Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or TruBlood.

Sorry for the wait, life has a way of slowing things down.


I was half asleep on the sidewalk outside of the hardware store when the owner decided to show up; he was only ten minutes late. He was an older gentleman that looked like he should have retired at least a decade ago and I ignored the look that he gave me as I followed him into the store and started to browse. The selection was fairly poor but there was a decent amount of paint in the back and luckily just enough for me to get most of the outside painted though I would probably have to come back a couple of times since I couldn't carry it all at once nor would Petunia let me handle that much money at once.

The old man looked at my purchase with a critical eye as he started to ring it up slowly. "I ain't never seen you around here boy."

"I came with my aunt, uncle and cousin to visit my grandmother, Mrs. Stackhouse." The man seemed to appraise me for a moment before nodding as if it was just how he expected it to be and I couldn't quite help myself.

Looks like old Samuel was right, the boy doesn't look like he's ever had a good meal. He's probably goin' to paint the house without any help if the uncle is as fat as he said. Hopefully the boy has the sense to stay away from Sookie though; girl's crazy as can be. "You be careful if you're goin' to paint the Stackhouse property, it's a big place and you never can tell how things are goin' to go. You could probably get Jason Stackhouse to help you if he ever shows his face around there again. Boy hardly ever drops by there nowadays."

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I could tell that Petunia was anything but happy with how long I took to get back but she wasn't able to do anything with Grandmother up and about. She made sure that I knew how unhappy she was though with little glares and gestures that clearly told me that it would be quite some time before she would willingly allow me to eat, wonderful.

I set to work without delay with a scrapper to get all of the old crackled paint off of the house before I even thought about putting the new paint on. The paint was so old that it practically disintegrated the moment that the scrapper touched it. Once I got one side of the lower floor of the house cleared of paint I opened the paint can and sighed as I got ready. I was only able to find a medium width brush in the garage and dipped in the paint liberally before getting on my knees to start painting from the bottom. Somehow I knew that I was going to spend the majority of the summer making this house glow if Petunia had anything to say about it.

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When Sookie dragged herself out of bed later in the afternoon to get ready for work the first thing that hit her when she exited her room was the strong smell of paint. She quickly put her lip gloss on and headed downstairs to see what was going on. Gran was sitting at the table with several pots and pans going as she stared out the window with a slightly distressed look on her face. When she noticed that Sookie was there she motioned her over.

"The boy has been out there all day scrapping off the old paint and repainting the house. Petunia said that he ate a full breakfast and that she took him out a sandwich but nothing is missing from the refrigerator that I didn't watch her, her husband and son eat." Gran locked eyes with me and I could tell that she wanted nothing more than to go out there and force the boy to eat something. "He said the same thing when I asked but there was something about his voice that just wasn't right. I want you to take him to work with you and make sure that he actually eats something. I'm sure that Sam wouldn't mind letting the boy eat a little something, he can put it on my tab."

Sookie knew that her Gran normally wouldn't ask something like that unless she really was worried about the boy so she nodded and headed toward the door. When she got to where Harry was painting the house she closed her eyes and listened only to open her eyes with a grin when all she heard was the sound of the birds, she couldn't hear a thing from her cousin. Maybe getting to know him wasn't as bad of an idea as she had thought it would be. "Hey there, Harry right, I'm Sookie and Gran asked me to take you to work with me tonight. I work down at Merlotte's and you can get a little dinner while you're there too."

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Even though I heard her coming around the side of the house I still almost dropped the brush when she started talking. She was a relatively nice looking girl and I couldn't see any outward reason that the old man wouldn't want me to get to know her until her thoughts managed to drift right over. Who knew that the ability to read thoughts was actually genetic? Maybe she would know what it felt like to feel like you didn't belong anywhere even if her power isn't quite as freaky as mine. "I would love to spend some time with you but I don't think that Petunia would be particularly happy if I stopped painting the house before she told me to."

She looked at how much of the house that I had gotten to and I could feel the disbelief rolling through her. "I don't think that she should really mind, you've done more in a day than anyone would expect. Even if she does mind Gran would throw a fit if I didn't make sure you got a bit of rest and food in you and out of the two I would rather be on Petunia's bad side." Sookie turned to look at me with a smile on her face that almost forced one onto my own face. "Come on, Gran will make sure that Petunia knows that she was the one that wanted me to kidnap you."

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Sam was getting set up for the night shift when he caught the scent of Sookie followed by another scent that made his back arch and his toes curl. It was like smelling pure power mixed with the smell of thunder storm. He looked toward the door and caught sight of Sookie being followed by a young boy with long black hair with red highlights, emerald green eyes framed by long eyelashes and pouting lips in a face that was aristocratic with a hint of softness. There was enough similarity between the two that he knew that this had to be one of the cousins that everyone had been talking about, probably the one named Harry.

Sookie pressed Harry into one of the booths in her section and sauntered up to the counter that Sam was leaning on. "Hey, Sam, would it be alright if Harry stayed here while I work? Gran wanted to get him away from the house since he's been painting it all day. She also wants him to actually get him to eat something; she said that you could put it on her tab."

Sam waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about paying for it; I hardly think that that slip of a boy is going to be able to eat me out of house and home." The boy was entirely too small and Sam could smell the malnutrition through the boy's own delightful smell. The smell of power seemed to get even stronger the longer he was exposed to it and he quickly moved to get the bar ready before he managed to embarrass himself.

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Merlotte's was a lot nicer than what I had been expecting; it had a very homey feeling that made me relax without thinking about it. The booth that Sookie pushed me into was very well padded and I sunk into the seat with a barely audible groan. Painting all day had left me with an ache in muscles I didn't even know I had. I knew that I was likely going to be in a lot of trouble with Petunia and Vernon tomorrow but I couldn't find the energy to particularly care at the moment.

I looked up as Sookie sauntered up to the table with a menu in her hand. "Sam said that you could have anything you wanted free of charge so you pick as much as you want. You could use a little fattening up." I couldn't control the blush as she laughed a bit and put the menu on the table before making her way to one of the tables behind me.

The menu was filled with foods that I had never even heard of let alone thought about eating. Then again I'm not the most well versed person in food after living with the Dursleys; they're creatures of habit after all. I finally decided on the standard steak and potatoes when Sookie came back up to the table with a slightly strained smile on her face, most likely because of the poisonous thoughts of some of the place's patrons. "Did you decide on something, hon?"

"Yeah, I just have the smaller sized steak with a baked potato with salt and butter and a sweet tea with it." I would have rather had a cup of Earl Grey but I doubt I'll find that anywhere in the States, let alone Louisiana.

"I'll get that over to Lafayette and get your tea for ya in a flash." She turned a bit rigidly and stalked over to the kitchen throwing a poisonous look at a couple sitting across from me that hadn't looked anywhere but me since I came in. They were trying to decide whether I was one of those 'queer' boys that they heard about and if that was why my uncle didn't like me. There were also thoughts about how righteous the man was if that was the case but I tuned that out as much as possible.

The tea was certainly not something I wanted to drink everyday but it wasn't nearly as bad as Seamus had made it sound last year. The cold of it would take a lot of getting used to; even pumpkin juice was served warm. I sipped slowly on the drink and almost jumped when Sookie sat the plate in front of me and squeezed my shoulder before delivering another plate to a man that kept thinking about his girlfriends 'assets'.

The steak was medium rare, I think that it has more flavor that way without the slightly cold temperature of a rare one. Everything on the plate was cooked perfectly and I couldn't stop the sigh that slipped out as I ate more than I have since Hogwarts, though I tend to reduce the size of my meals the closer it gets to summer so I don't feel the hunger so acutely.

I sat comfortably after Sookie had taken my plate away when a charge went through me that caused my eyes to travel to the door as if they were pulled by strings. There was someone coming, someone old and powerful; someone that wasn't human. He looked like he stepped right out of one of those romance novels that Petunia liked to collect that took place in the past. His mind was as open to me as any other and I could read that he was a mainliner and that he wanted to return to the place where he had once lived as a human and that his name is Bill Compton.

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Sam watched as the bloodsucker walked into his bar like he was just a normal guy and felt his hackles rise, he never liked vampires; the only reason that he supported rights was that he hoped that they would stay the hell away from everyone else. He noticed that both Sookie and her cousin both looked up before he walked into the bar though Harry only watched him for a moment before turning to his plate with the same look on his face that Sookie got when she heard something from someone that she needed to think about. That would bear watching.

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Sookie watched the man enter the bar and somehow knew that he was a vampire. He had that old world kind of look to him that made him stand out along with the look of someone who had seen more than his fair share of life. She turned to look at Sam and Tara, who she needed to introduce to Harry at some point, and couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice. "I think Bon Temps just got its first vampire."

Sam certainly didn't seem to share her excitability over the prospect, the last thing that this town needed was a vampire draining the populace. "I think you're right." That was all that he could force out of his mouth.

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I watched with trepidation as Sookie walked over to Mr. Compton with an obvious bounce in her step and almost groaned when I picked up the fact that she had always wanted to meet a vampire. I watched closely and almost cringed when the man was accosted by the slime behind him, the Rattrays, something about those two made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Their thoughts quickly started to revolve around getting the vampire alone to drain his blood. Apparently people were drinking vampire blood as a drug, how disgusting.

I ended up sitting across from Mr. Compton before I even thought about moving. The male Rattray, Mack, shot me a dirty look as he had been about to move over to Mr. Compton's table. "Good evening Mr. Compton, my name is Harry Potter and it seems that we are both recent additions to the current Bon Temps register." I made sure to draw his attention from the furious couple behind him; studiously ignoring the curses that their minds were spewing.

"Yes, I lived her many years ago and just took over the care of the Compton house as I am the only Compton left these days." His voice was soothing but there seemed to be a lot of pain when he mentioned that he was the only Compton left.

"This place is most likely not the place that you remember from your youth and it would do you a great deal of good to remember that not all humans are as accepting as they may at first appear." I could see the shock in his eyes at the reference to his nonhuman status and the anger that crossed both Rattrays faces as Sookie bounced back to the table and shot me a relieved smile as she set the wine done in front of Mr. Compton.

"Well now, it seems that you already know my cousin Harry. He's visiting for the summer so I'm sure that the two of you will have plenty to talk about." Sookie glanced at the Rattrays with barely veiled dislike and looked right into Mr. Compton's eyes. "You should stay here and chat for a while." She stressed the words and I could almost see the wheels start turning in his head as the ideas about Sookie started to swirl. It was almost funny how he immediately decided that there was something inhuman about Sookie. It would appear that Sookie just managed to attract herself a vampire paramour.

I waited until Sookie was back at the counter before turning to face Mr. Compton again. "I would love to get to know another outsider and it simply wouldn't do for you to hang too much around the lower members of the town that tend to lurk outside the bar in attempt to drain the life out of the unwilling." Mr. Compton's eyes widened impossibly as he shot a look at the idiots behind him.

The woman, Denise, looked about ready to kill me as she forced Mack to stand up and walked around the table to stand over me with her hands on her hips as if she could actually intimidate someone who had literally met evil. "Listen here you little weirdo, me and my husband don't take lightly to outsiders making accusations about us to people we haven't even got the chance to talk to yet. Why don't you get lost so we can get to know Mr. Compton before you really managed to get on my bad side?"

Something about her really pisses me off and I found myself standing toe to toe with her before I thought about moving. "I really don't think that a lowlife drug dealer like you even has another side. I won't stand here and let you lure someone who hasn't done anything to anyone here out into the parking lot before you drain him for money and your husband's addiction." Her eyes widened as she stepped back slightly. "People like you should be taken out and shot like the rabid animals that you are and not allowed to socialize with decent people."

Her entire face suffused with red as she looked at the patrons of the bar that hadn't heard a word of the altercation before coming face to face with a fairly pissed off looking Sookie. "I think that it is far past time that you take your leave. Merlotte's is too nice of a place for trailer trash like you to stink up."

The woman's face screwed up as she stepped back to shoot us both poisonous glares while her husband twitched slightly behind her. "You'll both pay for this insult you worthless little freaks." She was lucky that she had the sense to book it after that insult because the thought seriously crossed my mind to make her spontaneously combust. She had no right to call Sookie a freak.

Sookie turned to the vampire and seemed to brighten at the sight; the poor girl already has it bad, though I can't say that I wouldn't feel the same if I found someone other that family that I couldn't read the thoughts of. "Sorry for the trouble Mr. Compton, they are thankfully a one of a kind couple. Hopefully they didn't ruin your opinion of us."

The vampire seemed to consider the two of us with a glint in his eyes that seemed a little too familiar on his face though I resisted the urge to riffle through his thoughts. "What are you two?" His voice was thankfully quiet enough that no one else heard the question and both Sookie and I sat down across from him and each managed our own look of fake confusion.

"My name is Sookie Stackhouse; I'm a waitress at this bar. This is my cousin, Harry Potter, and he's sixteen and visiting for the summer." Sookie's voice was quiet but carried just a touch of confusion. It probably never crossed her mind that our family was anything but human. Hopefully Mr. Compton would buy her confusion, but the look on his face certainly didn't lend credence to that idea.

Thankfully he didn't stay too long after that and I was able to slip in a nap before Sookie woke me up at the end of her shift to head home. The ride back home wasn't nearly as quiet as the one to Merlotte's as the only thing that seemed to be on Sookie's mind was the charming vampire. I listened with a smile on my face as I thought about all the things that could go wrong while trying to also think of ways to get around them. If Sookie wanted to date a vampire then as her family it is my duty to make sure that she at least gets the chance to try.


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