"What?" Mark said again.

Harry continued staring as if seeing him for the first time. He saw that Mark had his mother's auburn hair, and as Mark smiled nervously at the group that was staring him down as if he were a sack of a thousand Galleons, Harry saw his smile was identical to his mother's.

"Guys, seriously, why are you staring at me like that?" Mark said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair from the weight of four pairs of eyes on him.

"Um, why don't we head up to bed?" Hermione said, finally coming to her senses.

"Why?" Ron said stupidly. "I want to find out-,"

Hermione quickly flicked his shoulder hard, and Ron sprang up from his chair like a cat.

"Right, to bed we go," he said, finally getting the idea.

He faked a huge yawn, and him and Hermione walked up the stairs. Mandy slowly followed them. She stopped and put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Just talk to him," she said quietly.

Harry nodded, but thought that idea was easier said than done.

"Can I speak to you over here, Mark?" Harry said.

"Sure, no problem," he said, and he came and took Ron's seat. "Is this about the Quidditch match because I think I could have done better?"

"No, no, you were fantastic," Harry said quickly. "It's just, er, this is hard."

"What's going on?" Mark said, suddenly looking more scared than nervous.

"I just got this letter from my aunt," Harry said thrusting the piece of paper into Mark's hand.

Mark read the letter, his eyes getting wider with each word. When he'd finished, he slowly gave the letter back to Harry. His face was somewhere between shock and happiness, which was exactly the place Harry was in at the moment. Harry noticed Mark's eyes were a deep mahogany brown. They were nothing like Lily's eyes.

"He must get that from his dad," Harry thought, and he smiled for the first time thinking of his uncle.

Maybe he could visit them one day. Judging how nice Mark had been so far, he thought that he would like his Uncle Desmond as much as he liked his son.

"Um, wow. I don't know what to say," Mark said scratching his head. "My dad never mentioned you."

"This is the first I've heard of you, as well," Harry said.

"My dad said I had an aunt that had died before I was born, but he never even spoke of this Petunia woman," Mark aid, a confused look on his young face.

"Well, I don't like to talk about the Dursleys, either," Harry said smiling. "They aren't what you'd call, nice, in any sense of the word."

Mark laughed and some of the tension left his face.

"You seem very well-adjusted," Mark said looking at Harry.

"I've learned to keep my sanity when I have to be around them, unless Dudley's beating me up," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"Wait! Dudley? Big D? Do you live in Little Whinging?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, why?" Harry said, wondering how he knew that.

"Well, let's just say you weren't the only one that's been beaten up by Big D and his gang," Mark said. "I live a few streets over from you, and I was the gang's main target last summer."

Harry suddenly remembered part of the conversation he had with Dudley the night of the dementor attack last year.

"I know you did Mark Evans two nights ago-,"

"He was asking for it."

"Oh, yeah?"

"He cheeked me."

"He said that you cheeked him. What did you say?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yeah," Mark said and grinned. "I told him I'd never met a pig that could talk before."

They both burst out laughing, and Harry went into the story of the Ton-Tongue Toffee. They talked well into the night laughing and discussing their families. Harry found out that Mark was an only child, his dad worked at the Wireless Wizarding Network's main office recruiting new talent, and that his mom had left them when she found out that Mark was a wizard, too.

"She said she could take my dad, but her little boy was just too much for her," Mark said bitterly. "I haven't talked to her since the day I was four and lit the drapes on fire with a touch of my hand."

Harry explained what happened with his parents and the Dursleys.

"I hate living with them, and I stay here every Christmas. I'd stay here for the summer holidays, but they won't let me," Harry said.

"Well, let me ask my dad, but I bet he'd love to have you over for Christmas," Mark said kindly.

"That would be great!" Harry said, but then he remembered Voldemort and the tragedy that inevitably followed him everywhere. "Um, I might have to check first."

"No worries," Mark said. "Well, I'm going to go to bed, but I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"See you later, Mark," Harry said, and Mark went up the stairs.

Harry sat in the common room alone for a while staring at the smoldering embers of the dying fire. He finally got up and headed up to his dorm room. He climbed into bed, took off his glasses, and drew the curtains. As he fell asleep, he thought it was about time he met a relative he actually liked.

Harry woke up late the next morning. He grabbed Aunt Petunia's letter as he got dressed and walked down to the common room. Ron and Hermione were there playing a game of chess.

"What's up, guys?" Harry asked as he sat down next to Ron.

"I'm getting the pants knocked off me in this chess game. That's what's up," Hermione said testily.

"How did it go last night?" Ron asked.

"It was good," Harry said as Crookshanks jumped into his lap and curled up. "He's a cool guy, and I'm actually happy with Aunt Petunia right now. Though, this doesn't make up for the hell they've put me through."

"True, true," Ron chorused absentmindedly as he stared at the chess board.

"Well, I'm going to go talk to Dumbledore about this," Harry said as he placed Crookshanks on the floor. "Oh, Hermione will you tell people in the D.A. we are going to have a meeting on Wednesday night. I'll do the Galleons, but this is an important meeting, so I want everyone to be there."

"Why is this one so important?" Hermione asked.

"I want to induct Mandy and Mark," Harry said as he stood up.

"That will be great," Hermione said happily, still not taking her eyes off the chess board.

As he climbed through the portrait hole, he heard the sounds of shattering chessman, and an outraged Hermione screaming, "This game is barbaric!"

Harry walked slowly through the castle lost in thought about his new cousin, Mandy, and the Quidditch match. He was so engrossed in the happenings of his life that he ran right into someone. He fell hard to the ground and looked up.

"Merlin's sake, Mister Potter! We have got to stop meeting here!" Gloria said, grabbing his hand and helping him up.

"Sorry, Professor," Harry said.

He looked up and saw that he was in front of the stone gargoyle.

"It's okay, Harry. Why are you inside? I thought you'd be outside with your friends playing in the bright sunlight," she said looking quickly out the window.

"Well, I need to see Professor Dumbledore," Harry said noticing that Gloria was fidgeting a lot.

"Again?" she said suspiciously, narrowing her endlessly dark eyes. "Are you and Albus very close?"

"You could say that," Harry said narrowing his eyes right back at the odd behavior of his teacher.

"Very well. Ton-Tongue Toffee," she said and waved her wand at the statue. "Well, I must be going now. See you in class on Tuesday."

Harry watched her walk away and then climbed the stairs to Dumbledore's office. As he looked down at the railing, he was holding, he noticed there was a small smear of blood on it. He pulled his hand away and saw there was blood on his palm. He hadn't cut himself, but it was the hand Gloria had taken to help him up. He wondered what the mystery was behind his new professor, but that all left his mind as he walked into Dumbledore's office.

"Hullo, Harry," Dumbledore said from his desk. "This is a nice surprise."

"Well, sir, I got a big surprise last night," Harry said as he sank in the armchair Dumbledore had just conjured.

"And what might that be," Dumbledore said looking concerned.

"This," Harry said, sliding the letter across the desk.

Dumbledore read it, hi eyes moving faster as he read each line.

"Did you know about this?" Harry asked.

"No, Harry, I did not," Dumbledore said, giving Harry the letter back. "I was very good friends with your mother's family. I watched your mother grow up, in fact. Her parents were my favorite Muggles. I wish you could have met them. I spent so much time over there that I had a nickname for your mother."

"Little Lee," Harry said automatically.

"Yes. How did you know that?" Dumbledore asked, a soft smile on his lips.

"That dream I had earlier in the year," Harry explained.

"Ah, of course. Well, Desmond was a bright and promising student here at school. Lily and him were as different as night and day, but they were incredibly close. When she and James died, his world was shattered. As soon as he found out, he went to confront the Deatheaters by himself. He was never heard from again, and we assumed he died. I always thought there might be a chance that he was still alive, but I never told you because I didn't want to get your hopes up."

Harry felt a flair of anger at being left in the dark about this, but quickly extinguished it as he remembered Professor Mac's words, "A man that can control his emotions can control any situation."

"Mark told me he lives a few streets from the Dursleys," Harry said as he calmed down.

"Really? Well, I guess many a things get past this old man's eyes," Dumbledore said.

"Mark said I might be able to visit for Christmas," Harry said hopefully, looking longingly at his headmaster for permission.

"Let me see, Harry," Dumbledore said. "We don't want to endanger you or anyone else. Let me get in touch with Desmond, and I will let you know."

"Thank you, professor," Harry said, and he got up and left the office much more perturbed than when he had entered it.

The next couple of days past by quickly. Harry was extremely excited to let Mandy and Mark join the D.A. He had filled both of them in on it, and they were ecstatic to join. Tuesday in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry eyed Gloria through the whole class. It was common practice for most of the boys to follow her with their eyes, but Harry was doing it for quite a different reason. Ron noticed and asked him what was up.

"I'll tell you tomorrow at the meeting," Harry said.

At eight on Wednesday, the D.A. met in the Room of Requirement. Mandy and Mark were blown away by the genius of the room, and they walked around examining everything.

"Tonight is important because I want to induct two new members," Harry said as he called the meeting to order. "I believe we can trust them completely, but I think it should be agreed on by the group. This is Mandy Mallason and Mark Evans. They share our goal in defeating Voldemort. They both have my full confidence, so let's vote. All in favor of Mark Evans as a member of the D.A. raise your hands."

Every hand rose in the air. Harry noticed Zacharias Smith was hesitant, probably put off by Mark's hand, but Neville's hand was the first in the air.

"And for Mandy Mallason," Harry said.

Again, all hands rose in the air, but Harry noticed that this time it was Cho's hand that was hesitant.

"I wonder why," Harry thought. "It's settled then," he said aloud, and he saw Mandy and Mark were beaming. "First, I would like to talk to everyone about Gloria McGonagall."

Everyone's heads shot up in attention and shock.

"Why? She's great," Ginny spoke up sitting next to Dean Thomas. "Between this club and her classes, V-Voldemort won't stand a chance against us."

"I know. I think she's great, too," Harry said, and then he went into the story of the blood on his hand. "I'm not saying she's a Deatheater, but just watch her closely. If you see anything odd, just report to us about it."

Everyone nodded, and Harry continued.

"I would like to work on strengthening our Patronus Charms tonight."

All the members looked excited, except for Mark.

"Um, Harry, I'm only first year," Mark said nervously.

"Yeah, we noticed," Zacharias Smith said loudly, and Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner laughed.

Harry turned around to say something to them, but Ron beat him to it.

"Shut it, Smith," Ron shot back.

"Don't worry, Mark," Harry said reassuringly. "It is hard, but if I can do it, you can."

"All right," Mark said, not sounding the least bit convinced.

They practiced their Patronus Charms for the rest of the meeting. Mark only produced silver vapor, but Harry assured him it would come to him in time. At nine, Harry called the meeting to a halt. He told the members he would let them know when the next meeting was, and they all slowly left the room. Harry was the last one left as he grabbed the map and his cloak, and as he went for the door, he saw Mandy waiting for him in the shadows.

"I thought you might like someone to walk back to the tower with you," she said smiling sweetly at him.

"That would be great," Harry replied.

"You did wonderfully on your Patronus," Harry said as they walked up a flight of steps.

"Thanks. I like my doe. She's really beautiful and comforting," Mandy said. "It's nice to know I can defend myself against those vile dementors."

"Yeah, I definitely like that Charm the best because it is about all the happy things about a person," Harry said.

As they approached the Fat Lady's portrait, Mandy turned to Harry.

"I just wanted to say that I'm really glad I met you, Harry. I've never been happier being with you, Ron, and Hermione. Hogwarts is exactly where I'm supposed to be."

Harry suddenly got very warm in the face, but there was something he'd been dying to ask Mandy and now was as good a time as any.

"Mandy, I, er, really like you," Harry said, pulling at the collar of his robes as the Fat Lady stared them down.

The Fat Lady made an impatient noise in her throat, and Harry took Mandy by the shoulders and moved her over to a corner. He threw the invisibility cloak around both of them and continued with what he was saying.

"Anyway, I really like you, and I, uh, wanted to know if you'd, you know, bemygirlfriend," Harry said staring at his shoe, knowing he was going to kick himself with that later when she said no.

"Sure, Harry, I really like you, too," Mandy replied a huge grin on her pretty face.

"Really? I could have sworn you were going to say no," Harry said, letting out a great deal of breath.

"Why would I say no to going out with the guy that makes my Patronus as strong as it is?" Mandy said laughing.

"Well, that laugh definitely helps my Patronus, too," Harry said, and as they both laughed under his cloak, Harry kissed her.