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Chapter 1: Redemption

Petunia Elwin looked at the bundle before her apprehensively, a letter clenched tightly in her hand. Of course Lily would do this to me, she thought quietly to herself. After finding the child on her doorstep, she quickly picked up the boy and brought him inside, careful not to wake him. Setting him on the coffee table carefully, she pulled the yellowish envelope with green ink from his bundle and read it.

She had to suppress a cry. The last thing she wanted to do was wake up the child. She looked from Harry to a picture frame resting on the table next to him. In it were three people, a young, blonde family, all smiling. Murphy, Petunia's husband held a little girl of three, her little girl of three, while Petunia wrapped her arms around her husband's neck and rested her pointy chin on his bony shoulder. She could tell Teagan had been squirming, for she looked like she was trying to escape the loving clutches of her father. Typical, Petunia thought to herself, smiling.

She looked at the intruder on her coffee table once more. If I'm to take him in, he would stick out like a sore thumb, she thought bitterly, his hair stands out too much. What will the neighbors think? Petunia felt a small kick in her belly and looked down at her swollen, round stomach. I have my own family to think about, too, after all. A daughter, a husband, and a son on the way, how will we take care of three children, all so young?

She knew what her husband would think. He would tell her that the boy would stay, and that they could handle whatever challenges would occur. He was strong like that. Yet, Murphy had no idea about the true nature of her sister. Would she have to tell him the whole truth? Would he be angry with her for deceiving him for all the time they had been together? Murphy held honesty above all other traits; what would he do?

Well, Petunia thought, I wouldn't have to tell him, I suppose. Petunia immediately saw the holes through that plan. After all, Lily had married someone like herself; it would only be natural that this child would be the same way as them.

The boy squirmed in his blankets, and Petunia stared, intent on him. He cooed a couple of times, just before opening his eyes.

Petunia gasped.

"Lily-" she whispered, looking into the bright green eyes in Harry's tiny head. At that moment, Petunia felt a rush of emotions come to her as the ghost of her sister ran through her head. Petunia had grown up looking into those eyes, and then resenting those eyes. Now that Lily was gone, she missed those eyes, yet here they were, in front of her.

She knew what she needed to do.

The baby began to whimper and Petunia reached out, and took him into her arms, "Shh. It's okay, little one." She stood up and paced around the room with the baby in her arms, gently rocking him. Looking at him, she gasped once more as she laid eyes on an angry red scar, shaped like a lightening bolt. She didn't know how she could have missed it in the first place. She traced it with her finger and he cooed in response. She wondered if it hurt.

Petunia looked into his eyes again, and began to weep silently. Her sister, her Lily, was gone from this earth. And the last thing Petunia had said to her was "You freak." Now Petunia felt nothing but regret and sorrow for the sister she had lost, yet, in her arms was her redemption, her ticket to forgiveness from Lily.

She was so engrossed in this child that she hardly heard the bottom step creak as her husband stepped onto the landing.

"What the devil is going on?" said her husband from behind her. Petunia turned around, the baby in her arms, and looked at her husband, whose jaw seemed to drop further than humanly possible.

"We need to have a talk about my sister."

10 years later

"Teagan! Flynn! Harry! Breakfast!" Petunia called up the stairs. With her blonde hair in a tight bun a top of her head, Petunia walked quickly back into the kitchen, where she was frying eggs and sausages for her family. Her husband, Murphy, made tea and poured orange juice into glasses, just before sitting down and reading the paper. Petunia put sausages, eggs, and toast onto five plates and placed each of them on a placemat at their round table.

Finally relaxing, she sat down and sighed a breath of relief. Her husband looked at her, "Are we going to take the kids to the zoo or the movies today?" Petunia looked back at her husband. Today he wore a baby blue, short-sleeved, button down shirt and khaki slacks. His black, thick rimmed glasses were a bit crooked on his nose today, for some reason, and his thinning, blonde hair was combed neatly, though the back of his head was untidy, as he never thought to comb the back. Petunia, who herself was dressed in her typical sundress and pearls, smiled, "I think the zoo. I don't really want to sit in the theater today."

Just then three children burst into the kitchen, arguing about something trivial. The three off them took their normal seats, Harry next to Murphy, Teagan in between Harry and Flynn, and Flynn, next to his mummy. Petunia smiled at her two children and nephew, but all those years ago, Petunia had been right: Harry stuck out from their family like a sore thumb. Teagan and Flynn had blonde hair, that curled in little ringlets, just as her husband's had when he was young, while hair had jet black hair which refused to look neat, no matter how hard Petunia tried. She had attempted to cut it short, but it seemed to grow three times as fast as the other children's. Teagan and Flynn had pale blue eyes, just like she and their father had, while Harry's green eyes, behind a pair of round glasses, seemed to glow. Yet, it was those eyes that made Petunia love Harry in the first place.

She watched as he tore into his eggs, only eating the whites and saving the yolk for toast. Neither of her children did the same, nor did she or her husband; Petunia wondered where he had picked up the habit.

"Zoo today, kids!" Murphy announced, proudly. The boys whooped, and Teagan frowned a bit.

Teagan, who was going through her I'm-too-cool-for-everything phase, crossed her arms. Seeing this, Murphy stepped in, "What's the matter, Teags? Don't you want to see the monkeys?"

"I get enough of that at home from these two, thanks." She said, gesturing towards the boys on either side of her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Harry, leaping up into his chair, in an ape-like manner, and began eating sausages with his hands. He beat his chest. Flynn started giggling, as did Murphy.

"Not at the table, Harry." Petunia snapped, raising her eyebrows at him. When Harry looked at her, she gave him a wink. He sat down and wiped his hands on a napkin, "Sorry, Aunt Petunia."

Petunia nodded and smiled, "It's okay, little ape."

Harry was up in his bedroom, changing his clothes for the day. He looked at himself in the mirror, trying to pat down his spiky hair. It didn't work. Harry sighed, changing into a t-shirt and jeans. He looked around his room that he shared with his younger cousin, Flynn. In the bedroom was a bunk bed (Flynn had chosen the bottom bunk, as he had a tendency to sleep walk), various games Flynn and Harry played on a regular basis, and a stack of books Harry read before going to bed. On the walls were posters of favorite football players (Flynn and Harry played on the same team, though Flynn more than Harry, as Harry had learned he wasn't very coordinated on his feet), and a couple of pictures of the family as they grew up.

Harry looked at these pictures. The first was of him, Teagan, and Flynn, when Flynn had just been born. Baby Harry had no glasses, but his jet-black hair still stuck out in every which way and his green eyes still seemed to glow. He sat next to his cousins, Teagan's curly hair pulled into pigtails, while she carefully held a newborn Flynn. Harry wasn't even looking at the camera, but pointing somewhere else off to the side.

Next was a picture of the Flynn and Harry holding hands as toddlers at the beach, wearing matching swim trunks and hats, Teagan off to the side, smiling with an ice cream in her hand and on her face.

The last picture was more recent, and of all five of them. A professional had done this one. This one was out in their garden. Petunia and Murphy sat on a bench while the three children stood around them, smiling at the cameraman. Harry remembered this day, well. Petunia had made them all wear very nice clothing, which Harry proceeded to ruin with Flynn as the wrestled in the grass just moments later.

In these photos, you could see that they were a happy family, yet Harry felt out of place every day. Teagan and Flynn were almost carbon copies of each other, and their parents, Harry's aunt and uncle, looked no different either. Harry, on the other hand, looked completely different, and he thought differently, and acted differently, too. On the one hand, Harry was not extraordinarily good in school, while Teagan and Flynn received top marks without trying very hard. Harry always fell behind in football, while Teagan and Flynn both played as strikers on their teams, often receiving MVP trophies and ribbons. Harry was pretty good at track, however, and did win races occasionally, but Flynn and Teagan also ran track, winning ribbon after ribbon after ribbon. Not to mention, Flynn and Teagan were both pretty popular at school, while Harry struggled to find someone who wasn't afraid to be his friend (one bully in particular, some rudder named Dudley, had marked Harry as his enemy from the first day they had met, and no one dared disagree with Dudley). He had Flynn at school, but they only saw each other for moments at a time, as they were at separate levels. Teagan went to a different, all-girls secondary school. Luckily, Harry would be starting his next term at a new secondary school for boys. Unfortunately, Flynn wouldn't be there.

Harry sighed, looking at the photo for a bit longer. He was grateful to his aunt and uncle, yet he longed for his own parents, too. Harry had asked his aunt once about his parents, knowing his mother had been her sister. When he asked, Petunia immediately began stammering on her words, and tears welled up in her eyes. Feeling badly for making his aunt sad, Harry walked away and never asked again. The next day, however, Petunia told him that his parents were killed in a car accident, which explained his scar.

Harry loved his scar, which was often hidden behind a stray tuft of jet-black hair. He looked at it, and admired it, then tried to flatten his hair again, to no avail.

"Teagan! Flynn! Harry! Breakfast!" Harry heard Aunt Petunia call from downstairs. Harry went downstairs, where a plate of eggs, sausage, and toast was waiting for him.

The zoo was crowded that day.

Harry Potter and the Elwin family walked around in the heat, trying to look at the various animals through the thick crowds. When they entered the cool, reptile's chamber, the crowd thinned out. Harry could actually look at the animals now. He and Flynn wandered over to the snakes, lazing in their chambers as people pressed their noses to the glass.

"Look how big it is, Harry!" cried Flynn, pointing at a massive Brazilian Boa Constrictor. Harry ran over to press his nose against the glass and look.

"Whoa… Do you reckon it could squeeze the car in half" said Harry to Flynn.

"Probably." They sat there, staring at it, until Flynn got bored, which didn't take very long. He ran over to look at some iguanas while Harry kept watching the snake. He felt very drawn to that spot for some reason.

"Do you reckon you could squeeze Dudley in half?" whispered Harry somberly.

The snake nodded at him. Wait, that couldn't be right.

"For a moment there, I thought you could hear me." Harry laughed because it was so ridiculous.

The snake slithered closely to the glass with surprising speed, and stood (however snakes can stand) to look at Harry. Harry jumped back with surprise.

Its tongue whipped back and forth out of its mouth, like it was trying to hiss. Harry could swear he heard muffled words coming through the glass. Harry, though a little frightened, approached the glass again- then the worst thing happened.

"Well, well, if it isn't wee Harry Potter." Harry turned to see the massive Dudley Dursley behind him. He was with a gang of his friends, who often held Harry while Dudley hit him, or made a wall for Dudley to take Harry behind so the teachers wouldn't see Dudley use Harry as a punching bag. "Shoulda known the only friends you could make were spineless." He sniggered. His gang laughed behind him, their arms all crossed.

Just then, Flynn walked up and stepped in front of Harry. Despite their close age, Flynn was considerably smaller then Harry in height. It was quite ridiculous to see Flynn trying to defend Harry from the tall, fat Dudley.

"You leave him alone." Said Flynn, his fists clenched.

Dudley and his gang laughed at Flynn, "Listen, you runt. Today's my birthday so I bloody well will do whatever I please. Now, get out of the way."

Flynn held his ground. Oh, please don't be stupid Flynn. Leave, please, thought Harry. "Harry never did nothin' wrong to you. So shove off"

That did it.

In a flash and with a dull thud, Flynn was on the ground holding his nose, which was bleeding profusely. Harry took one look at Flynn and one look at Dudley, and leaped at Dudley. "You- bloody- wanker!" shouted Harry as he tried to land a hit on Dudley. It was stupid, but Harry felt protective of his cousin. Just as quickly as Harry jumped on Dudley, he too was on the ground. He was clutching his stomach, as Dudley had punched him hard in the gut.

At that moment, Harry wished more than anything in the world that he could fight back.

Suddenly, the glass from the boa constrictor's chamber vanished. Dudley and his gang shrieked as the snake quickly slithered out. Harry watched as the snake wrapped himself around Dudley's leg for a moment and then playfully snap at the other's heels.

Harry couldn't help but laugh as he watched his foe jump around and scream. The snake, having done its job in frightening them, turned to Harry. Thankss for the chat.

Harry's eyes widened. That was definitely not normal.