I've always wanted a brother

Harry woke to the feeling of lying on something soft with something warm covering him and knew he wasn't in his cupboard, because his bed wasn't this soft. Had his Aunt and Uncle finally taken him to Hospital? He'd tried telling them for the past couple of days that he wasn't feeling well, but they had just accused him of lying and being lazy. The last clear memory he had was of feeling very hot and dizzy as he was hoovering the sitting room.

Opening his eyes, Harry took a look around. While he wasn't able to make out all the details, this definitely wasn't like any hospital room, he'd ever seen. It looked more like somebody's bedroom.

"Hello Harry," an unfamiliar voice startled him.

Harry turned in the direction of the door, and saw a dark haired lady standing there. He opened his mouth intended to reply to her greeting, but nothing came out. He flinched, expecting this unknown lady to yell at him and call him rude for not responding, so he tried again to say 'Hello', but again nothing came out. What is going on? What's wrong with me?

"It's ok, Harry." The dark-haired woman had moved closer. The bed shifted slightly as she sat down.

He quickly lowered his eyes to the bed, not knowing what to expect from this strange lady.

"Do you remember being sick, Harry?"

Harry nodded, not raising his eyes from the bed.

The woman put her hand under Harry's chin and raised his head, until he was looking her in the eye. "My, you have lovely green eyes." She seemed slightly embarrassed at her comment. "Sorry, but I've always had a weakness for green eyes. Your great-uncle Alan had them too." She shook herself slightly. "Anyway, where was I… oh yes. You were a very sick little boy when we got to you and the doctor who treated you told me that because the infection you had went untreated so long, it caused permanent damage to your vocal cords. I'm sorry we didn't get you out of that house sooner Harry.'

Harry stared at her surprised. She sounded like she really meant it. He had never had anyone say they were sorry to him and mean it before.

He stared at the woman speculatively. She looked like a nice lady, older than Aunt Petunia, but not as old as Mrs. Figg. She seemed to be a lot nicer than Aunt Petunia. He wondered if she would mind if he asked her some questions. He mentally shrugged and decided to find out. It was better to know now rather than find out painfully later. After giving a few moments thought to how he was going to do it, he met the lady's eyes and pointed to himself and then pointed down toward the bed he was sitting on.

Pleased at a sign that the boy's spirit wasn't broken, Penny smiled. "Did you want to know where you are, or how you got here?"

After another moment's thought he held up two fingers, hoping she would understand he wanted to know the answer to both questions.

"Well, you are in San Francisco, California…"

Harry felt himself gaping like a fish, as she added, "that's in America. As for how you got here, a colleague of mine told me you were in danger at your Aunt's and that they weren't taking very good care of you, so I went with him and got you from your Aunt and Uncle's."

Penny decided to wait a few days before she told him about his magical gifts and the fact that he was now living with a family of witches.

Harry pointed his finger at the lady.

"Who am I?" She pointed to herself.

Harry nodded.

She sighed, looking a little thoughtful. "My name is Penny Halliwell and I'm your great-aunt. Though with the way you probably feel about your Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, you might just want to call me Grams or Grandma, like my granddaughters do."

Before Harry could think of a way to ask all the questions he wanted answers to, his stomach growled loud enough to be heard by Penny and she laughed. He thought her laugh sounded nice.

"I think your stomach is saying 'Enough with the questions, feed me.' Am I right?"

Harry blushed, then nodded.

"It's just going to be liquids for the next couple of days, I'm afraid." She told him as she got to her feet. "The doctor said you need to build up to solid foods again, so I'll go get you some soup."

(AN: I had intended to leave this chapter here, but a little one crept in and demanded to be heard)

Harry was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that he had actually gotten his wish; that an unknown relative had come and rescued him from the Dursleys, when a childish voice startled him out of his thoughts with a soft, "hello."

He turned his head in the direction of the doorway and saw a little girl who appeared to be about his age, peering around the edge of the doorway. He waved at her, then pointed to his mouth and shook his head.

"I know." She looked over her shoulder into the hallway before stepping into the room. "Mommy told us you'd been sick and it tooked away your voice." She came right up to the bed and stuck out her hand. "I'm Phoebe, an' I'm glad you're gonna live wit' us."

Before Harry could take her hand, an older woman's voice that wasn't his Great Aunt's called. "Phoebe, where are you?"

Phoebe scampered to the door, saying, "not s'posed to be in here, til you're better, but wanted to see you. I always wanted a brother, and now I got one."