A girl with green eyes and long dark black hair by the name of Ella was fast asleep in her cupboard under the stairs, it was not the best place someone would consider to live but Ella thought of it as home. It was cosy compared to other places and was one of the places she could consider home. The only down side was when someone walked down the stairs as the dust from above came down and landed on her nose causing her to sneeze. This happened more frequently with her uncle Vernon and even more so with her cousin Dudley as he jumped on the stairs.

"Get up child! I will not have you sleeping in when you have work to do" her Aunt's shrill voice echoed in the downstairs lobby.

Ella grunted slightly before stifling a yawn, she had enjoyed the black cat in her dreams as she played with it, though she frowned as it seemed so real almost like a memory, the soft fuzzy paws felt so real. Finally opening her eyes she sat up and rubbed the drowsiness out of them. Today was not a day she was looking forward to, being her cousins birthday she would get to watch the spoilt marshmallow open his presents.

"I said get up!" her aunt screeched, she had now come back to the door and was extremely mad at her as she started to kick it. Whenever her aunt looked at her she always seemed jealous though Ella could never figure out why she was jealous of a 'troublemaker' as she would call her.

"Coming Aunt Petunia" she called back, never daring to raise her voice in response as she feared the repercussions. She had learnt quickly when kitchen pans were used against her, do not cry, do not complain, work; they were her three mantras she lived by in this house.

"Good, there is food to be made child" she grunted as she left, her shoes clacking loudly on the wooden floor as she left in a tizz. "And don't you dare burn anything, my little Duddykins birthday needs to be perfect."

Ella frowned, as a ten year old girl she was still annoyed that she had to make food for her fat cousin, she hated that pig and he was a brute. Always treating her as if she was to do his bidding. She rifled through her small pile of clothing and put her cousins shirt over her pyjamas, the single shirt could reach her knees and was more like a poncho than a shirt or a blanket if she really needed one.

Quickly she climbed out of her cupboard and made her way to the kitchen, neither running too fast or walking to slow as the outcome would be a scolding of some sort that would result in more chores to be done.

Coming into the kitchen the first thing she noticed was the extensive amount of presents littering the floor in the kitchen, all tucked into the corner of the room. She often wondered how much candy were in those presents because Dudley just seemed to be growing at an impossible rate, there was always a chocolate stain on his mouth. Rolling up her sleeves she grabbed a chair and placed it in front of the counter, quickly gathering all the ingredients needed to make breakfast she moved them to the stove. Moving the chair over to the stove she began cooking breakfast, carefully making as much as she could before Aunt Petunia came back in the hopes that some would be left for her to have.

She continued cooking as she was reminded about her parents, she had no pictures of the two and the stories her mother told were all terrible. She tried not to believe them, really tried, but she had no memories to contradict the facts.

In her quiet contemplation she never heard her Aunt comeback into the kitchen to see what she was doing, never turning to notice the scowl on her face as she looked at the frying pans on the stove. Aunt Petunia was a shrewd woman and would easily notice if Ella was trying to pull something like this, she had taken to heart Uncle Vernon's beliefs of freakiness quite adamantly.

"None of that will be for you, this is Dudley's special day, not yours girl" she sneered, just as Ella turned in surprise at the presence of her Aunt she felt a hot stinging sensation of her cheek and the distinct sound of a slap entering her ears. Ella held strong as this was not the first time she had been hit by her Aunt and she had learned from Dudley's friends that showing no response was the best option.

Remaining neutral she continued to cook, turning away from her Aunt to hide the build-up of tears in her eyes. Holding her tongue at the silent curses she had been rattling away in her mind about her relatives.

Eventually Uncle Vernon came down, still in his tight Pyjamas, Ella often wondered how he still fit into them as he was also like a marshmallow squished into a bag, the buttons were tight and seemed like they would pop off any second, the bulges on the sides were rolls of fat hiding behind what Aunt Petunia called her love handles. Ella thought Aunt Petunia had married the wrong species, when she went to the zoo for school she saw a big animal that was called a seal that still looked better than Uncle Vernon. She sighed quietly as she remembered the reason for Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's recent anger, apparently she had talked a snake into attacking her cousin in the zoo, Dudley may have forgotten but Uncle Vernon always used the opportunity to call her a freak.

"So that freaks still here, I see it still has some uses" he talked to his wife in disdain. Completely ignoring the existence of the girl as if she wasn't there.

Ella glared at Uncle Vernon in disgust.

"I'm warning you girl, any freaky business and you will have hell to pay" he growled, before making himself comfortable in his chair, picking up his newspaper he began to read.

Finally the miracle boy appeared with the usual chocolate stain on his face or mini seal as she called him, he was practically god in front of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. The two spoiled him rotten which was evident by his incredibly large girth for a ten year old child, and just like his father he had pyjamas with buttons that seemed like they would pop off at a moment's notice. The boy himself seemed completely occupied with his presents, Ella knew that if Dudley could count past ten than he would probably complain about the number of presents he got this year as she already knew there were two less than last year.

"Oh, Duddykins" Aunt Petunia cooed as she came up to her 'little' boy, licking her finger she attempted to rub the chocolate off of the mini seals face.

Dudley's face seemed to go red by the second in embarrassment much to Ella's amusement, unfortunately Dudley saw Ella's grin and scowled. "Hurry with breakfast you freak! It's my birthday!" Dudley growled, both Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia turned to her in anger, just behind them Ella noticed Dudley sticking his tongue out at her.

"Don't you dare ruin my little tyke's birthday" Uncle Vernon growled, his blubbery cheeks shaking like an engine.

"Hurry with the breakfast, you're ruining Duddykins special day" Aunt Petunia scowled, her eye looking down at her in complete disdain.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia" she answered as she turned back and continued to cook.

"Why don't you open your present's sweetie" Aunt Petunia crooned, trying to appease her unhappy child.

Dudley ignored her and immediately began to work, starting with the smaller presents with the intent of finding chocolate.

When she finished cooking breakfast she squinted as she faced her cousin and Uncle Vernon for fear of stray buttons hitting her in the eye, she made her way to the table with the breakfast. Uncle Vernon's eyes brightened immediately at the thought of eating more food, Dudley turned around as he smelt the bacon and heard the crackling of the fats in the pan. Ella noticed the scowl on Aunt Petunia's face as she came closer, she was eyeing the food Ella made with the intent of finding something to complain about.

Placing the food on the table Ella waited patiently by the wall till they were done. She had learnt very quickly to never leave the kitchen until she had taken the plates away after breakfast. When they all began eating she quietly opened the fridge to see if there was anything she could eat, she never got any farther before her Aunt came up from behind and slapped her once again.

"This is Dudley's special day, not yours" she growled before dragging her back where she could see her.

Ella rubbed her cheek as she waited for them to finish, her hope for anything left over was immediately dashed as she saw uncle Vernon and Dudley devour the breakfast like animals. Her depression was short lived as she heard the doorbell ring.

"Go back to you room you freak" uncle Vernon growled, his scowl grew along with Dudley at the interruption.

Uncle Vernon got up as quickly as his large weight would allow and dragged her into her cupboard before slamming the door shut.

"Not a peep from you, or else" he grunted before turning towards the door to answer it.

It had been many days before Harry was back to one hundred percent and using that time to heal his eyes with a complex ritual, the Flamels used that opportunity to adopt him into their family as they could never have an heir. Harry was proud to say he was Harry Flamel, he had parents but it would still take some getting used to.

Harry was presently at number four Privet Drive, he had made his way here by apparating wandlessly, over the years he had gotten incredibly good at wandless magic. He scowled as he remembered all the horrible memories he had of this place and all the chores he had done, basically a slave for his aunt and uncle. The houses on the block looked the exact same as he remembered them to be, all similar two story houses and painted white with a garage attached to the side. It was very strange to see such consistency as he was used to the magical world and its irregularity.

Standing on the sidewalk in his black suit he could picture all the times he had to cut the grass right in front of him, he could smell the fresh cut grass already and frowned as he hoped they hadn't made the girl cut it at the age of ten.

Glancing over to Mrs. Figg's house, he still remembered the times he was babysat with her, her disgusting house and weird part-kneazle cats. From the corner of his eye he noticed the curtain move in her house, looking closer she was looking at him. Harry frowned as he would have to do something about her so Dumbledore wouldn't find out he had taken Ella.

Realizing he was going to attract unwanted attention to himself he made his way to the door of the Dursley's, as he got closer he could feel himself passing through the blood ward. Harry swiped his arm to see the runes for the ward, inwardly he marvelled at his mother's handiwork which was a piece of art for someone her age. Harry could feel the ward siphon off his energy to power it as he was a blood relative, though in his presence the wards power was many times stronger now, smirking he thought of what would happen to Voldemort if he walked through this now.

Ringing the bell he waited patiently for someone to answer but in the background he distinctly heard a man most likely uncle Vernon yelling to someone. When Vernon opened the door Harry had to stifle a laugh as he found the man to be even larger than he remembered, his fat neck was somewhere in between his chubby cheeks and shoulders.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he growled. Obviously trying to decide if Harry was a salesman or not.

"Hello Mr. Dursley, I am Harry from child services... this is about your daughter." he answered seriously. Inwardly he was laughing as he watched Vernon's face attempt to twitch in anger behind the fat but all it did was cause his chubby cheeks to wobble around like jelly.

"We don't have a daughter now leave!" he snapped back.

Standing still in the face of Vernon's anger, "I am talking about the Potter child." Though Harry could see Vernon did not want to answer, he needed to get on his side.

Vernon remained speechless as his small brain tried to think of an adequate response but came up with nothing as his mouth fell open. Vernon started to sweat as he thought his family might get into trouble, his eyes shifting in guilt.

"Not to worry Mr. Dursley, the Potter child has… stolen something from school…" he paused as he waited for Vernon to shout in anger as he actually had no real back story. Harry really wished he had thought of a plausible reason for this visit. Thankfully Vernon wasn't as bright as he was fat or else Harry would have a minor problem, he didn't even question why a sixteen year old was part of child services.

Vernon's face immediately changed a variety of colours before finally settling on purple, thinking that the girl had done something stupid and now started to ruin his little tyke's birthday.

"Please come in" he requested finally, "you can stay in the kitchen while I go fetch the little freak."

Harry followed the manatee into the house, marvelling at the similarities between what his looked like compared to this one. Passing the cupboard he could sense the magic of the girl from under the stairs, inwardly happy because he now planned to take her from this place. When Harry walked into the kitchen he was hit with a wave of Nostalgia, Dudders was on the floor eating chocolate while opening presents and Petunia was sitting at the table beaming with pride at her fat child.

"Vernon who is that?" Petunia asked, not even trying to hide her malice.

"Child services, apparently the freak had stolen something and she is in big trouble now" he sniffed before leaving to get the girl.

Petunia seemed happy about it as she hated the child to the core, Harry thought it was strange because she was never this bad when he was a child.

"Come, sit… let me grab you a cup of tea" Petunia said before she stalked off into the kitchen.

Harry sat down and prepared himself for his play, he needed to get the Dursley's to sign over guardianship to the girl willingly or the magically binding contract wouldn't work. Forcing them to sign it would result in an invalid contract and the ministry wouldn't accept it.

"Get out here girl, you're in trouble now!"

"What?! I didn't do anything." a shrill cry escaped to the kitchen. Harry bristled as he held himself back from going over there and killing him.

"We'll see about that" Vernon sneered as he entered the kitchen dragging the girl by her collar towards the table. "Sit down now!"

Harry finally got a good look at the girl when she sat down and faced him, tears marred her face and fear filled her emerald green eyes, overall she looked thin and underfed with skinny arms. She had long black hair that was surprisingly not a mess as his was, her facial features were definitely from her mother and she was wearing an oversized t-shirt with holes in it that Harry guessed was Dudley's. The girl looked like her mother and would probably grow up to be as beautiful as her.

"I… I didn't do anything!" she whimpered, her tear filled eyes shifting around uncertainly.

Harry's calm demeanour almost faltered but quickly hardened his resolve as it was the end result that mattered in this case. Petunia came back with a smirk on her face, all she saw was someone like her sister that had abandoned her for the world of magic, she was extremely jealous of her sisters fortune which spread to the girls.

"So what has the girl done now?" Petunia mocked.

"To be frank I have a large list of complaints about her from various parents at her school, from stealing other people's items to verbally and physically assaulting other children." Harry almost cringed as he saw the girl's eyes widen at each accusation, complete disbelief and eventual resignation as nobody would believe her if she denied them.

A smirk graced Petunia's features as she glared at the girl, "that sounds just like her."

"Does this happen at home as well?" he inquired curiously.

"Yes, the child in uncontrollable, we have tried everything but she never listens." Vernon answered. The girl in question only slumped her shoulders lower and lower.

"I sometimes fear what she might do to my little Duddykins if she was left alone with him" Petunia crooned as she stared at her son.

"Stupid child is a blight in our life, too much freakishness if you tell me."

Petunia glanced at her husband in warning, no doubt trying to dissuade him from revealing the abuse they laid on the girl. Harry inwardly smiled as the conversation was going just where he wanted it to go.

"Am I to understand she is not your child to begin with?"

"No she was my sisters, but when she died someone left her on our doorstep" Petunia answered in disgust.

"Yeah, in the middle of the night, whoever it was wouldn't even let us leave it out there" Once again Petunia glared at her husband.

"Well if that is the case then you haven't officially adopted her, you may be her closest relative but she is not yours."

"What does that mean for us?" Vernon queried with interest in his eyes, he liked where this conversation was going.

Harry remained stoic as he congratulated himself on his performance, "she seems to be a troublemaker so if you want she can go to stay at a school for troubled youth until she is of age."

The girl in question glanced back up, her face full of confusion as she tried to understand what was going on.

"And she wouldn't come back?" Petunia asked politely.

"No, she would be considered an adult and then you wouldn't be required to take care of her."

The girl started to cry as she realized the only relatives she had though she hated them a lot were trying to get rid of her permanently.

Harry reached into his robe and pulled out the single form Nicholas had gotten for him from the ministry after he heard his plan and placed it on the table, "All you have to do is fill out this, custody would then be given over to me and I will take it from there." Pushing it toward Vernon he remained composed, he watched the girl's eyes follow the form in horror as it moved across the table.

Vernon snatched up the sheet, reading it over he grinned, "It is correct Petunia, we just need to fill out the form and sign it then our problem will go away." Glaring at the girl in triumph.

"Wait uncle Vernon… please don't… I… I…" her voice cracking as she cried.

"We have waited long enough, it is time someone else took care of you" he growled as he filled out the form. Both he and Petunia signed the form and handed it back to Harry.

Harry smiled brightly as he read over the form, full custody of her was given over to one named Harry Flamel, "so your name is Ella, it is a beautiful name." Harry smiled towards her as she stared back in confusion.

Petunia and Vernon hadn't made the connection that Harry didn't know the name of the girl at all, he came straight here from the Flamel house. "Now that that problem is dealt with we can finally get to breakfast, are you hungry Ella?"

Ella stared at him in wonder, his personality took a complete U-turn and now he was being nice to her. She had no idea what to think but one thing she knew was that he was now her guardian. Dudley on the side just stared in shock at the conversation, his underdeveloped brain couldn't follow what was going on. Vernon and Petunia stared in shock as they started to get a bad feeling from this Harry character, in fact they didn't even know he was Harry as he showed no identification.

"Wait a minute, this is my house I will-" Vernon started but the next instant he found himself frozen at the table, his eyes shaking in shock as he realized he let another so called freak in the house.

"That is enough out of you boy?" Harry growled, pulling a page out of Perenelle's book.

"What did you do to my husband!" Petunia screeched as she rounded towards him. She never even made it halfway before she was frozen as well, shortly followed by Dudley as Harry found him annoying with all the candy wrapper noise.

"Now Ella we can have a real conversation" Harry stood up and walked around the table towards her, kneeling down slowly so as not to frighten her he wiped away the tears from her face with his thumb.

Ella's eyes widened at the display of affection, "What… what do you want with me?"

§"Well I came to pick up my last relative… which is you."§ answering in parseltongue.

Ella's eyes widened as she understood what he meant, he was like her and could do things like her. Glancing at her frozen family members she looked shocked. Harry immediately stood up and walked over to the fridge.

With practiced ease Harry took eggs and bacon out of the fridge and began cooking more breakfast, though only for him and her. This was one of the few times Harry was thankful for Aunt Petunia as she had forced him to cook, eventually he became interested and over his long life he had become quite the chef. Cooking came second nature to him now as he moved through the kitchen.

"What… what did you do to… them?" Ella stuttered.

"I just froze them, sometimes they just don't know when to shut up" he chuckled. When he looked closely he could see the anger in Vernon's eyes, Petunia seemed frightened along with little Dudley. Harry came back to the table with breakfast in hand, a full course for just him and her.

"Come eat, I made it for you anyway" gesturing to the plate in front of her.

"Why... are you helping me? Are you going to take me to the orphanage?" she paled as she mentioned it, Vernon used to threaten her with it and the stories she heard were not all that pleasant.

"Good heavens no, I wouldn't do that to family."

Ella's eyes widened in confusion.

"We are relatives you know, a lot closer than you are to the Dursley's. And according to this sheet I have legally adopted you."

"Why… why did you leave me here then…? I hate them and they hate me" she whispered.

"Sorry Ella, I didn't even know you existed until a week ago" he responded solemnly. "But that doesn't matter now because you will be coming to stay with me."

Ella sat there picking at her food as she thought over what he said, he certainly seemed nicer than the Dursley's as he even made her food. Wiping the tear stains from her face she accepted the fact that he was the better option and she might even come to like him.

The two sat in silence eating breakfast as they ate breakfast Ella was smiling as she ate the food, she had never tasted something so good. Vernon's face raged almost all the colours of the rainbow before settling on a vibrant purple, his eyes quivering in untold rage as he wanted to rip Harry's head off.

"Ella is there anything you want to take from this house."

Ella herself looked down at her clothes as she decided if it was worth it to take the rest of her hand me downs.

"You don't have to worry about clothes, we will get you some when we have the opportunity, though it looks like you could use a change right now" he grinned. Harry snapped his fingers and immediately the large shirt with holes in it Ella was wearing transfigured into a white summer dress. Harry finished it off by grabbing a hat from the coat rack and transfiguring it into a matching white hat.

Ella's mouth fell open, she had never worn clothes like these. She always wore her cousin's hand me downs and only got to look on in envy at the girls at school. "How… how did you do that?" she asked in surprise.

"I am a wizard just like your father, in a few years you will be a trained witch like your mother."

Ella's closed her mouth as she stared at him, rubbing her hands together nervously she gathered up the courage to ask the most important question. One she asked Aunt Petunia repeatedly but never got an answer.

"Did you know my parents?" scrunching her brows to make a cute face.

Harry released a sigh as he shook his head, "I'm sorry I don't, I have heard of them and only seen them in passing but never met them for long periods of time."

Ella looked crestfallen but still pressed on, "Is it true they died in a car crash?"

Harry frowned as he glared at Ella's relatives, "No Ella they didn't, Petunia only told you that because she was jealous of your mother."

"Jealous?"

"Yes Jealous, they were best friends but then your mother had magic while Petunia didn't, so Petunia was just bitter towards her and in turn to you as you remind her of her sister."

"So aunt Petunia lost her sister and best friend, that's why she is always mean to me?"

"Yes."

"So how did they… you know die?" she mumbled sadly.

"They died protecting their most precious thing…" pausing as Ela looked on in confusion, "they died protecting you because you meant everything to them." Ella smiled in response, Aunt Petunia always said they died in a car crash and never loved her.

Reaching for the door Harry stopped as he remembered something, "Do you have any pictures of them Ella?" She shook her head in response.

Harry smiled as he turned towards the stairs and started climbing, he remembered where his Aunt Petunia hid the photo albums and believed it would be the same. Walking along the hallway he reached up and grabbed the string hanging from the ceiling and pulled. As the stairs came down Harry turned to make sure Ella was following, Harry walked up the stairs into the attic to find the old chest with the last belongings of Ella's parents.

"Ella these are your parents and yours" he indicated as he opened the chest. Pulling out the dusty photo albums he wiped them off and handed them to her.

Ella flipped through them quickly with a grin before she froze, glancing between Harry and the photo album, "Dad?"

Harry gave her a sad smile, "No Ella, I am not your dad, I just look a lot like him that's all."

Ella frowned but continued anyway, placing her hand on the picture of her mother, finally noticing the resemblance she smiled. She looked like her mother but had her father's hair colour.

"Now come Ella it's time to enter the world of magic" he grinned as he imagined her face when she saw the Knight bus. Harry went down the stairs glancing at the frozen Dursley's in the kitchen, he decided to obliviate his presence from their minds, all they knew was someone came and took Ella. Once more he snapped his finger to leave them a parting gift.

"What did you do to them?" Ella asked curiously as she saw no changes but all three of the Dursley's had a look of panic in their eyes.

"Just a parting gift to remember us by" he grinned as he remembered what Hagrid had done to Dudley when he first met him. Knowing they would hate him to the core if they ever saw him again he laughed as he exited the house.

Once outside the house Harry made a beeline for Mrs. Figg's house, he couldn't have her warning Dumbledore anytime soon. Making sure Ella followed he went up to the door and knocked, he noticed Ella seemed uncomfortable here as she probably had the same feelings about the lady that he had.

"How can I help-" she crooned, but stopped as she saw Ella was beside him.

"Hello Mrs. Figg my name is Harry" he politely replied.

Mrs. Figg had a bad feeling as she stared at the man, a stranger had the girl-who-lived with him, and she had to inform Dumbledore.

"What do you want?" she scowled, her gaze shifting between Ella and Harry.

"Nothing physical…" seeing her relief she smirked, "just your memories." he finished and as quick as lightning he obliviated her than used a simple memory charm, Mrs. Figg's eyes glazed over as she stared into space. Harry closed the door behind her and turned around.

"What did you do to her?" Ella questioned cautiously.

"She will think you are staying at the Dursley's and will not report to Dumbledore that you have gone."

"Who is Dumbledore?"

"He is the man that left you at the Dursley's…" seeing her scowl he thought it best to tell her why, "his intentions were good but he just never bothered to check up on you as he believed family wouldn't do anything."

Ella nodded in understanding before following Harry to the street.