Ron shook Harry awake next morning. They had been celebrating their grand entrance into Hogwarts with the other Gryffindors including Ginny late into the night. He was tired now but he was also hungry.

At breakfast Ron got a howler from his mother. Harry had never seen or heard of a howler before and couldn't decide if he was glad he hadn't got one too as it had been terrifying or if he was sad that he had nobody any more that really cared one way or another what he did.

Once they had all finished eating McGonagall handed out their timetables for the year, Harry looked at his in disgust- He was scheduled for double potions with Snape first thing on a Monday morning.

It was as bad as Harry had expected. They were attempting to brew Murtlap essence but Seamus ended up blowing up his cauldron again and Snape in as foul a mood as always had taken 20 points from Gryffindor. He had judged Harrys potion sufficient enough to be bottled and added to the tray that would be given to Madam Pomfrey but had done nothing but deride him the entire lesson.

The rest of the day wasn't much better, The new defence against the dark arts teacher was a bumbling idiot, he could control neither the class nor the Cornish pixies – the subject of the lesson, that had wreaked havoc in the classroom and later that night in punishment for their grand adventure with the Ford Anglia Filtch had them scrubbing toilets – without magic. Unfortunately these particular toilets happened to be inhabited by a ghost. She was a nuisance; she kept splashing about making it impossible to finish their task. Eventually when she got bored of tormenting them they finally finished up and went back to the tower. Ron was exhausted but Harry was just happy to be allowed to stay at Hogwarts.

The following Saturday after Quidditch practice they went down to visit Hagrid, On the way back to the castle Hermione turned to Harry "I've been thinking about your situation with your Aunt Harry, when you were writing about the statute of secrecy I was researching blood wards, it seems that as long as a relatives blood flows within the house you call home the protection afforded to you by your parents sacrifice prevails. You don't have to live with the Dursleys, if we could find another relative willing to take you in the blood wards could be transferred".

"I haven't got any other relatives."

"You must have someone Harry. You mentioned an Aunt Marge once?"

"Marge is Uncle Vernons sister she's not related to me at all anyways she would be probably be even worse than the Dursleys themselves."

"There's got to be someone Harry, a great aunt, a cousin maybe? There's nothing in the literature that suggests it has to be a close relative for the wards to work. Possibly the further the blood ties the weaker the wards but it might be enough to sway Dumbledore to let you move. There must be some kind of spell to find a lost relative. Think Ron? What happens if someone dies without a will and no obvious heirs how do they find them? "

"If it was anyone of importance you wouldn't have to look! "

"Well" Hermione lowered her voice "what about when they tested muggleborns to see if they had any magical blood ties maybe we could use that to check."

I don't know how we could find out but Harry the Potters were purebloods. Nearly all the pureblood families are interrelated somehow. There's got to be someone. You might even be related to me, Mum might be able to take you in after all.

Or I might find out I'm related to Malfoy and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be safe there blood wards or not. Come on I'm hungry, we will miss dinner if we don't get back soon.

Lessons continued as normal the following week, Harry had resigned himself to the fact that he would be continuing to spend his summer with the Dursleys and had forgotten all about Hermiones idea to search for some other relatives until Thursday evening after classes . He and Ron were playing wizards chess in the common room when Hermione came back from the library and dumping a pile of books in front of them excitedly explained that she had come up with an idea.

"There's something we can do to look for relatives on your fathers side but it probably won't be of any use for your mothers. Your aunt would have probably mentioned them at some point if you had any anyways. "

"I guess" Harry agreed.

"We have to charm a piece of parchment to show the names of your living relatives, if any. Brew a special potion then recite an incantation over it three times and then add your blood just before you pour it over the parchment, then you just wait for the parchment to reveal the names of any living relatives."

"There has to be some kind of catch" Ron said "It can't possibly be that easy."

"Well it only gives names it doesn't tell you how you are related to them you have to figure that out for yourself but it's a start. The only problem is one of the ingredients for the potion is something I've never heard of before. We need to find blood from one of the sacred 28. But it doesn't say 28 what."

"28 pure blood wizarding families!" Ron supplied, delighted he knew something Hermione didn't for a change. "It's worth a lot of money. But no one sells it. You can have some of mine though. I still can't believe they locked you away all summer."

"If it's worth that much how come no one sells it?" Harry asked thinking of how the Weasleys struggled sometimes.

"Blood magic usually works the same with any blood" Ron explained "Normally you need your own or the person you are trying to perform magic on. Most of the 28 stuff is fairly dark. It helps the likes of the Malfoys feel superior if they can do things with their blood that nobody else can so they wouldn't give it away. Plus you never know when it might backfire and you could end up cursed. Fred and George tried to sell some of theirs once. Wanted to buy a new broom or something, I've never seen mum and dad so angry."

"I don't want to do it if there's a risk you might end up cursed."

"I don't think we have to worry about that Hermione stated looking back down at the book again. In this instance it looks as though the blood is only used as a reference for the sample given after. Intermarriage down through the years between purebloods probably means you have the blood of many houses in your veins Ron."

It was agreed they would brew the potion Friday night in moaning myrtles bathroom and they would have the weekend to investigate the findings.

Next afternoon in potions when Snape was mocking Neville, Harry confronted him causing enough of a distraction for Hermione to grab some of the necessary ingredients from Snapes supply cupboard.

The potion bubbled away. Hermione really was brilliant it looked just like the book said it should. Harry was excited. She added the last of the ingredients and the potion suddenly changed from a royal blue to a sunshine yellow colour.

"Quick Harry say the spell"

" Volo videre familia lignum.Volo videre familia lignum.Volo videre familia lignum."

"Quick Ron the blood!" Ron lifted the athame Hermione had prepared earlier and sliced across Harrys palm. Three drops of blood fell into the cauldron.

"Now Harry stir it with your wand three times as you say the spell again."

" Volo videre familia lignum. Volo videre familia lignum.Volo videre familia lignum"

Harry stirred as it went from yellow to orange and then red.

It had the exact colour and consistency of a pint of blood.

Ron ladled some into a phial as Hermione healed Harrys wound.

He gave it to Harry, he poured it over the parchment as he recited the spell again

" Volo videre familia lignum.Volo videre familia lignum.Volo videre familia lignum."

As the potion disappeared from the sheet they waited with baited breath to see what it would reveal.