts- rose to meet the hand of its black-haired, green-eyed owner, who, broom now in hand, proceeded to swing his leg up and over to mount the broom. With the next word, he pushed off the ground.

"One!" Harry Potter saw the ground below shrink and vanish as he rose into the air.

"Two!" Harry slammed his eyes closed, catching a glimpse of the blue sky around him.

"Three!" He could feel his ascension continuing as air streams began to tug on his clothes and threatened to tear his glasses of his face.

"Four!" Deciding to pick up the pace, Harry called out the next six numbers in quick succession.

"Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" With the last number, Harry cautiously opened his eyes and looked down at the clearing below him. To his surprise, he didn't see what he was looking for. Where could they be? Leaning over the handle of broom a little bit more, he began to examine the outer ring of trees. Nothing there. Hmm… They've gotten good. A little more determined now that he knew he could expect a bit of a challenge, the tall man straightened up and gave the sky a cursory glance. What he didn't see, however, was the blur coming towards him from behind. Within seconds, first one, then a second, and then a third figure on brooms impacted with the middle-aged man in midair. Realizing he'd been caught, Harry knew he could only do one thing: he laughed.

"Gotcha, Dad!" The voice came from the first figure, and Harry's eldest son, James.

"Tag!" interjected the always excitable Lily, Harry's youngest and only daughter.

"You're it!" Al, the middle son, chimed in.

"Yes, you all did it. I'm it." Harry beamed at his children and caught them all in a great bear hug as they sank slowly to the soft grass. A chorus of 'Dad, Let go!' and 'You're squeezing me too tight!' promptly rang out the minute the four touched down. Harry acquiesced and released his death grip on his children and plopped down into the grass. His children followed his example and immediately began to climb on top of him.

"Oh, squeezing you too hard, was I? Hmm?" He asked seizing the nearest of children, which, as Albus and James had started to wrestle each other instead of him, just happened to be Lily.

"Hmm?" He questioned. "Well, how about this?" He started to tickle Lily, and she responded by squirming, squeaking, and rolling around to defend herself.

James broke away from his brother to watch his younger sister's attempt to free herself from the attentions of their father.

"You know," James began, "that squealing doesn't help you one bit? All it does is give me a headache." Lily, out of breathe and still on her father's lap but no longer being tickled, stopped panting to give her big brother the glare she had learned from her mother. Sticking out her tongue, Lily began to retort but stopped when she caught Albus's eye. Albus winked at his sister and pointed at James, who, unfortunately for him, had turned his back on his brother. Lily's eyes widened as she grinned maliciously and fired a response back at James.

"Well, if you're such a good escape artist, why don't you try and get yourself out of that chokehold?"

James looked at Lily like she had just been admitted into St. Mungo's mental ward. "What chokehold? You couldn't put me in one if you tried, and, in case you haven't noticed, we're, like, a meter apart from each other."Lily's only response was to look up at her brother with an innocent smile and devious eyes.

"Oh, I know we are. I was actually referring to the one Al is about to give you." With that, James spun on his heel only to be trapped by his younger brother.

Harry watched the entire exchange with a contented smile. Everything he had gone through was worth this, worth watching his family grow up happy, carefree, and safe. His thoughts were interrupted by Lily's high pitched cheering and his own sudden need to scramble quickly away from his boys' roving tussle.

"Harry!" Ginny appeared in the doorway of the house. "Someone's at the door!"

"I'll get it, dear!" he called back to his wife. He gently removed Lily from his lap and staggered up to his feet. He groaned a little as his bones popped. No, not quite as young as I used to be. Straightening, he caught sight of Ginny in the door, brown eyes glowing warmly as she watched their three children. Going to her, he quickly caught her up in a kiss. She responded with as much passion as she had when she was fifteen. She looked up into his green eyes and, as always, was awed by the depth of love they held. Nevertheless, she pulled away teasingly and whispered,

"The door?"

"Right," Harry whispered back and stole another kiss before pulling away from his wife and practically bounding around the side of the house to greet company at the front door. No, not so old after all. Still got plenty of time left. Harry's joyful smile, however, vanished as he rounded the corner and came to a complete stop. There, standing on his doorstep, head down and shifting his weight nervously from side to side, was a man Harry had not seen in twenty-three years. Yet, as improbable as it was, the still large, still muscular, and still blonde Dudley Dursely stood at his cousin's front door, for reasons Harry could not fathom. Harry continued to watch as his large cousin glanced around nervously. Well, no time like the present to find out, is there? And with that, Harry strode forward, calling out,

"Dudley!"

At the sound of his name, Dudley Dursley whipped his head up and anxiously looked around for the source of the exclamation before he caught sight of his cousin, hand raised in greeting, walking forward to meet him.

"Harry!" Dudley responded in like, starting forward, away from Harry's front porch, with his own hand extended. Harry crossed the final expanse of lawn between the two relatives and clasped his only cousin's hand warmly.

"It's good to see you, Dudley. I honestly can't believe you're here. How long has it been?" Dudley ducked his head again and whispered to his feet.

"23 years." Harry frowned, noticing the aura of worry his cousin seemed to bear. He did not know what had brought the son of his magic-hating aunt and uncle to his door, but was sure that Dudley had been all but forced to seek help from him. Fearing the worst, Harry asked, not unkindly,

"Why are you here, Dudley?" Dudley squared his shoulders as though trying to gather courage (If not for the gravity of the situation, Harry would have smiled at the vague resemblance to Uncle Vernon's attempts to make himself seem larger for intimidation purposes) and lifted his head to meet his cousin's eyes for the first time that day.

He was taken aback by the concern for him, him, of all people, that sparkled in the merry green eyes. He guessed his cousin lived a contented life and was glad for him; however, Dudley also sensed the steel cable that ran through Harry, something that had only been there in minimum when they were children, and Dudley wondered at it. What was more, behind the happiness, those bright green eyes were haunted, although Dudley could tell that his skinny cousin choose to hide that fact. He wondered if Harry still had nightmares.

"Well, Harry, I…" At a loss for words, Dudley trailed off, but was saved by a small hand tugging at the end of his jacket.

"Daddy, is this the man you were talking about?" As surprised as Dudley was that his little girl had spoken up at all, Harry was a little more astonished by the sight of the delicate blonde-haired child he hadn't noticed before hiding behind her father's leg. Harry squatted down to get a better look into blue eyes.

"Hello." The girl's only response was for her lower lip to quiver, but she held her ground. "Who are you?"

"Thea." The syllable was soft, but clear.

"And, Thea, how old are you?"

"Eleven." Knowing there was more to Dudley's visit that what he had originally assumed, Harry looked up and invited,

"Why don't we go inside and talk?" As Dudley nodded his agreement, Harry stood up from his crouch and offered his hand to Thea, who rejected it in favor of her father's. Chuckling slightly, the lither man turned the doorknob and led the group inside.

The first impression Dudley got of the house was that it was a happy one. From the living room where he stood, he could see through double doors onto a patio and into the yard where three children played as a red-headed woman watched absently from the doorway and also see signs of their habitation in the light scattering of toys, one in a corner of the living room, another at the foot of the stairs. The kitchen table, too, which he could see in the room adjoining, bore a few signs of wear; however, the whole home seemed just that- a home.

Harry stopped by the couch and gestured for his two visitors to sit down as he did so himself. Thea wasted no time in hopping up onto the cushions, while her father lowered himself with the same stiffness Harry had had getting up from the ground earlier.

"Would you like anything?" inquired Harry courteously. Dudley only shook his head, while Thea politely declined. Harry, wondering how to proceed, looked at his young girl thoughtfully.

"I'll be right back," he assured his cousin as he stood and walked across the room to the back door and called for his daughter to come inside, please. From his position on the couch, Dudley could see curiosity cross the little red-head's face as Harry led the older red-head that had been standing by the door into the room.

"Ginny," Harry began, "I'd like to introduce you to my cousin, Dudley Dursley, and his daughter, Thea." Ginny smiled and reached out a hand.

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Harry's wife." Dudley stood and accepted her hand as a bright, brown-eyed girl skidded to a stop in front of her father, announcing

"I'm here!"

"Quiet inside the house dear," cautioned her mother. Lilly had the tact to look abashed, although everyone in the room could tell it was an act, her mother included.

"Yes, ma'am. So, Dad, what do you need me for?"

"There's someone I would like you to meet."Here, Harry grabbed his daughter's shoulders and turned her to face Thea. "This is Thea, your second cousin." Lilly looked at the other girl and gave a chipper

"Hello!" Thea returned the greeting and both girls looked at Harry as if to say, "Now what?" Harry, sensing their indecision, resolved to answer the unspoken question.

"Why don't you two go outside and meet the boys or go upstairs so Lilly can show Thea around? Thea?" Lilly started to protest, but her father quickly cut her off, "She's the guest. She gets to decide. " The adults and Lilly looked at the youngest expectantly.

"I… I would like to go outside." She glanced at her red-headed counterpart and added, "Please." Lilly nodded, and the two girls joined hands and rushed outside, swerving to avoid Ginny as they did so.

"Well," Ginny watched the children exit, "I think I'll go outside and leave the two of you to talk." She gave Harry a kiss on the cheek before reminding him, "Remember, we were going to meet Ron and Hermione in Diagon Alley in a couple of hours."

"Alright, dear." He gazed after her with longing eyes as she walked out to the patio. Dudley coughed, and Harry returned his attention back to his cousin as they both sat, Harry with a little blood in his cheeks and a smile that quickly dried up as he recalled the gravity of the situation.

"Dudley." Blue eyes met green. "I need to know why you're here. I can tell something's wrong."

The larger man ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Harry…" He trailed off again before saying, with the air of someone confessing a crime. "They came."

Harry started forward. "Who? Who came?" His worst fears had been realized. He had separated from his only living family twenty-three years ago to prevent them from being targeted, and now it seemed as though their precautions had been in vain. He hadn't exactly like his family, but he didn't want them dead.

"The Ministry."

"The Ministry? You need my help with a legal battle? Dudley, you know I'm not a lawyer, right?" Harry was confused to say the least.

"Not my Ministry. Yours." Now Harry's mouth hung agape.

"My… My Ministry? You can't mean, the Ministry of Magic?"

Dudley began to talk faster as though ready to unload his burden. "Yes, the Ministry of Magic. Two weeks ago, Dorothea turned eleven, and we got an owl, Harry, an owl! Five minutes later, some lady named Susan Bones was on our doorstep and said that our little girl, our only child, was a witch. Harry, I didn't know what to do. There've been a couple of weird things happen, but I never thought… It took me a week to find you. Harry, I need your help."His monologue now done, Dudley began to slow his breathing as he tried to calm down. All Harry could do was stare. Before long, he began to revive and said,

"Well, I don't suppose Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were too happy, were they?" At this, Dudley began to panic again.

"I didn't tell them! I have no idea how they'll react to the idea of their only grandchild being a witch!"

"Dudley!" Harry bellowed to get his attention. "It will be okay!" He continued to speak in a softer tone, "Look, we're going school shopping in about," Harry looked at the watch that had once belonged to Fabian Prewett, "one hour. You can join us if you wish and see Dorothea, is that Thea's real name?, in her first experience with the Wizarding World. You can be there to support her. I think she needs it."

"You think so? You really think I can do this?" Harry considered.

"Yes, for her, I think you can. Besides, you won't be the first Muggle that's had to go through this."

"Really?" There was hope in Dudley's face.

"Of course. Hermione's, my best friend's, parents are Muggles, not to mention our grandparents, now that I think about it. You'll be fine. You love Thea, don't you?"

Dudley looked slightly offended. "Of course! She's my baby."

"Then it's settled. Do you want to break the news or shall I?"

Dudley thought for a moment, then smiled. "Well, I'm not doing it. I guess that leaves you." Harry smiled at Dudley's travesty of a joke as well.

Outside, a certain blonde and a certain red-head were making plans. Well, Lily was making plans. Thea, whose name was actually Dorothea Dursley, as Lily had found out by now, had remained quiet as her cousin continued her incessant jabbering. It was not that Thea couldn't talk nor was it that she didn't like her new-found cousin. Truthfully, Thea had never been very talkative. She had always enjoyed herself much more playing the part of the Observer, or "being seen and not heard" as her grandparents put it, standing outside the conversation making note of whatever happened to catch her interest, and right now, that happened to be Lily.

So far, she had learned that her cousin was one year older than herself and set to be starting her Second Year at Hogwarts, whatever that was. She had also been told of Lily's parents, Ginny and Harry Potter, who had careers as a former professional Quidditch (Thea's first reaction had been to snicker when she heard the word, even though she had no idea what it meant) player turned journalist (she was pleased to hear a career she recognized) and an Auror (which sounded much more respectable than Quidditch), respectively, and she had been vicariously introduced to James and Albus Potter, the poor souls who didn't yet know they were about to be ambushed.

In listening to all this, she had found that she absolutely adored her cousin. The little blonde couldn't resist such a forceful, outspoken personality and wished she could be just like her. Instead, she cursed herself that she sat here on the green grass outside the Potter house like a silent, ignorant lump and decided that she did not, under any circumstances, ever want to know what Lily's first impression of her was . Thea grimaced silently at the thought, sure that, whatever it may be, it could not be good.

Lily, on the other hand, had been watching her cousin the whole time she had been speaking. The red-head leaned back against the wall, demonstrating with her hand the plan of attack as she looked closely at Thea's now grimacing face, and stopped babbling for the first time since she had met her father's relative.

"Are you alright?" There was no reply, only a soft smile on Thea's pink lips.

"Thea?" The other girl glanced up and met Lily's eyes but still said nothing. Lily groaned in exasperation.

"Thea, I'm not going to shut up until you tell me what's wrong." Lily hadn't expected any response, so she was taken aback when she saw Thea's blue eyes glimmer in amusement.

"Really? I'm surprised there's anything left to talk about." Lily gaped before recovering.

"Hey, I'm not that bad! You should hear Albus talk." Again, Lily was surprised with the speed of Thea's retort.

"That your brother behaves regretfully is no reason for you to do so." Oh, now Thea was going to get it!

"Oh, yeah? Well tell me, little miss, if you don't like me talking so much, why don't you say something?" Lily crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow, something she had seen her Uncle George do several times. Thea laughed gently.

"I was under the impression I was." She knew exactly what she was doing. She knew she had Lily floundering like a fish. To her, it just made the entire conversation funnier. Nobody ever expected her sense of humor when she finally did open her mouth. She just wished that Lily would stop trying to comeback, so she was glad when Lily laughed too.

"Truce, truce! Oh, I can't wait to get you and Rose in a room together! The look on her face will be priceless! You're sure you're only eleven?" Thea giggled, then sighed. Why was it that no one could believe that an eleven-year old could be smart? It wasn't illegal, and it wasn't unheard of.

"Yes, I'm eleven. Who's Rose?" she added, her face brightening again.

"Just my older cousin. She's in Ravenclaw and wicked smart too, but I think you could blow the pants off her. " The smaller of the two flushed and laughed, grateful for the compliment, before she realized exactly what her new friend-cousin had said.

"What, may I ask, exactly is Ravenclaw?" As Lily looked at her new friend incredulously, Thea blushed. She didn't like appearing ignorant. She hated ignorance in other people, so she considered it a worse crime that she should seem as such. The blush only deepened as Lily seemed to have trouble getting over her shock. It seemed to Thea that she had just committed a major faux pas. Finally, Lily regained the ability to speak and exclaimed loudly,

"What's Ravenclaw? You're kidding right? Only one of the four houses of Hogwarts! You can't have not known that." She paused as the younger child hung her head and seemed very close to tears of shame. Lily hesitated some more before plunging onward, "You do know what Hogwarts is, right?" Thea looked up frantically with a few tear tracks on her face.

"Yes! Well, no…" She trailed off uncertainly. Lily frowned, concerned.

"But you're eleven, aren't you? How could you not know? You're going to start going this year, right?" The look of anguish returned to Thea's face, and Lily wondered if these extreme moods were safe for the blonde's health.

"Yeah, I guess." The little girl calmed as she screwed up her face, which was regaining some of its normal color, as she brought back the bizarre memory. "At least, the lady in the robes said that I was going to. Daddy asked a lot of questions, but I really didn't understand. She just said I was special and was going to go to a special school called Hogwarts, and then later Daddy told Mummy we were going to visit his cousin, and we came here." Her breathing slowed down. She hadn't understood it then, and she didn't understand it now, and, given that she hated ignorance, she hadn't been okay in the least with the situation. But now, here was someone who seemed to know something and she could get answers!

Lily sucked in a breath and held it. She had automatically assumed Thea was a witch, never mind a Muggle-born. It wasn't that she had anything against Muggle-borns. After all, her Aunt Hermione was one, and they absolutely adored each other, even if Aunt Hermione could be a little know-it-all. On second thought, she supposed it was a big know-it-all, but she loved Aunt Hermione with all her heart. She just never thought that she would be the one to tell a Muggle-born about magic, and she could tell that that was where this conversation was heading. The red-head finally breathed again.

"Thea…" The other girl looked up but wouldn't meet her eyes. "Have you ever done something when you were mad, sad, or frightened? Anything at all?" When the small girl gasped and meet her older relative's eyes, she knew she had been right.

"How did you know?" she breathed, amazed that anyone could even guess. She had always tried to hide anything that might be construed as unnatural. Despite her best efforts, notes had been sent home from school, and some things had happened around the house that confused her mother, but her father had always passed them off as something mundane, normal when even Dorothea knew they were not. Lily was smiling.

"Because the same things happened to me." Thea squealed in excitement.

"Really! Then you know what it is?"

"Yes…" Thea protested her cousin's hesitance.

"What? What is it? Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Lily sighed audibly, and Thea felt her chest constrict. Oh, no, this wasn't good.

"It's Magic." Thea stopped breathing entirely. Magic, it wasn't real, it couldn't be real. Grandfather Vernon and Grandmother Petunia had always said it wasn't, and Dad has agreed- albeit half-heartedly. It just wasn't real. But if it wasn't, then why did she feel this way? Like a weight had been lifted? Like this was natural? She wondered, why couldn't magic be real, and then she decided it was.

"Magic," she whispered, "I can do magic." She looked up at her cousin as her little face broke into the most dazzling smile. So taken in was she by Thea's excitement, Lily felt the corners of her own mouth stretch upward.

"Lily!" squealed Thea again, "I can do magic!" She threw back her blonde hair and laughed merrily before standing up and prancing around. Lily felt the air around her stir and almost cursed as she realized Thea probably was controlling it without realizing what she was doing, which could be dangerous. Unbothered, the newly-discovered witch continued to dance gaily until she, too, realized that the sudden breeze was her own. The eddies of air were swirling as she conducted them, whipping the girls' hair and rustling the grass. Upon her discovery, Thea automatically brought her arms down and stood stock still. As she had feared, her control as almost gone, for the breeze continue its wild motion, even daring to be rougher than before. Thea wrestled with herself momentarily for control. Her happiness at discovering magic was gone. Real or no, it simply wasn't normal. The small girl-child's brow furrowed as she felt within herself, gripping the power that had escaped and wrenching it back into its long-established keeping-place. The magic, as she now knew it to be, swelled in force as a protest, threatening to explode from her and within her. Using all her effort to prevent its breaking free, she fainted.

Recovering her awareness took a couple minutes. She could feel the grass tickling the back of her shirt as she opened her eyes. The first thing she registered was brown, and then, brown blinked.

"Lily!" She gasped, sitting up on her elbows and scooting away. Undeterred, the other girl only came closer, babbling a stream of concerns about Thea's sudden collapse.

"It's so wonderful that you're okay. What happened?" Thea responded, deliberately absentminded,

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rolling to her feet, she whispered, now attempting to sound conspiratorial, "So, are we going to attack Albus and James now?" Lily's eyes narrowed in suspicion at the avoidance of her other question before she grinned like the Cheshire Cat from Aunt Hermione's Muggle fairy tales.

"Yes," she hissed back. "Do you remember which way to go?" Thea gave a nod, which Lily returned, and off they went.