Heya! I hope you all don't report me on this. But, there will be a lot of songs added into this fanfic. It's mainly the fact that Harry is going to be meeting some more people that are in a band. So yeah, he's going to make some more friends. Hope ya'll don't mind! Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Six: Beginnings of the Homonculi

Now there was one talent that Harry had always held that he hadn't told his new friends.

And it was one that he hoped they'd never find out about.

Of course, fate has a way of making things you didn't want, happen.

Damn it.

Harry groaned as Adrien dug through his messenger bag in search of sunscreen.

"Adrien, why can't you just bring your own?"

"Shut up. My mom didn't pack any for me today. Why can't I use yours?" he pulled out the small bottle with a triumphant 'Ah-ha!'

Harry shook his head. "You're insane, Ri."

"I know." Adrien's cell phone then decided to go off. "Hello?...Yes mom. No. Aw, come on! Please? Can't Adianna do it? No? Why not! I wasn't giving you any attitude…okay, yes, there was a tone…that wasn't the right thing to say was it? Okay, okay, okay! Jeeze, I'll…fine! Oh no! Not that! Mom! Mom! Mom!" he groaned, and he closed the flipphone. "Man! Guys, I gotta go! My mom's bugging me. It's my little sister's birthday, and she wants me to drag her to Libby Lu's."

Everyone but Harry winced.

"What's Libby Lu's?" Harry asked.

"It's a shop where little girls go and get all sparkled up and dressed like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Hilary Duff. They go in looking like normal little girls, but they come out looking like sparkle-bunnies." He shivered.

Harry blinked. "Uh…okay. Hey, I'm not doing anything…so…maybe I should go with you. Y'know, give you moral support."

Adrien looked like he could have kissed Harry then and there. "Thank you! You are a life-saver, Zach!" He hugged the boy for all he was worth.

"Gah! Jeeze, Adrien. I knew you liked me and all, but could we go a little slower? I mean, you're not really my type."

Adrien stared, then finally registered what Harry had said. "Dude! Not cool!"

Harry and the others collapsed into laughter. "Man, you should have seen the look on your face!"

Adrien stuck his tongue out at Harry, and helped him up from the sand.

"Come on, man. We need to get going."

Harry nodded and pulled on his t-shirt, picking up his messenger bag and racing after Adrien after yelling a good-bye to the others.

"So…I guess we're going to Hell?" Harry asked.

"Yep. Worse. All seven levels."

Harry winced. "Damn. Is it that bad?"

"Worse."

"You said that."

"I know, just thought I'd reiterate."

"Hey, maybe we can just drop her off there, and then escape to some other shop for a while!"

"Maybe…as long as my mom doesn't find out."

"No problem. I hope."

As soon as they reached Adrien's apartment complex, a small blur raced down the stairs and attached itself to Adrien's leg.

"Adri!" yelled an adorable voice.

Harry looked down and saw the most adorable little girl attached to Adrien's leg.

She had Adrien's dirty blonde hair, but it was a lot thicker and was pulled into a braided ponytail, and a pair of the largest, most innocent-looking pair of sea-green eyes he had ever seen. "Yay! You came! Adianna was saying you wouldn't but you did! I'm so glad! I wuv oo, Adri!" she hugged his leg tighter.

Harry snorted. "Cute, Adrien. You didn't tell me your sister was a worshipper."

"Shaddup."

"Aw, you finally have a fan. Too bad it's half your age."

Adrien looked ready to punch him.

The little girl, Ali, looked up at Harry. "You Zach?" she asked.

He nodded, kneeling down to look her in the eyes. "Yeah. I'm your big brother's friend/tormenter."

Ali giggled. (yes, everyone in Adrien's family has an 'A' starting their name.) "You're funny!" she let go of her brother and vouched to grab him and not let go, making him carry her to the mall.

"I see that my little sister has decided to attach herself to you, now." Adrien laughed. "That means that she likes you."

"Great." Harry muttered, but smiled at the grinning and giggling Ali.

She really was one of those absolutely-adorable children.

From what Adrien told him, she had been born with an unnaturally happy disposition. She never frowned or cried unless she got hurt or someone really made her sad.

Harry grinned at her. "Hey, Ali!"

"What?"

He started to tickle her.

She laughed harder, trying to wiggle out of his tight hold. "Meanie! Meanie!" she gasped out between laughs.

"Oh, so you're ticklish, eh Ali?" Harry's grin widened as he continued to 'torture' the young girl.

Adrien looked on at his friend and little sister.

I didn't know Zach was so good with little kids. It's kind of surprising, actually. But he does have that 'natural father' look about him.

Adrien smiled. "Yo, Zach! Stop torturing my sister."

"One second, Adri!" Zach said, and finally stopped tickling Ali once she started to yell 'Uncle'.

Ali never relinquished her hold on Zach's hand, holding onto him like a baby chick to her mother.

"Why won't she let me go?" Zach questioned.

"Oh, that means that she likes you. Apparently she really likes you." Adrien blinked. She didn't always take to strangers this easily. There had to be something to Zach that made him appeal to people. "Zach?"

"Yeah?"

"You're special."

"Wha? What brought this on?"

"I just get this feeling. I feel like there's just something about you that draws everyone to you. They either love you or they envy you. I don't think anyone could ever really hate you. You just don't seem to have it in you to hate anyone." Adrien grinned. He could read people. That was the talent he was proud of. And he could read Zach clearly. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, just…bursting out.

He never hid what he was feeling unless he thought it would hurt somebody, and that was what drew them to him. Also the fact that he was an uncommonly kind person.

"My mother." Zach muttered.

"What?"

"I get it from my mother. She was an uncommonly nice person."

"Was?"

"She's…dead. Has been since I was a little over a year old. My dad died too the same night."

"Oh…man. I'm sorry. But I know how ya feel. It's just me, Adianna, Ali, and my mom. My dad died when I was 16. Adianna was 15. Ali was only one year old. She's only six. Though she does look a little older." He looked down at his sister lovingly, petting her silky hair. "She's the reason I've stayed here so long. Apparently, since my sister's getting married and has a kid of her own, if anything happens to mom…" he trailed off.

"Then you get Ali."

"Yeah. My mom's not that…responsible. She's a drunk, a druggie, and…well, a lot of things that I won't say." He looked at Ali pointedly, and Zach got the point, nodding.

"So…you guys under Social?"

"Yeah. They're thinking of tearing me and Ali away from Ma. She'd be placed under my care, since I'm of legal age. A lot of people think she's my daughter. And I usually let them think that. Ali doesn't get it. She doesn't know what's happening. But she's the reason I'm here. She's my reason for life."

"Exactly how old are you?" Zach asked.

"I'll be twenty-two in a few weeks."

Zach's eyes widened. "I thought…"

"Yeah, a lot of people do. I've got a baby face. Also, I'm immature. So, that adds to it. But I prefer it that way."

They stopped. In front of them was a cute, pink, purple and white sign.

Libby Lu's.

What a beautiful little niche of hell.

Zach shivered slightly.

"Zach?"

"What?"

"Will you go in and say you're her brother? Not me?"

"What?"

"Please? Man, if you do, I'll buy you a CD!"

"It had better be one of my choice."

"Okay. Just please?"

"Fine. Come on, Ali." Zach lead little Ali into the adorable store, leaving Adrien wishing the boy good luck.

Harry trudged into the store, scared of something that wasn't trying to kill him for once.

He stepped up to the front desk, where a girl probably a little older than him sat.

She wore a light blue t-shirt with an Amy Brown faerie on it, and she had her brown-black hair down. A name-tag was attached to her breast pocket, showing that her name was 'Marie.'

"Hi, welcome to Libby Lu's. How can I help you?" she asked with fake enthusiasm, pasting on a forced smile.

"Uh…I'm bringing my sister, Ali. There was an appointment for her."

"Okay." Marie checked on the computer, and nodded. "Okay. Caitlin!" she yelled.

A blonde-haired girl tilted her head out from behind a rack of children's clothing. "What?"

"You got a chibi."

"Oh. Okay." Caitlin walked up to them, showing that she was wearing a sleeveless…maternity top? Was she pregnant?

She noticed Harry's slight stare. "No. I'm not pregnant. This is just a style I like." She bent over to say hi to Ali, who took an immediate liking to this blonde girl.

"Come on, Ali. Let's pick out a cute outfit for you. You're supposed to get the Hilary Duff treatment today. You excited?"

"Uh-huh!" Ali chirped.

Marie groaned as the two walked off. "Damn, that woman is too damn happy. Who gave her a Pixie Stix?"

Harry laughed. "Well…do I have to stay here?"

"No. Thank god for you. Be back in two hours to pick up your sister."

"Okay. Later." Harry bolted outta there.

"That. Place. Is. Evil." Harry panted out to Adrien, who was leaning against the door.

"Good for you. Now let's get."

Harry nodded in agreement. "And you owe me a CD."

"Damn. All right. Let's go to FYE."

The two walked off to the CD/DVD/anything else store, and browsed around.

Finally, Harry found a CD he wanted.

"Kelly Clarkson? Dude, why?"

Harry shrugged. "I dunno. I like some of the titles of her songs. And I listened to the clips. They sound cool."

"I wasn't ditching it, all of us love her. But still…I didn't think that you would."

Harry laughed. "Shows just how much you know me, doesn't it?"

Adrien nodded. "Yep. I just don't understand you, man. But I guess I don't want to. It'd hurt my head."

"Doesn't take much, though, does it, Adrien?"

"Hey! Do you want this CD or not?"

Then, Harry pulled out his secret weapon. The Puppy Pout. "Please?" he whined.

"Damn! Zach, put that look away! Jeeze, who can resist that look? Even a straight guy can't resist it."

"Good. I've been perfecting it since I was five."

"Okay. Man, after we buy this I'm gonna go to CO. Kay? Meet me at Libby's when the two hours are up."

"Kay."

Adrien bought Harry's CD, and then left him there.

Harry wandered around the mall for a while, until he stumbled across a shop with guitars and the like in the window.

One caught his eye in particular.

It was emerald green with a silver dragon wrapping itself around the neck. The strings were black.

"Cool." He muttered. Maybe I should learn how to play an instrument. Dudley did get lessons a long time ago. He just couldn't get the hang of it, and Aunt Petunia made me sit through them. I don't see what's so hard about it. It seems really easy.

Harry smiled. Time to add another chapter to the Book of Zach. Musician.

Harry walked into the shop and looked at the guy behind the counter.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"Uh…how much is that guitar in the window?"

"That would be about 170 dollars, son. Plus, you'd probably want to buy amps and tuners and stuff like that."

"Cool. How much would that all add up?"

"To about 300. Can you afford that, son?"

Harry nodded. "No problem."

"Okay. Well, I'll go get the guitar and everything else. You can just stand here." The man disappeared behind the counter, and a lot of rummaging sounds could be heard.

Harry leaned against the counter, whistling a tune he had heard on the radio.

Now what was that song called? Damn, I can't remember.

"That's 'Lonely No More' by Rob Thomas, right?" came a guy's voice.

Harry jumped.

He looked to his right, seeing a boy about his age right next to him looking at music books.

"Yeah. I was trying to think of the name of the song. Thanks." Harry smiled.

This guy didn't look too harmful. Though he did look like he just jumped out of a Papa Roach music video.

Black tank top with a band insignia on it in red, black cargo's with a million chains and stuff connected to them, and a pair of black tennis shoes. He wore the wrist bands with band insignia's and Happy Bunny on them too. But his hair was a dark brown and his eyes were apparently gray.

"Did you just hop out of Hot Topic or something?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No. Club Obsidian." The new-comer looked Harry up and down, and smirked. "I can see you came from the same?"

Harry laughed. "Yep. Received a whole makeover from Minako herself."

"Whoa…dude, that girl is hot."

Harry grinned. "Well…not to brag or anything, but she gave me her number after the makeover."

"No way…really?"

Harry nodded.

"Dude, I hate you."

"Now why would you do that? You just met me." Harry smirked. This guy was fun.

The guy laughed. "Point." He held out his hand, "Eric."

"Zach." Harry took Eric's hand. "What's that band on your shirt?"

"Oh. It's my band. Homonculus."

"Homonculus? What kind of name is that?"

"Believe me, I'm asking myself the same thing." Eric sighed. "I wanted to name us Satan's Retribution, but noooooo, everything has to stay at least slightly uppity. One of my friends even dared to try to call us 'Hell's Bells.'"

Harry laughed. "Now that sounds like a girls' band."

"It would be."

The bell to the shop rang, allowing more people in.

One boy with three girls, all dressed in the Homonculus shirts.

Behind the name Homonculus in spider-like writing was what seemed to be a transmutation circle. (If anyone knows Fullmetal Alchemist, they'll know what I'm talking about.)

"Eric! There you are!" gasped out the other boy. This guy looked very different from Eric. "I thought you had left me to deal with these three harpies." He pointed at the three girls.

It was true; they did look like they would bite you or something of the sort.

"Hey!" One girl said, playfully slapping him on the arm.

It apparently still hurt, though.

"Ow! Jeeze! Retract your claws already!" he yelled.

Eric shook his head. "How have I put up with you four for this long?" he sighed.

Harry shrugged. "Hell if I know."

One of the girls noticed him. "Who are you?"

"Zach."

"No last name?" she joked.

"Chescher."

"Man of few words. Cool. Ya don't find that too often." She smiled. "I'm Hilde."

"Hilde? Like the girl with blue hair from Gundam Wing?"

She groaned. "Everyone does that! Sure, my hair may be blue…but I'm no Hilde Schuebaker."

Harry laughed. "Sorry."

Hilde's hair was indeed blue with blue eyes. This was her favorite color, apparently.

"Rachel." Said a blonde standing near Eric. This girl apparently had a bit of an attitude.

She had a bag of karate stuff thrown over her shoulder, a black belt standing out against the white uniform it was tied to.

"Whoa, you do karate?" Harry said, kind of surprised.

"Yeah. I'm a black belt and am gonna get a teaching course soon."

"How long have you been in karate?"

"Since I was two."

"Whoa…" Harry whistled.

"This is Ashley." Rachel pointed to a brunette over her shoulder. "And that jerk is Shawn." She poked the new boy.

"Stop poking me, Bunny!"

"Bunny?"

"My nick-name."

"Oh."

"So…do you play anything?" asked Rachel.

"Uh…I play the guitar."

"What kind?"

"Bass." Only because that was the one that Dudley was learning.

"Oh. Cool. Can we hear you play?"

Harry jumped. "What?"

"Can. We—"

Harry sighed. "I heard you. It just surprised me."

"So, can we?"

"No."

"Please?" Ashley whined, giving him a pouty look.

Harry groaned. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" all three girls grinned and gave him the same look.

"Bloody hell! Okay! Okay! Just let me at least buy the stupid thing!"

The girls slapped high-fives.

The three guys sighed. "Harpies…"

This earned each of them a slap to the back of the head.

"Ouch!" they yelped. "Jeeze."

The shop owner came back from the storage room, carrying the guitar. "Here's your guitar, sir. And would you like us to deliver the amps and tuners to your house?"

"No thank you. I'll just carry them."

The shopkeeper blinked. "Are you sure, sir?"

"Yes." Harry smiled.

The shopkeeper shrugged and pulled out a large box that had an amp in it, putting a smaller box on top of it.

"There you go sir. And you're total comes to 325.76."

Harry took out his Gringott's card, disguised to look like a Mastercard, and swiped it, entering the pin code.

"Thank you sir. Here's your receipt."

Harry smiled. "Thank you. Could you hold onto this stuff until I come back? I'd like to explore the mall a little more."

"Okay sir. Zach Chescher, correct?"

"How?"

"I'm an eavesdropper. I heard your name through the door."

"Oh. Okay. Anyway, thank you!" Harry walked out of the store, guitar case under his arm.

"So, which one did you get?" asked Eric.

"Uh…" he pulled it out.

Eric's eyes bugged out. "Dude! That so rocks!"

"Uh…thanks?" Harry said awkwardly. What was so great about his guitar? It was really cool and all…but still…not cool enough to warrant a reaction like that.

"Man, I have had my eyes on that one for a long time." Eric muttered, envy evident in his voice.

Harry then noticed a word on the backs of their shirts.

"What are those words?" He asked.

"What?" Eric looked at the back of his shirt. "Oh! These…their our band names."

"Band names?"

"Yeah. Y'see, there was a time when people believed in Homonculi, or artificially created humans. This group of people were named after the seven sins. And since our band name is Homonculus, then…well, we named ourselves after the sins. I'm Lust."

"Why?"

"Cause he's a playboy." Rachel stated simply.

"Oh…" Harry blushed. That was embarrassing.

Rachel laughed. "I'm Envy. Ashley's Sloth, cause she's lazy. Shawn is Gluttony, cause he eats so damn much, and Hilde is Hate. Get it?"

"Uh…I guess." Harry shook his head. "Okay, this is weird."

"What is?" Rachel asked.

"I just met you guys, and here I am, just walking around with you like we've been friends for months."

Ashley shook her head. "That's not weird. That just means that you make friends quickly. We'd love to be your friends if you'd let us."

Harry smiled. "Well…I could always use some more friends."

Rachel, Ashley and Hilde all shared identical grins, and they all hugged him as hard as they could.

Harry yelped. "Iya!"

Eric and Shawn laughed. "Sorry, man. They always do that."

Harry breathed in as the girls let him go. It was hard to breathe when three girls were hugging you as hard as they could and effectively cutting off your air supply.

"Now, you promised us you'd let us hear you play." Hilde reminded him.

"Man, I was hoping you'd forgotten."

"No such luck." Eric muttered. "Hilde's got the memory of…well, she can remember just about everything."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine."

The group found a fountain to sit near, Harry sitting on the edge of the fountain. He pulled out his guitar and tuned it carefully, remembering back to his lessons.

Harry took a deep breath, and thought about a song he could use.

Then he looked at his Kelly Clarkson CD.

He smirked, then started to play. I guess a little singing can't hurt.

Here's the thing we started off friends
It was cool but it was all pretend
Yeah yeah
Since you've been gone

Harry smiled at Rachel, who was nodding her head to the song.

You dedicated you took the time
Wasn't long till I called you mine
Yeah
Since you've been gone

And all you'd ever hear me say
Is how I pictured me with you
That's all you'd ever hear me say

Rachel and the other girls started to sing the chorus with him.

But since you've been gone
I can breathe for the first time
Im so movin on
Yeah yeah
Thanks to you
Now I get
What I want
Since you've been gone

Harry stopped singing and let Rachel take over.

How can I put it? you put me on
I even fell for that stupid love song
Yeah yeah
Since you've been gone

She, Ashley, and Hilde sang together next.

How come I never hear you say
I just wanna be with you
I guess you never felt that way

Then Harry re-joined them.

But since you've been gone
I can breathe for the first time
Im so movin on
Yeah yeah
Thanks to you
Now I get
I get what I want
Since you've been gone

Now Harry sang alone.

You had your chance you blew it
Out of sight, out of mind
Shut your mouth I just can't take it
Again and again and again and again

Since you've been gone
I can breathe for the first time
Im so movin on
Yeah yeah
Thanks to you (thanks to you)
Now I get
I get what I want
I can breathe for the first time
Im so movin on
Yeah yeah
Thanks to you (thanks to you)
Now I get (I get)
You should know (you should know)
That I get
I get what I want
Since you've been gone
Since you've been gone
Since you've been gone

The group hadn't noticed the large crowd that had gathered around them, but they all jumped when applause rang throughout the area.

Harry blushed, looking down at his guitar.

Rachel and the others stood and bowed, taking Harry up with them.

After the crowd had dispersed, Ashley looked at her watch. "Hey, guys. We gotta go."

"Aw, do we have to? I wanted to hang out with Zach some more." Rachel whined.

"No. We have to go." Ashley pointed at her watch.

"You are no fun!" Rachel said.

Harry smiled at them. "Well, it was nice meeting you."

"Could we have your phone number? Then we could call you." Ashley said.

Harry nodded. "Uh, sure." He took out a marker and wrote on Rachel's hand. "There. Can you read that?"

Rachel looked at his penmanship. "Jeeze…you're handwriting is so…neat. Are you gay?"

Harry's eyes widened. "What the—No way! I'm straight and am loving it!"

Rachel sighed in relief. "Good. You're so cute, it would have been a crime."

Harry blushed at being called cute. Jeeze, she was the fiftieth girl to do that this summer.

"Well, good bye!" they all chorused, and ran off, pushing and laughing.

Harry smiled. I guess I've made some new friends. He then looked at the clock on the wall of the mall. Shit! I'm late for meeting Adrien! He's gonna kill me!

Harry ran off towards Libby Lu's, arriving very out of breath.

"I'm here!" he gasped out, leaning against one of the purple wall supports.

"About time, too." Adrien growled. "I had to go in there and get her out of that…that…place."

Harry sighed. "Oh poor Adrien, had to go into a girly store. I had to drop her off, how do you think I felt?"

Ali smiled up at him. "Hi Zach! How do I look?" she spun around for him.

Her blonde hair now had a thousand and two different hair extensions of pink, purple, and clear glitter in it, her face was covered in glitter, lipstick and eyeshadow, her nails were colored pink, and she was wearing a black and silver glitter outfit that looked like Britney Spears designed it.

"Very nice." Harry smiled. "You look very, very cute, Ali."

Ali grinned. "Thank you! Adri said I looked like a preppy nightmare." She pouted.

Harry laughed. "Well, I'll just have to hit him for you, now won't I?"

Harry slapped Adrien in the back of the head.

"Ouch, what was that for!"

"For being such an insensitive prat!" Harry answered. "There ya go, Ali. Now, what do you say to going home?"

She nodded and grabbed his hand, pulling him along.

Harry sighed. This is going to be one really long summer.

A/N: I know, this was a slightly short chapter, but…I ran out of stuff to write. Next chapter…well…I have no friggin' clue as to what will happen next chapter. I'm writing this stuff as I go. I can't help it. I'm not really one to plan. But I can tell you that some kind of scary stuff is about to start. Anyways, later and please review!