Despite some implications, this is NOT a harem story. I was sorely tempted, but I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. Instead, Harry just has a bunch of VERY overprotective pseudo-sisters. Pairing is Harry x Ginny and I've aged her up for reasons of my own

Soon, dinner time approached and Emily had to gently remind Harry that he was too young to cook. Although he insisted that he did it all the time with the Dursley's she firmly declared that they should have never treated him like that.

Finally, they reached a compromise. He only handles breakfast, but only if she or Cal were supervising. It also took a while to convince him that he was allowed to eat with them. After dinner, he innocently enquired whether he had to sleep in a cupboard. Upon hearing that, Penny nearly burst into tears.

The girl wrapped him in a hug and vowed that he never had to sleep in a cupboard ever again. The couple informed him that he would bunk with Penny and Beatrice. With a quick Engorgio, Emily made the bed big enough for the three children. One-by-one, they climbed in, with both girls on either side of Harry.

It was sometime in the middle of the night when Penny and Beatrice were woken up. Both girls were on their sides and facing away from each other, but they promptly rolled over to see their new occupant twitching around uncontrollably. His eyes shot open and he was taking quick gasping breaths.

Taking the initiative, the older girl got up and ordered her sister to fetch their parents. As Beatrice scuttled out, Penny crawled on top of him, cupped his face with both hands and entered his field of vision. From there, she began whispering soothing words and never broke eye contact.

She had no idea what she was saying, but knew that she had to keep talking, just to calm him down. Penny vaguely registered the sound of her sister and her parents rushing into the room. However, they made no attempt to move. Evidently, they were trusting her to handle it.

After what seemed like hours, Harry finally calmed down and his breathing returned to normal. Penny slumped over his body in relief, before rolling off. The bed shifted as Beatrice climbed back on and the sisters wrapped their arms around Harry. Eventually, the three drifted off to sleep.

Cal and Emily looked on with proud smiles on their faces as they watched the cuddle sandwich. The healing had now begun.

As time passed, Harry seemed a lot less skittish. However, it took him nearly three months to not freak out at the sight of Cal. Unfortunately, he was still nervous around other males. Penny also seemed to slightly enjoy her role as the overprotective sister. Though, that soon bled out to include little Beatrice, much to her annoyance. There were also a few occasions where Harry had brief bouts of courage, especially whenever Penny or Beatrice were wronged. However, those never lasted too long and he would eventually clam up. Penny often got targeted in school because she was one of the prettiest girls and other girls were jealous, but Harry was often there to have her back.

When Harry's first birthday in the Haywood household came along, the family went all out. The first thing they bought for him were multiple sets of clothes. He also received several toys and books, which they made him promise to share with the girls.

He still suffered from nightmares occasionally, but Emily was able to brew Calming Draught potions. She even taught Penny and Harry how to brew them. From there, Penny's interest in Potions began and she and Harry learned a lot together.

Three years passed quickly, and soon, Harry's 11th birthday arrived and along with that came a Hogwarts letter. To celebrate, Emily, Penny and Harry took a trip to Diagon Alley. Penny's Hogwarts letter had arrived a couple of weeks ago, but she wanted to wait until Harry's arrived.

As she was about to tap the bricks with her wand, a horrible thought crossed Emily's mind, 'How would the public react to Harry, considering his status in the wizarding world? How would Harry react to them'. Taking a deep breath and clasping Harry's and Penny's hands firmly, she tapped the combination and they stepped through.

In an instant, her worst fears were confirmed, as the area was packed. Then a stray voice screamed out, "OH MY MERLIN! IT'S HARRY POTTER!"

As every head whipped in their direction, Penny had to suppress a groan. Then, the crowd thronged towards them, crowding them and forcing Emily to get separated from her children. Unfortunately, the bricks had sealed themselves back, cutting off their escape. In the back of her mind, Penny registered Harry beginning to hyperventilate and held his hand tightly.

Fortunately, Lady Luck appeared to smile on them, as a stray hand grabbed the blonde girl's free hand and dragged the two children away. The crowd gave chase, still hollering questions, praises and unintelligible words. However, the two kids and their rescuer were much faster.

After ducking into an empty alley, they finally got a good look at their new companion. The newcomer was a girl their age with reddish-brown hair done in a long plait. Penny was about to thank the girl when the sound of heavy gasping caught her ears. Instantly, her protective sister instinct kicked in and she spun around to see a rapidly hyperventilating Harry. Penny reached for her waist where a potion belt was sitting wrapped around her.

She grabbed a Calming Draught potion and promptly administered the dose to Harry. The new girl also helped by holding his hand and rubbing his knuckles. After a while, he managed to relax, and the girls sighed with relief.

Penny turned to the girl with an apologetic expression, "Sorry, he's not very good with crowds. He-"

The girl interrupted, "It's okay, I know part of the story. I'm Susan Bones, my aunt Amelia was the one who helped your parents with Harry. She told me some things about what those monsters did to him. I'll tell you what, we'll all go together to buy yours and Harry's things."

Penny flashed a dazzling smile, "Thanks Susan, I'd really appreciate that".

After the three reunited with Emily, their first stop was at Gringotts Bank. The two girls formed a protective barrier in front of the uneasy boy, while Emily stayed behind them. Eventually, they managed to make it to the bank without any incidents. Penny and Susan waited while Harry paid a visit to a vault in his name. He found out that his late parents left many things in his name, including a manor. However, the goblins told Emily that he would not be allowed to reside at the manor until he came of age.

Afterwards, the three of them and Susan visited Ollivanders' for their wands. After Harry nearly wrecked the store with a couple of incompatible wands, he settled for an 11-inch wand made of holly with a phoenix feather core. There was also an interesting tidbit that the wand's brother had given him his iconic scar. Meanwhile, Penny's wand was 10 and a half inches, made of pine and with a unicorn hair core. Susan abstain because she already had her wand

At Madam Malkin's they bumped into two boys while getting their robes. Harry instantly shifted closer to the girls and tried his best to make himself shrink. The blonde girl squeezed his hand reassuringly before sending a sweet smile to the new boys.

"Hi, I'm Penelope Haywood, but you can call me Penny."

One of the boys spoke up, "Hey, I'm Rowan Khanna."

Rowan was dark-skinned and of Indian descent and wore glasses.

"Susan Bones"

"John Silvertongue"

John had a caucasian complexion with straight white hair and a blue streak.

"Harry Potter"

Penny did a double-take, "Silvertongue? As in brother of Jacob Silvertongue? The one who went to search for the infamous Cursed Vaults?"

At the same time, Rowan was also wide-eyed, "You're THE Harry Potter! The Boy Who Lived!"

Silvertongue gave a half-hearted cheer, "Yay… Finally, I meet someone who knows what it's like to be famous for something they didn't do."

To Penny's surprise, Harry actually laughed a little. Slowly, he began to relax and took a small step away from the girls, though he never let go of his sister's hand. Rowan quirked an eyebrow when he saw their entwined hands and gave a playful smirk, "You two are dating? You've probably broken thousands of girls' hearts"

Penny and Harry took one look at each other and laughed. She replied, "Actually, he's my adopted brother and he's a little shy around new people."

Susan also chuckled, "Tempting, but I just met them. Had to rescue them from crazy fans."

John turned to Penny, "Also, thanks for referring to Jacob as the 'Boy Who Went to Search for the Cursed Vaults'. Everyone else usually refers to him as the boy who got expelled from Hogwarts. To be honest, it's still a bit of a sore spot for me and my family"

The six soon explored the area Harry even bought a snowy owl named Hedwig at Eeylops Owl Emporium. Emily bought a tawny owl for Penny, that she named Athena. Rowan shot her a questioning look and the girl explained that she loved reading Greek mythology when she was younger.

At Flourish and Botts, Harry reluctantly split from Penny to search for his books while Emily waited outside. Rowan and John sidled up to the blonde, "So what's Harry's story? What did you mean that he was adopted?"

She paused and gave a small sigh, "When we were eight, my muggle father rescued him from his abusive aunt and uncle. Daddy is an undercover muggle policeman, while Mum's a witch. Harry's relatives were muggles and they hated anything to do with magic."

Rowan had a stunned look, "That's horrible!"

The girl nodded, "To this day, he still gets nightmares of their abuse. However, Mum taught us how to brew Calming Draught potions. I even have this potion belt which I keep for emergencies like what happened today. When we entered Diagon Alley, everyone swarmed us, trying to get a piece of him. Now, added a skittish 11-year-old with traumatic memories and a crowd closing in on him, the result isn't pretty."

Penny spoke up again, "It'll take Harry some time to warm up to you two. Heck… It took him three months to not freak out at the sight of my dad. Don't take it personally"

John winced, "Yikes! That's rough! Don't worry Penny, we won't let anything happen to him. If he wants to approach us, let him take his time."

Harry eventually rejoined them, happily babbling about all the 'cool' books he found. Penny simply smiled and ruffled his unkempt hair that she gave up trying to tame long ago.

A few days later, the Haywood family gathered at King's Cross Station. Emily had already explained that a pillar between Platforms 9 and 10 was a magical barrier. All that they needed to do was walk or run through it.

Giving a teary Beatrice one last hug goodbye, Penny and Harry lined up one behind the other with their trolleys and charged. They closed their eyes tightly and braced for the impact, but it never came. Harry cracked an eye open and found himself in a completely different location.

Then, the next thing his mind registered was the crowd milling around the platform. Harry pulled up alongside his adoptive sister, who noticed that his knuckles were white, because he was gripping the trolley very hard. She reached over and rubbed his hand reassuringly, before gently guiding him to the train.

Luckily, they managed to find an empty compartment and slipped inside. Sitting next to Harry, Penny beamed at him, "So… Are you excited?"

He gave her a wan smile, "A little bit."

Then her face grew a little serious, "Harry, I'm worried about one thing. Remember when mum spoke to us about the Sorting Ceremony? I honestly don't know if we will be in the same house. But I promise you, I'll talk to some people and ask them to look out for you, okay?"

He nodded, "Okay Pen…"

They relaxed while the train was still in the station. Just then, their compartment door slid open, causing Harry to jump and press himself close to his seat and by the window. At the door were two children with bright red hair, a boy and a girl.

The boy queried, "Hullo, do you mind if we sit here?"

Penny briefly glanced at a tense Harry before reaching over and subtly squeezing his hand. She turned back to the pair and flashed a smile, "Of course not! I love making new friends."

By then, the train had started to move and the two adopted siblings drifted apart to be more comfortable. The newcomers sat opposite to Harry and Penny. The boy extended his hand, "Hi, I'm Ronald Weasley, but you can call me Ron."

The red-haired girl spoke for the first time, "I'm Ginevra Weasley, but you can call me Ginny. I hate it when people say my full name. I'm Ron's younger sister, but only by 3 months. I'm also the only girl in the family with six brothers including Ron."

"I'm Penny Haywood, and this is-"

Ron's cry interrupted her, "BLIMEY! YOU'RE HARRY POTTER!"

Harry simply said, "Uh… Yes, I am…"

For some reason, Ginny's face turned scarlet when she saw Harry. Penny smirked to herself, knowing that this was excellent blackmail material.

Then next thing anyone knew, Ron lunged at Harry and grabbed his face, "LEMME SEE YOUR SCAR!"

In an instant, Penny leaped up and grabbed Ron by the back of his collar. With surprising strength, she yanked him away and planted herself in between them. She snapped, "Back… Off…"

However, it was too late and Harry curled up into a ball and cowered. Ginny's blush was instantly forgotten, and her face was now red with anger, "RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! I GET THAT HE IS HARRY POTTER, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU CAN SIMPLY GRAB HIM LIKE THAT! MUM TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THAT!"

Almost immediately, several footsteps thundered towards their compartment. Susan poked her head inside, "What happened? I heard shouting."

Six other girls also showed up and Ron tried to defend himself. He half-whined, "Come on! He's Harry Potter! I just wanted to see his scar!"

Penny snarled, "And that gave you the right to grab his face, just to see it? He's not an animal that you can gawk at in a zoo!"

One of the girls, a bushy-haired brunette, piped up, "Umm… Is he okay? He's lying on the seat and twitching…"

All of Penny's anger vanished and was replaced with a look of panic. She spun around and rushed to the twitching boy. She called over her shoulder, "Keep an eye on Ron! I'm not through with him yet!"

The blonde-haired witch reached out and grabbed his shaking arms. She whispered soothingly, "Shh… Shh… It's okay… It's okay… I'm right here… Nothing's going to happen to you… Harry? Harry!"

Her worry only increased when he didn't seem to respond. Penny turned back to the girls and a chastised Ron. She ordered, "I need help… Now! Not you, Ron…"

A girl with straight stringy brown hair and brown eyes, muscled her way through. She said, "I'm Katie, a second-year student. I can handle it from here."

Katie sat down on the seat, gently pulled Harry towards her and made sure that she was maintaining eye contact. She cooed, "Harry? Look at me... That's right… look at me… Now, smell the food, blow out the candle. Smell the food, blow out the candle. That's it… you're doing a wonderful job."

Gradually, Harry's breathing returned to normal and everyone sighed with relief. Harry then yawned and Katie gently guided his head onto her lap. The older girl turned to Penny, "I have a muggle friend who used to have panic attacks. Has this happened often?"

"Never this badly, but he is prone to panic attacks."

Penny sighed, "Can someone put up some privacy wards? This stays only between us."

The rest of the girls squeezed in and introduced themselves. The bushy-haired girl was Hermione Granger, a dark-skinned girl with braided brown hair called Liz Tuttle, twin sisters hailing from India, called Padma and Parvati Patil, and a slightly pudgy blonde haired girl called Hannah Abbott. Meanwhile Penny already knew Susan. Abbott waved her wand and set up the bubble.

Penny took a deep breath, "Okay, so Susan knows part of this. Harry came from an abusive household. My muggle father is an undercover policeman and he rescued Harry from there, three years ago. Harry's aunt, uncle and cousin treated him like a slave for years. Eventually, mum and dad decided to adopt Harry. What Susan doesn't know is that Harry's uncle... raped him several times."

There was an audible gasp in the compartment. Susan snapped her fingers, "So THAT'S why auntie Amelia and Professor Dumbledore were pressuring the Wizengamot to sentence his relatives to Azkaban!"

Penny nodded gravely and continued, "Since then, Harry's been terrified of males. So, when Ron lunged at him like that, it probably triggered him. Harry had actually been recovering well, but Ron's actions could have sent him into relapse."

At that, Ron paled considerably, while Ginny shot him a murderous look. The redhead growled, "Wait till mum hears about what you did… You're not getting away from this. Also, I want you to tell Fred and George that Harry is off limits on the pranking front."

Ron wilted before squeaking, "Were Harry's relatives really that bad?"

Susan nodded grimly, "Auntie told me that what those monsters did was really horrible. In comparison with them, You-Know-Who is practically a saint. Her words, not mine."

Everyone shuddered at the thought of a muggle family being worse that the Dark Lord.

Penny turned to all the girls, "Listen, this is really important. I don't know whether Harry and I will be in the same house. If we're separated and any of you happen to be in the same house, promise me that you'll look out for him?"

The girls promised immediately. Stroking Harry's messy hair, Katie chirped, "Trust me, whichever house he's in, Harry will be well-looked after. I've got friends in all other houses and they all told me that they always look out for their own. Each house is pretty much a family, Gryffindor is the Lion's Pride, Hufflepuff is the Badger's Den, Ravenclaw is the Raven's Nest and Slytherin is the Snake Pit. I honestly don't know how it will be this year, though. Also, just so you know, Slytherin has a bad reputation, but I can confirm that not everyone in that house is bad. Just try and keep an open mind, you lot."

"Thanks Katie"

After a while, the girls slowly trickled back to their compartments. Admittedly, Katie had to be pried away because she found the scene of Harry snuggling into her lap, 'too adorable for words'. Eventually, she relented and Harry's head was soon on Hermione's lap, as she decided to stay with Penny and the Weasley siblings.

Before long, he woke up and scooted closer to his sister, who wrapped an arm around him in a side-hug and pecked him on the cheek. Then they separated and the five of them sat in relative silence.

The dining cart lady soon arrived and the five helped themselves to plenty of goodies. Four children delicately nibbled their food, but one stuffed his face like there was no tomorrow. Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Oh for heaven's sake Ronald! Have you no manners? I've seen pigs who eat far more cleanly."

After a hearty meal, they rested and allowed the food to digest. Then, the door slid open again and a boy with slick blond hair strutted in like he owned the train. Harry subtly inched away, getting a bad vibe from the boy. The newcomer turned up his nose haughtily and spoke, "I heard it on the grapevine that Harry Potter is on this train."

Harry could not stop himself, not that he wanted to either. He stood up sharply, "I am, Who wants to know?"

Blondie sized him up, "The name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron snorted a little and Draco turned to him and Ginny, glaring, "Think my name's funny, do you? Hmm... Red hair, freckles, clothes you can barely afford? You two must be Weasleys then."

Malfoy turned to Harry and held out his hand, "Word of friendly advice, Potter. It pays to know some people and they are better than others. Wouldn't want you mixing with the wrong sort, eh?"

Harry fixed him with a steely gaze, "I think I can tell who is the wrong sort, myself. I appreciate the offer, but I know whom to run with."

On the side, Penny noticed Harry's left hand trembling slightly. Over the years, she had gotten good at reading his body language, so she subtly inched closer. Meanwhile, Malfoy simply smirked and two heavyset boys lumbered over and flanked the pale blonde boy, "I think you should reconsider."

Harry took one look at the gorillas and retreated a little, and that was when Penny made her move. She planted herself between the boys with her hands on her hips, "And I think that no means no!"

Malfoy took a look at her and sneered, "Who are you supposed to be? His girlfriend?"

She rolled her eyes, "Why does everyone always think that? It was a good guess, but try overprotective adopted sister."

Nobody moved for a while as both parties continued to stare each other down. Finally, Malfoy relented, "Alright fine then! But you haven't heard the last of me, Potter."

After he left, Penny simply sniffed, "Good riddance."