Max POV

I lay down on my bed and tried to get to sleep. I still had absolutely no freaking idea why we were here. Oh wait… yes I do. The flock had forced me to buy them a house. In freaking England! Number 6 Privet Drive, Surrey, to be exact. Where had my authority as flock leader gone? The fairies had come during the night and stolen it if you ask me. And then the fairies had gone and decided to give it to Angel. I swear that girl is getting more and more stubborn by the day, and God knows a stubborn six year old is what we need. But wait, she was arguing about that too. According to Angel, she was seven, not six. Jeez people, get it right! I mean, it's not as if I don't love Angel to death or anything, but she sure was a handful. Especially when the fairies give her the authority that I'm supposed to have, and she rounds up the four younger kids, ambushing me with Bambi eyes and majority voting for a house to settle down in.

I have a feeling that Angel didn't even try to enlist Fang's help for Evil Plan #one trillion. After all, Fang always goes with what I say or he dies a long, slow, painful death… but he normally agrees with me anyway, so it's all good. We tried to get the kids to see reason, we were constantly in danger, we had no idea what enemies would be next, we needed to keep on guard, etc… but to no avail. They were adamant this time, and I try to be a fair leader, basing my decisions on vote, so I and Fang had no choice but to go along with the house buying.

Anyways, here I am attempting to get some rest on my new bed after a long day of unpacking boxes (I am still trying to figure out how we had enough possessions to fill even one box), when the door bangs open and Nudge, Gazzy and Angel rush in, Iggy trailing behind.

'MAAAAAAAAAAAAAX!' Nudge's loud voice was a guaranteed migraine bringer. 'Max, wake up! There's a park nearby and we wanna go!'

Park? What happened to my sleep time? Did they actually want me to be a grouch for the rest of the day?

'Uhhhhhhn…' I was too lazy to even put a coherent answer together.

'Come on, Max!' Gazzy chimed in.

'Nah, c'mon guys, let's just go with Fang, and leave Max to her beauty sleep. She definitely needs it.'

I opened my eyes to glare at Iggy. 'Why don't you have a beauty sleep, Iggy?' I snapped. 'Then again, don't bother. You're a lost cause.'

I sat up and swung my legs out from under the covers.

'So how far away is the park?' I asked, hoping it wasn't too far.

'Don't worry Max, it's only 5 or 10 minutes walking.' Angel answered, obviously reading my mind. I sighed. Not too bad I s'pose. But still… I do need sleep…

'Fang's coming,' Angel said slyly, reading my mind again. Dammit! Now I gotta go. If Fang's there, I'm there.

'OK,' I sighed reaching for shoes, in the middle of the floor.

10 minutes later and we reached the playground, where Angel immediately sped for the swings.

'Max!' she cried. 'Max, push me!' She looked so adorable for a moment that my heart softened, and I only saw the cute little girl that the lucky ones see. But both you and I know that Angel is two parts blonde cherub, two parts unholy demon, and two parts of something completely indefinable but even scarier.

Even so, I went over and started pushing her higher and higher on the swing set.

'Max, give me a go after her!' Gazzy yelled out. I nodded.

By now, Angel's swing was going so high that I was beginning to fear it flipping completely round.

Iggy and Nudge were now chatting on the other part of the playground (well, Nudge was talking, Iggy was zoning out) and Fang had taken out his trusty laptop and was sitting off to one side.

I pushed Angel a couple more times and then suddenly she threw herself off high into the air, laughing loudly the entire time. She went like, five meters up before she started to fall (Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating. Sue me.).

Angel twirled and yelled over to me. 'Max! Max! I wanna do it again!' She shouted happily. I loved seeing her happy, it didn't happen enough in our lives. 'That was FUN!'

'Aw, sorry Angel, sweetie,' I said running over to her and giving her a big hug. 'I promised Gazzy I'd give him a turn, but you can have a go after that!' Anything to make you happy, I added in my mind. She smiled that smile of hers that just makes everybody around her go 'awwwwww'. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. 'You were mad at her before and now you're just trying to make her smile. What's up with that?' well have you seen one of Angel's looks? No, I guess not. But all you need to know is that you would act like me too.

'Yeah!' Gazzy said running over to us. 'It's my turn!'

Angel's face became sad again and the Gasman immediately softened. 'But I can give you my go if you want.' Angel didn't even need to use her mind control to get Gazzy to do what she wanted. One sad face and he was putty in her tiny hands.

Her face lit up instantly. She squirmed to hug the eight year old as she said 'Thank you Gazzy! You're the best brother ever!' of course…

I suddenly felt a prickling feeling on the back of my neck and I turned around to see Fang looking away from me to an approaching boy who I hadn't noticed before.

He stopped as he realized that he had attracted our attention, and I put Angel down, my eyebrows drawn down in a frown.

I looked the newcomer up and down as Fang, Nudge and Iggy joined us. He was pretty pale, but not as much as Iggy and his hair was as black as Fang's. He looked around me, Fang and Iggy's age, but he was much shorter than us, Nudge was taller than him. He had these brilliant green eyes that looked too mature for a teen, and I guess he was good-looking in a weird sorta way, but he had nothin' on Fang. However, his most defining feature was a scar on his forehead that was shaped like a lightening bolt. I wondered how he had gotten it. It didn't look like it was shaped like that by coincidence.

A flicker of sadness passed the boy's face and Angel's expression became sympathetic as she watched him. She looked up to whisper something to me. 'He's pretty safe.' She said. 'Be nice to him, his parents were murdered and now he has to live with really horrible people.' His parents were murdered? Poor guy.

I stepped forward towards him. 'Hey,' I said. 'I'm Max' I continued.

'Harry. Harry Potter.' The boy replied in a strong English accent. I sniggered as I remembered the famous line. 'Bond. James Bond.' I whispered. Then I got back to business.

'This is Nick,' I said, indicating Fang, who didn't acknowledge that anything had been said. I suppressed a sigh. Typical.

'Jeff.' I pointed at Iggy who said 'Sup?'

I continued the intros, even though I had no idea why I was doing it. 'Tiffany-Krystal.' I braced myself for the explosion of conversation that was bound to come from Nudge any nanosecond.

'Hi! I'm Tiffany-Krystal, Tiffy for short; it's really good to meet you! OMG I love your accent, it's so cute! Can you say 'I like to jump on tables and pat sheep'? Please, please, please, ple-' Iggy wrapped a hand around Nudge's mouth saying apologetically: 'Sorry, she likes to talk a lot.'

'Anyway,' I said. 'This is Zac and Ariel,' pointing at Gazzy and Angel. Harry frowned slightly.

Angel whispered up to me, 'He heard you call us Gazzy and Angel.' I shrugged off the instant paranoia. He'll think they're nicknames. I hope.