Loyalty Knows No Bounds Year 1
Loyalty Knows No Bounds Year 1
Author: xoxWolfGirlxox
Rating T (to be safe)
Disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form, do I own Harry Potter.
Summary: Left at an orphanage by the Dursley's, Harry is adopted into a family whose loyalty to each other knows no bounds. What will people do when they realize Harry isn't the Gryffindor lion they expected?
Reviews are greatly appreciated if you have the time
A/N2: This chapter has been edited and reposted (9/14/08) along with every other chapter in the story. The formatting had been drastically changed so it should be easier to read but very little of the plot has changed. Just the format and some grammatical and spelling issues I saw after reading it again. A new chapter will be coming out soon I just wanted to do this first to get back into the story. Thanks for not giving up on me you guys are great!
Chapter 3: The Magical Explanation
Harry Alden was not an early morning person, so when he awoken at 5:30 am by an insistent poking he was less than pleased. Harry groggily opened one eye and looked to see who it was that had disturbed his peaceful sleep. The offender sat on the end of his bed trying to look as innocent as possible, and failing miserably. He set his gaze on his sister who was by then desperately trying not to laugh.
"What on earth could you possible want this early in the morning?" Harry inquired while stifling a yawn.
Kayla smiled sweetly and told him "I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday."
Harry groaned and asked grumpily. "Wishing me a Happy Birthday couldn't have waited another 4 hours?"
" Nope," she replied cheerfully.
"Figures" Harry said.
Harry sat up and moved down the bed to sit next to his sister. Kayla took notice of his tired appearance and did the best and most enjoyable thing a younger sister can do. Make it worse.
"Happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo. You look like a monkey…" she sang joyously.
"Kayla," Harry moaned.
" But I still love you." She finished with a triumphant laugh.
"You're impossible," he told her trying to hide the smile now gracing his face.
"I know" Kayla replied.
Brother and sister sat there together for another two and a half hours watching the sun rise up into the sky.
At eight o'clock Harry and Kayla bounded down the stairs and walked into the kitchen, where their mother was making French toast. Mrs. Alden put down the skillet and gave her son a hug.
" Happy Birthday Harry," she told him.
Harry grinned and said, "Thanks."
Just as Mrs. Alden put the platter of French toast on the table, Mr. Alden walked into the kitchen.
"Morning family," he told them as he helped himself to some French toast.
He was halfway through his plate when he said nonchalantly," Oh by the way, Happy Birthday Harry."
The whole family laughed while Harry lightly swatted his father on the arm for his antics.
"Presents now or later?" Mrs. Alden asked her son.
Harry thought for a split second before replying, "Now."
"Alright, after breakfast you can open your presents," she told her excited son.
The Alden family gathered in the living and set before Harry a pile of presents. Harry grinned at his family before tearing into them.
"Great haul you got there Harry," Kayla commented once all his presents had been opened.
It was true; Harry had gotten 3 new CD's, several books he had wanted, a computer game, and a brand new watch from his family. He had also received money from different relatives that he could spend on what he wanted.
"Thanks everybody" Harry said.
His mother, father, and sister all smiled and told him to enjoy the presents.
"Hey Harry, go get your CD player and we can listen to your new CD's," Kayla told him.
Harry's eyes brightened and he tore out of the living room in the direction of the stairs that led up to his room. He returned a few minutes later and for the next hour, brother and sister happily listened to music while their parents drank their coffee and read the newspaper. All of a sudden, Kayla hit the off button on the CD player and took the headphones off her head.
"What's up?" Harry asked her.
"Do you hear that?' she asked.
"Hear what?"
"That tapping noise" she told him.
There was a strange tapping sound that appeared to be coming from the kitchen.
"Lets go and check it out," Kayla said.
Harry and Kayla jumped off the couch and raced into the kitchen intent on finding out just what was making that odd tapping noise.
"Mom!" Kayla's frantic call was heard thorough the house and Mrs. Alden rushed into the kitchen to see what was wrong.
" What's the matter?" Mrs. Alden asked in a hurry.
Kayla's hand shook as she pointed at the window over the sink. Mrs. Alden looked at the window and was slightly surprised to see two flying forms hovering outside her window.
"Owls are nocturnal Mom. Why are there two nocturnal creatures hovering outside our window in broad daylight?" she asked in a would-be calm voice.
Mrs. Alden laughed and her daughter shot her an annoyed glare.
"There are two owls outside the window, in broad daylight and you laugh." She said.
"Kayla, just open the window and let the owls in and I will explain everything." Her mother told her.
"Wait a minute, you know why there are owls at our window?" Kayla immediately asked her mother.
" I do," she replied with a slight smile on her face.
" Well why are they …"
"Kayla just open the window," Harry interrupted.
Kayla strode over to the window and after fumbling with the lock opened it. The two owls flew into the kitchen and sought out the receivers of the messages they carried. A dark brown owl with fluffy feathers flew to Kayla while a light brown owl flew over to Harry. Both owls deposited letters into the laps of the Alden siblings and then went to perch on the windowsill.
"Harry, did an owl just drop a letter into my lap or am I dreaming?" she asked her brother in a soft, amazed voice.
"Well if you are dreaming then so am I, because I have a letter too." He told her.
Brother and sister whirled around to face their mother.
"What's going on?" they cried.
Their mother simply told them, "Open your letters."
Kayla took her letter and tore it open and was about to read the contents when she stopped.
"Why aren't you opening yours Harry?" she asked.
Harry was just standing their staring at his letter with a slight, angry frown marring his face.
"My name," he replied shortly, " They didn't use my name."
He showed her his letter and sure enough the name Harry Potter was on the front in bright green ink.
Harry sighed, " The Potters gave me life and helped protect me as a infant but they are just my birth parents not my real ones. Parents watch out for you, love you, and make sure you are ok. They help you learn right from wrong, they teach you about life and are always there. The Potters gave me life but Mom and Dad are my parents," he explained to his sister.
Mrs. Alden smiled as a solitary tear ran down her cheek.
How can I do this to him, she thought.
How can I turn his whole life upside down in a matter of minutes?
With a determined look she faced her children and ushered them into the living room.
"Sit down and I will explain," she told them.
She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what she was sure would be a long and complicated explanation.
Mrs. Alden sighed and said, "First things first. Harry, Kayla open your letters and read them."
With a quick glance at each other they opened the envelopes and took out their letters. The letter they found inside was similar, the only difference being the name.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter (Ms. Alden)
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
They finished reading at the same time and looked at their mother, disbelief etched onto their faces.
"This is some kind of joke right?" Harry asked his Mom.
"Yeah great joke Mom, but how did you get the owls to deliver these." Kayla asked.
"This is no joke kids," she told them.
"Kayla you are a witch and Harry you are a wizard."
"I'm a what!" they exclaimed at the same time.
"Its time I was honest with you kids." She said.
She pulled out her wand (ebony, 10 ½ inches containing the hair of a unicorn) and pointed it at the letter resting in Kayla's lap.
With a swish and flick and a cry of Wingardium Leviosa the letter rose slowly into the air hovering in front of the two shocked siblings.
"I'm a witch as well." She told them.
They sat in silence for a few moments before Kayla asked, "What about Dad, is he a wizard like Harry?
Mrs. Alden twirled her wand and with a sigh replied, "No sweetie he isn't a wizard. He is what we in the wizarding world call a muggle or non-magic being."
"Oh," Kayla said.
" I know you must have a lot of questions especially you Harry, so I will try to answer them as best I can," she informed her kids and waited for the hard questions she knew would follow.
"Why do they call me by my old name and not my real name?" Harry asked.
" Oh boy, sit back kids and I'll tell you a story." She replied.
" Once a good few years ago a wizard turned bad, as bad as you can get. To this day many people refuse to speak his name, calling him You-Know-Who or He Who Must Not Be Named. Rubbish in my opinion. Fearing a name is ridiculous…his name was Voldemort. He hated muggles of all kind and believed in pureblood superiority."
"Pureblood?" Kayla interrupted.
" A child born of two magical parents who can trace their line of wizards and witches back many generations. Basically a family of all witches and wizards, no muggles or muggleborns in the entire family."
This time it was Harry who interrupted, "We aren't purebloods are we?"
" No we aren't, we are half-bloods. One parent is a witch or wizard one parent is a muggle. Now no more interruptions and let me finish the story. Voldemort began attacking muggles and muggle-borns and gathered followers know as Death Eaters. Millions of people were terrified and feared for their lives. However, some people stood up against Voldemort and his followers. Your birth parents Harry, James and Lily Potter were two such people. They fought and defied him 3 times until he attacked their house at Godric's Hollow. Voldemort had killed thousands of people Harry and added your birth mother and father to the list. However when he turned his wand on you and tried to kill you something happened."
"What…what happened?" Kayla asked in a frenzy grabbing hold of her brother for fear that he suddenly might disappear.
"He couldn't do it. After killing all those people he couldn't kill a tiny baby. That's where you get your scar from Harry…his failed attempt at killing you. He was killed that night, trying to kill you Harry. After being taken from the ruins of your house I suppose they left you with a family or some relatives.
"The people that abandoned me." Harry said angrily.
" Yes, I'm afraid so. That's why your old name was used on your letter Harry. Hogwarts probably doesn't know you were adopted and Harry Potter is famous in the wizard world.
"Wait a minute, I'm famous!" Harry exclaimed.
"Afraid so Harry. You are the boy-who-lived, the only person to come out alive after Voldemort decided to kill you." She finished with an exhausted sigh.
For a while the mother and children sat in silence until the tension became too much for Kayla.
"What's with all these hyphenated names; He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the boy-who-lived, is there a boy-who-lived-to-be-known-as-he-who-has-way-too-many-hyphenated-names?" she asked hoping to lighten the mood of her family.
Harry gave a small chuckle and Mrs. Alden laughed.
"Not at the present time Kayla." She answered.
Mrs. Alden got up and walked over to the couch, settling herself between her two children.
"I don't care if Harry Potter is famous, I am Harry Alden and that's the only name I will respond to." Harry told them seriously.
Mrs. Alden nearly glowed with happiness and made a mental note to write and explain Harry's new name on the letters she was going to send back to Hogwarts telling them her children were attending. Now that that long question and explanation were out of the way, she waited for the slightly more simple ones that were yet to come.
"Uncle Andrew didn't die in a fire did he Mom?" Kayla suddenly brought up, a sad glint appearing in her eye.
"No sweetie he didn't. He was murdered by Voldemort for refusing to take part in the war." Mrs. Alden answered, a little shocked that her daughter had made the connection.
Kayla bowed her head and stared at her feet trying to process this horrifying new information. Harry however asked a question that he had been wondering about for some time.
"Dad is a doctor, so do you have a muggle job or work in the wizarding world? You always were vague about what type of job you have. Only that you work in medicine?" he asked his Mom.
Mrs. Alden smiled, at last an easy question.
" I'm a Healer Harry, the wizard equivalent of a doctor." She told him.
"Cool" he replied.
"Does Dad know you are a witch Mom?" Kayla inquired.
"Yes he knows Kayla, I told him before we were married."
Harry looked to be deep in thought until he spoke, "Can you get Dad in here, I have a question for the both of you?"
Mrs. Alden called to her husband who was in the other room to come in. Mr. Alden walked into the living room and sat down on the chair facing the couch.
" What do you need to ask Harry?" his mother questioned. Harry looked deep in thought and appeared to be choosing his words carefully.
"You say you trust us, yet you don't tell us something like this. Why, why didn't you tell us sooner?" Mr. And Mrs. Alden shared a sad smile.
"We weren't doing it to hide the truth from you and your sister, if that's what you think. There is a lot of prejudice towards muggles in the wizarding world, even in half blood families it can still exist. I didn't want my children to grow up with that prejudice. I figured that if you grew up as a muggle for the beginning of your lives, you wouldn't have that prejudice." Mrs. Alden explained.
"We are sorry if we upset you by not telling you this." The parents told their kids.
"It's ok, we understand," they said together.
"What do we do now?" Kayla asked. Mrs. Alden thought for a minute before answering her daughter.
"Well, term begins September the 1st so I guess we could go shopping for school supplies on the 24th of August. Until then we enjoy the rest of our summer" she said.
The Alden family sat together for a while before going to a movie to celebrate the rest of Harry's birthday. It had been an exciting and informational day for all members of the family, so even though it marked the end of his birthday, Harry happily fell into sleep's loving embrace.
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If All Else Fails, Howl At The Moon
xoxWolfGirlxox