Chapter 1

Relatives and Reunions

Harry Potter of number four Privit Drive was asleep on his cot of a bed. His right arm was slowly falling off the bed. He had been waiting up all night for several members of the Order of the Phoenix to arrive.

The Order had sent him a letter by owl on night informing him that they would be picking him up on July 20th at midnight. Harry had almost shouted with glee when he had read it over, but was even gladder to see that he would be staying at the Burrow with his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

The clock on his desk struck midnight and there was crash from down stairs. Harry woke with a jump and sat up staring at the door. Suddenly he realized that the Order could be the strange visitors and sprinted down the stairs. Harry smiled as he walked into the kitchen to find Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Tonks with her usual bubble gum pink hair.

"Harry!" said Remus walking over to him and giving a pat on the shoulder.

"Hello everyone!" said Harry looking around at all of them.

"Well, if you've got all of your things packed we can head out!" said Moody, his blue eye wising around the kitchen.

"Right!" Harry ran back up to his room and retrieved his trunk and owl cage caring Hedwig and went back down the stairs, with some difficulty, and set them down in front of the door next to five broomsticks including his own Firebolt.

"Ready!" he called to the kitchen. They all strolled outside Lupin going first followed by Tonks, Harry, Kingsley, and Mad-Eye.

"We just have to make one more stop before we return to the Burrow." Said Lupin retrieving his broomstick from Kingsley.

"Oh," said Harry feeling slightly confused, "Where are we going?"

"We're picking up my niece!" said Tonks brightly.

"You have a niece?" said Harry. Harry had never known that Tonks had any neither siblings nor nieces!

"Yep! She goes to Hogwarts too! You might have seen her a couple times before! She's the one with the…"

"We should probably get going." Interrupted Kingsley. Tonks looked at him and nodded reluctantly.

"Okay, now just fly behind me and Tonks will be on your left. Remus will be on the right and Kingsley in the back. Once we pick up Katie she will be next to you." Moody told Harry. Harry didn't know who Katie was, but assumed she was Tonks' niece.

Kingsley handed Harry his broomstick. They all swung their legs over their brooms and took off and into the night.

The five of them landed on the hard concrete driveway in front of a large brick building. Harry looked up and saw a large sign above the door.

Chaplin Girls Orphanage

"Why are we here?" asked Harry.

"This is where my niece lives!" said Tonks walking under the third dirty window to the left. She looked up at the window shot red sparks in front of it and into the sky. The window opened and a hooded figure appeared at the in the sill. They swung their legs over and scooted off the edge. She levitated for a second and then came floating down to them. As she got closer Harry saw that she was sitting astride a broomstick. The hooded girl landed softly in front of them and raised her head.

"Aunt Dora!" she said quietly running over to Tonks and hugged her. They both turned to face the four men.

"Remus, Mad-Eye, Kingsley, Harry! This is my niece! Katie Lai Cravens!"

"Hi!" said Katie enthusiastically and waving a hand and waving vigorously.

"Nice to meet you Katie. Now we should go." Said Remus shaking Katie's hand. The six of them strode into their positions and kicked off from the ground. Katie went shooting into the air and was quickly flying next to Mad-Eye. Harry stared at her. She looked around and saw that they weren't going as fast as she had expected, and slowed down to be align with Harry.

"What year are you in?" Katie asked suddenly looking at Harry.

"Uh, sixth year." He said.

"Me too!" she said excitedly.

"Do you play any Quidditch?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes! Well, I'm trying out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team this year!" Katie said smiling.

"You're in Ravenclaw?" said Harry surprised.

"Yup! What are you in?"

"Gryffindor."

"Oh! I thought so." Harry wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a complement or not, but he decided to just keep his mind on flying.

"Who's there?" called a voice from behind the door. The six flyers had arrived at the Burrow and knocked on the door of the rickety house.

"It's us! We've got Harry and Katie!" said Remus. There was a click from behind the door and Mrs. Weasley opened the door and ushered them in.

"Oh, Harry!" said Mrs. Weasley hugging him, "You look starved! Let me get you something to eat. And this must be Katie Cravens!" she said turning to greet Katie who was looking around the house.

"It's nice to meet you Madam Weasley!" said Katie shaking her hand.

"Oh you can just call me Mrs. Weasley!" she said smiling at her.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Thank you so much for bringing them!" Mrs. Weasley said to all of the Order members.

"It was no problem at all!" said Remus, "But we must get going. Goodbye Harry, Katie, Molly." The four of them left and disaperated a few yards from the house.

"Know you two," said Mrs. Weasley, "I'll get you both something to eat you can go straight off to bed!" After the delicious bowls of hot onion soup, Harry and Katie followed Mrs. Weasley upstairs.

"You'll be sleeping with Ginny and Hermione, Katie." She whispered pointing towards the last door on the right. "I've already set up a mattress for you. Harry, you'll be in Fred and George's bedroom."

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley." Whispered Harry as he closed the door. He laid his head down onto his pillow and drifted off to sleep.

Harry woke up the next morning and headed down stairs and sat down in a chair by the crackling fire Mrs. Weasley had obviously started. He sat there for a moment. He relized that he heard voices coming from the kitchen. He got up and peered into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley and a short girl with short hair down to her shoulders were talking while chopping up vegetables for breakfast. The girl had tied her hair up into a half pony. But the weirdest thing about this sight was that the girl had bright blue hair.

As Mrs. Weasley grabbed the carrots and started shopping them Harry sneezed. Mrs. Weasley jumped and turned around.

"Oh, Harry! You're awake! Goodness, I thought you two would be least likely to wake up early!" Mrs. Weasley chuckled to herself and resumed chopping. Katie dumped the onion she had been dicing into the large bowl in front of them and turned around to face Harry. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot due to the onions. Katie walked past Harry and sat on the quilt-covered couch. She stared into the fire for a few seconds.

"Uh, how did you sleep?" Harry asked walking over and sitting in a large patterned chair.

"Good! That mattress was surprisingly comfortable!" she smiled, "You?"

"Well enough."

"I got up at six thirty and helped Mrs. Weasley out with her morning chores and stuff."

"That was nice of you!" he said still watching her. He had never known a teenager to get up early and help an adult with chores in the middle of summer.

"Well, at the orphanage that I go to we have to get up five o'clock and do chores in our wing." Harry had just noticed that Katie also had an American accent.

"That must be hard. But I suppose six thirty is late for you."

"Yeah." Katie laughed slightly, but it wasn't quite a giggle. Just then they heard creaking on the stairs and Hermione came into view wearing a bathrobe. She said hello to Mrs. Weasley and walked in the living room. Hermione stopped in her tracks staring at Katie's vibrant blue hair. Luckily Katie had been staring into the fire for the past few minutes, so she hadn't noticed Hermione staring.

"Hi Hermione!" said Harry jumping up and hugging her.

"Oh, Harry! You're here!" she said coming to and smiling at Harry, "Um, Harry? Who's this?" she nodded at Katie.

"Oh, that is Tonks' niece, Katie." Katie looked up at the sound of her name. She got up and held her hand out to Hermione. She shook it reluctantly.

"I didn't know Tonks had niece!"

"Yeah, my parents died when I was about three. They gave me to an orphanage and I've lived there ever since." Katie looked down at her feet. She was wearing rainbow socks.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Hermione mumbled. None of them said anything else until they heard another creek on the stairs. Ron came bounding into the kitchen to greet his mother. They heard Mrs. Weasley mumble something to Ron. Then Ron came skidding into the living room.
"Harry!" he said raising his arms above his head, "Good to see you mate!"

"Hey Ron!" Harry said. Ron saw Katie standing by the couch. He stared at her hair just Hermione had done.

"I'm Katie Lai! I'm Tonks' niece." She shook Ron's hand.

"Oh." He said simply, "Anyway, Harry! We have to go play some Quidditch today! It's going to be a perfect day! I know! We can go now!" Ron had obviously been counting of the days until he would see Harry.

"Great! I'll go get dressed!" said Harry about to run upstairs. Hermione looked at them as if they where mad. She glanced at Katie, hoping for some backup. But Katie ignored her and sprinted off after Ron and Harry. Katie went into her room and shut the door quietly.

Harry and Ron got dressed into jeans and t-shirts. They both where downstairs and zipping up their jackets when Katie came down and stood by the door. Harry looked around and saw Katie wait for them dressed in ripped jeans and a dark orange corduroy jacket. She was smiling and her hair was still as blue as ever, but it had hot pink ends now.

"What are you doing?" asked Ron when he saw her. The red high-tops had caught his eye when he had bent over to tie his own show.

"I'm going to come out and play with you guys! If that alright." Said Katie grabbing her broomstick, the little purple charm on the handle swinging.

"Um, sure!" said Harry, trying to be nice. The truth was he didn't want her to slow them down in practice.

"Thanks!" Katie said brightly.

The three of them marched out and into the huge field behind the house. They swung their legs over their brooms.

"Think you can keep up?" she said to Ron.

"You kidding me?" he said looking her up and down.

"Let's see if you can!" Katie suddenly shot into the air as if she had been shot out of a cannon. Harry and Ron looked at each other and kicked off. They both flew into the air and reached Katie.

"Um, so I guess we can just throw apple or something." Said Ron still in shock.

"Sure! Do you want me to throw first? We can switch turns every twenty throws or something!" said Katie flying over to a tree with lots of apples hanging on it. Harry and Ron flew into position. Katie collected three apples to start with. She threw the first with such force it nearly crashed into Harry's face, but luckily he had been drifting slow to the right. The second she aimed at Ron. He caught it, but dropped it in pain from the force of the impact. The third went right in between Ron and Harry and the two of them collided into each other. After regaining them selves they stared at Katie who was smiling at them. After about ten minutes she had gone threw the other seventeen apples. Harry had only caught six and Ron four. Ron went to replace Katie and she zoomed over to hover next to Harry.

"So how long have you played Quidditch?" Katie asked Harry.

"Uh, five years." Said Harry still keeping his on Ron.

"oh, I've played since I was ten, but I never tried out, which I already… hold on a second." Katie turned back to face Ron who had thrown an apple obviously trying to catch her off guard, but Katie held out her hand and caught the apple. She took a bite and put it in her pocket.

An hour later Harry, Ron and Katie had returned to the house and slumped into the kitchen chairs.

"How did it go?" asked Mrs. Weasley placing three plates of potatoes, toast, and a vegetable omelet in front of them. Harry and Ron didn't speak.

"I think it went well!" said Katie brightly. They two boys looked at her.