I do not own Harry Potter or anything for that matter. :(

Chapter 3: New Family

London

It had been six months since the fire that destroyed his home. Harry had been barely scrapping by on what ever he could do. He would go from place to place doing odd jobs for a little money. Whenever he got the chance to steal something of value he took it. Of course, he never stole from the people that gave him jobs since that could be linked to his presence.

Almost every day he thought about the people that started the fire. The Fire Walkers they had started calling themselves in the last six months. Bradly had quickly become one of the gang leader's top enforcers since he was both cunning and strong. Harry knew all of this from listening in on some of the gang's members discreetly. Although his living conditions had degenerated Harry was still as quiet and observant as ever.

Currently Harry was in a farmers market looking for potential prospects. Although Harry was not good at picking pockets he was not bad at it either. He was disrupted from his thoughts when there was a disturbance in the flow of the crowd ahead of him. Harry quickly moved to the left against the wall thinking that it might be a cop. He observed a man cloaked in black with a scowl on his face. He seemed to ooze disdain and annoyance which the people around him picked up on and instinctively the crowd moved around him on either side.

Watching the man moved through the crowd was almost mesmerizing to Harry. The young Potter suddenly felt an itch develop inside his head as he continued to watch the man while he passed by. Following his instincts and the itch Harry fell in behind the cloaked figure after it passed by his location.

Edward Green had served his master throughout most of his master's war. He had never question orders, until now. For six months he had followed the orders given to him and for six months nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The very idea that he would just randomly stumble upon the new owner was nearly impossible to understand yet day after day he was told the same orders.

As he moved through the crowd several sensations jumped out at him. Most people would call Edward paranoid, but those that knew and served with him in the war understood that there was no paranoid just overly careful. Because of this he quickly sensed that he was being followed. The second sensation was that of the object in his pocket, the one that he was suppose to lose, was quickly heating up.

Surprise from the object in question finally reacting left Edward momentarily baffled. At that moment there was a shout of alarm and fear to his left. Jerking his head to that side he witnessed a run away cart heading right for him. Old battles reflexes activated and he jumped back out of the carts path. Unexpectedly, by jumping straight back he crashed right into a person standing behind him causing both to fall down in a tangle of body and limbs.

Harry had been following the strange man for several yards now. The man's movements showed that he was an experienced fighter at the least. Harry abruptly stopped walking and stood in place wondering why he was following this obviously dangerous man.

A shout startled Harry out of his thoughts and he looked up in time to see a a body flying at him. The force of their impact knocked Harry off of his feet and crash to the ground. Harry instinctively tried to roll but got tangled up with the person on top of himself. After a brief struggle the two got untangled and broke apart looking at each other. Harry look up and stared into the dirt brown colored eyes of the man he had been following.

Edward looked at the boy he had crashed into analyzing him. Rough appearance, patchy clothing, and slightly gaunt look easily stated that this boy was homeless and probably hungry. Edward stood up and dusted himself off before looking down and offering a hand to the boy. The boy grabbed his hand and Edward pulled the youngster to his feet.

"You alright", Edward asked gruffly. The boy nodded not actually speaking so Edward grunted briefly before turning and walking away. He could feel the eyes of the child on his back. He had made it two blocks before he noticed two things again the feeling of being followed was gone and so was item in his pocket.

Harry sat in one of the few homeless shelters that do not ask questions while his breathing slow down to normal. He had ran from where he had met the strange man to this place as fast as he could. Harry looked down at the black box in his hand, the one that fell from the man's pocket. The young Potter did not understand why he felt that he had to have what was inside the box, but he knew that it was meant for him to have.

Harry's heart had slowed down finally and he proceeded to examine the box. The box was about twelve inches long, around three wide, and four deep. It had a weird symbol on the front of it that Harry could not understand in the dim light of the room.

Shrugging his shoulders Harry opened the box in a mixture of curiosity and excitement. The first thing he saw was some type of black silk cloth obviously covering what was inside. On a whim he tied the cloth to his wrist and then started to appraise the next item. It was a stick, a long stick that was narrow on one end and thick on the other. The thick end looked like a handle of sorts. It was made of some sort of black wood and looked fairly old.

Harry reached into the box and grabbed the stick by the handle and lifted it out of the box. At first nothing happened, then, Harry felt a his hand followed by his arm start to tingle. It felt like after ones arm fell asleep and woke up. The stick glowed dimly before it slowly began to get brighter and brighter. The radiant light was to bright to look at, but Harry was unable to look away. Then like some one had hit the off switch the light blinked out.

Harry suddenly felt sleepy and staggered over to the room's only cot before falling asleep almost instantly. About ten minutes after Harry fell asleep the silk cloth started to glow faintly as someone approached the room. In a flash Harry's sleeping form disappeared just before the shelters keeper stuck his head in the room and looked around, shrugged, and closed the door again.

Location Unknown

In a dark room a cloaked figure sat behind his desk thinking about the future possibilities his actions are making. He looks up as he hears a knock on his door "come in" he called.

The door opened and his right hand man walked into the room. Edward looked at his master noticing that the last few years away from prison had done wonders for his master's health and general appearance. " The item has been taken my lord" Edward explained. Thinking he would get punished he did not expect his master to smile.

"Good" the older man stated, "what did the taker look like." Edward almost could not believe his master's question. "A young boy maybe five or six years old with black hair and green eyes" he responded. The elderly man nodded his head thoughtfully before getting up and walking around the desk. "Come Edward" he said "we have a guest to greet."

Hogwarts

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office thinking about the recent developments in his life. He was saddened by the death of his old friend in prison. Also he thought of the young Neville Longbottom and his life so far. Between himself and Neville Grandmother Augusta they had managed to keep Neville from becoming arrogant.

Albus knew that it was time to begin Neville training in magic like all pure-bloods. And Albus knew that he would be there to guide and nurture Neville power and knowledge. In time Voldemort would come back and Neville had to be ready to fight him.

A/N I am sorry that this chapter took so long to get out. My Muse left me half way through the chapter so I had to cut it a little shorter than I was aiming for.

Please review so that I will know what your thoughts are.

Should I time skip to the first year of Hogwarts and do flashbacks or work my way through the years up till that time let me know your thoughts.