Ch. 2

Harry couldn't keep the grin off his face when he arrived at the Burrow, the home of the Weasley family. It always fascinated him to find a home that existed almost solely on magic. Very few things were done without magic in this household, where as with Tori Mars, it was the opposite. Though both families were magical, they were very much different.

"Tori wasn't very friendly today, was she?" Ron scoffed as he dusted the soot from his robes. "Practically threw you at us."

"She was worried about what would happen if you were still there when Mr. Malfoy showed up to pick up Sloane." Harry said.

Mr. Weasley nearly dropped Harry's bags. "What did you say?"

Harry resisted the urge to sigh. "Sloane is spending the summer with the Malfoys. Draco asked Sloane before school ended last year."

None of the Weasleys in the room looked pleased to hear the name of Malfoy. Harry wasn't too sure of the past, but he would have bet his life that the whole Malfoy/Weasley feud had started back in Hogwarts. He just felt it was rather stupid to continue it now that his brother was going to be in the same House as Draco Malfoy.

"Harry, dear! Welcome!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, coming into the room. She ignored the tension in the room and gave Harry a hug. "We're so glad you can stay with us for the summer."

Harry smiled and gave her a hug back. He watched as Mr. Weasley brought his bags up to Ron's room, a frown still on his face. Something told Harry that this might be a very tense summer.

"Hey, Harry! Welcome to the Burrow!"

Harry turned to see two new redheads walking in the room. Without a doubt, these were the eldest Weasley children, Charlie and Bill.

Charlie stepped forward and shook Harry's hand. He was tanned and muscular from working with dragons. Burn scars formed up one of his arms, the marks of his trade.

When Bill stepped forward, Harry's jaw dropped. It wasn't because he had been expecting a clone of Percy Weasley, who was fussy about rules, but because he hadn't been expecting Bill. From his long hair tied back in a ponytail to his fang-shaped earring to his dragon hide boots, Bill was cool. Harry felt a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as he gazed at the eldest Weasley child and familiar friend.

Bill's eyes twinkled as he held out his hand. When Harry reached out to shake it, Bill grinned. "You got rid of those glasses, Daniel."

Harry laughed. "And you grew your hair out, Bill."

Ron frowned. "Bill, this is Harry, not Daniel."

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Ron, I grew up as Daniel Mars. That's what Sloane has been trying to tell you since our second year."

"How is it that you know Harry? Or Daniel?" Fred asked, turning to Bill.

"My first job as a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts was an assignment in America. I was working with Michael Waters at the time." Bill explained. "Anyway, our job was in a remote wizarding village called Blackbird Point in Florida. Blackbird Point is owned by the Mars Family."

Harry grinned. "Mom nearly had a heart attack when she realized that you were from England. She tried to keep me and Sloane away from you, remember?"

"Yea. I remember my first glimpse of you. You and Sloane had come running into the house and Tori jammed those baseball caps on the both of you and started talking in a different language."

"It was Italian, and that was the most pathetic disguise mom could think of at that time." Harry said. "We were told to stay with our Uncle Hay until you had left."

"You didn't follow rules then either," Bill laughed and then turned to his brothers, who were listening in wonder. "A day or two into my assignment, little Daniel decides to seek me out and see why he has to be so careful around me. He had that hat on, so I never saw his scar, but I'll never forget his eyes."

Mrs. Weasley placed her hands on her hips. "So, you knew where Harry Potter was, three years before the rest of us, and you never told us!"

"I didn't know he was Harry Potter!" Bill protested. "I thought I was meeting the fabled Daniel Mars."

"Mrs. Weasley, don't blame him," Harry said. "No one was supposed to know that Daniel was me. In fact, I didn't even know I was Harry Potter until just before my eleventh birthday, when mom told me that the protection spells she placed on me would fade after I started Hogwarts."

"What kind of protection spells?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure. She had placed them on me to keep any of the Death Eaters from finding me, but it also prevented anyone at all from finding me. She did tell Dumbledore how to work around the spell, so he knew where I was."

Just then, two girls entered the room. One had bushy brown hair and was carrying a large orange cat. The other had bright red hair.

"Hi Hermione! Hi Ginny!" Harry said, hoping that this would bring the conversation away from his family. The only people that the Weasleys seemed to hate more then the Malfoys was the Mars Family. Ron had already let it slip their second year that most of the wizarding world of England believed that Tori had used Harry as blackmail and that Daniel (who no one had connected to Harry) was really the son of the darkest wizard of all time.

"Hey Harry! How has your summer been so far?" Hermione said, giving him a huge hug after she dropped her cat to the floor.

"It's been all right. I'll tell you and Ron all about it later," Harry promised.

Hermione, being a really smart girl, picked up on the fact that Harry wanted to talk to them privately. She motioned for them to head up to Ron's room. Harry gave Ginny, Ron's sister, a hug and followed Hermione up the stairs.

Halfway to Ron's room, they were stopped by Percy, the third child of the Weasleys'. Percy claimed that their footsteps on the stairs were interrupting his important work. Harry tried to be polite, but he had come to dislike Percy ever since he had overheard the prim boy speak ill of his family. Harry felt that Percy was too full of himself, a bit like how he felt about Draco Malfoy.

Once they were in Ron's room, Hermione and Ron turned to Harry.

"OK, mate, what's up? What happened?" Ron asked.

"Well, a few days ago, I had a nightmare about Voldemort. When I woke up, my scar was burning." Harry said, ignoring the way his friends flinched at the name of the Dark wizard. "Mom and Signor Dottore are contactingother family membersto see if they know anything about cursed scars. We don't know if the nightmare was a true vision or if it was just the hotdogs I had before I fell asleep."

Hermione looked worried. "The last time your scar hurt you, it was because You-Know-Who was near-by. Do you think he was near-by?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I don't think he was anywhere near America."

"You should write to Dumbledore." Hermione said. "He'll know what to do."

Again, Harry shook his head. How could he explain to his friends that he didn't trust the man described as the greatest wizard of his time? There was just something about Dumbledore that rubbed Harry and Sloane the wrong way. The man had too many secrets, and managed to maneuver events to suit his needs. At first, Harry and Sloane thought that it was just a coincidence, but coincidences didn't stretch that far.

It had started his first year when Dumbledore sent him the Invisibility Cloak that used to belong to his father. Harry, at first, thought it was a nice gesture, but when the cloak helped him find out information on the Philosopher's Stone and Dumbledore seemed to know that Harry would face Quirrell and Voldemort, this raised some red flags for the Mars Brothers. However, it was their third year when things seemed to fall in exactly the right way for Dumbledore that the boys really began to suspect him.

"Why not, Harry?" Ron asked. "Dumbledore should know if You-Know-Who is active."

Harry gave his friends a smile. "I think Dumbledore might already know. Besides, it could have been nothing. If my family finds something worth worrying about, then I'll tell Dumbledore."

"Do you promise?" Hermione asked. Harry awarded her with his most innocent and disarming smile, nodding his head. He didn't have to worry about lying to Hermione, she'd never know. Harry had no plans of ever telling Dumbledore anything that he didn't have to.

"So, Harry, how is Sloane?" Hermione asked after a brief pause. Hermione was the only Gryffindor who was still friends with Sloane. Hermione didn't care about the fact that Sloane was now in Slytherian or that he was supposedly the son of a Death Eater, or Voldemort himself.

"Sloane is -" Harry paused and then took a deep breath, "Signor Dottore replaced the spells on his heart, but they're growing weaker. Sloane will have to take potions this year to keep his heart going. It's debatable that he'll live to see his seventh year at Hogwarts."

Hermione immediately moved and hugged Harry. "I'm so sorry, Harry. Isn't there anything that can be done?"

Harry nodded against her shoulder. "Mom has sent letters to Sloane's dad, asking that he help. She's planning on talking to him this summer while we're gone."

"Sloane is spending the summer with the Malfoys." Ron supplied, the disgust evident in his voice. Hermione shot him a dirty look over Harry's head, silently warning Ron to keep his opinions to himself.

Just then, Mrs. Weasley called up that dinner was ready. Harry took a step back and wiped the tears from his eyes. He loved his brother and the thought of loosing him tore him apart. Only Hermione seemed to understand how Harry felt. Harry debated on whether or not he should tell Hermione that Sloane had a crush on her, but he had a feeling that Hermione knew. Deep down, Hermione had to know.

During dinner, Percy talked about his report on the standardization of cauldron bottom thickness. Silently, Harry agreed that there should be a standard, but he couldn't bring himself to let the boring boy know that. Percy even hinted that there was something special coming up, trying to get his brothers or guests to question him.

"So, Harry, how are Tori and Sloane doing?" Bill asked, trying to keep his mom off the topic of his long hair.

Harry gave Bill a sad smile. "Well, mom is the Second-in-Command for the Florida branch of the Mars Family. Uncle Hay became our Head and he promoted mom since the honor should have gone to her. She's planning on retiring this year and living the rest of her days as a stay-at-home mother, or something like that. She's been under a lot of stress lately, and having us kids gone for the summer has really been a blessing."

"What kind of stress?" Charlie asked, listening in on the conversation.

"Well, Zia May has gone missing. She was supposed to be on a trip to Albania with a new friend of hers, but she apparently never got to her hotel. Mom is worried sick over what might have happened." Harry said. "She also has Sloane to worry about. He's not doing so good. His heart is failing and Signor Dottore believes that he could -" Harry stopped and stood up. "I'm sorry, but may I be excused."

Before Mrs. Weasley could say yes, Harry ran into the house. He could hear someone leaving the table and following him. He didn't want anyone to know how the news of his brother's health was effecting him, especially since he had the vague impression that the Weasely family (minus a few members) wouldn't see Sloane's impending death as something to be worried over. He feltsomeone stop just behind him. He turned to see Hermione and Bill standing there. Hermione looked at him with sadeyes,but it was Bill who embraced him this time.

"I'm sorry to hear that Sloane's not doing good," Bill said. "I really liked him. He was - is a very bright boy."

Harry smiled. "We're hoping that mom can use some of that old Mars family charm on Sloane's dad and convince him to help save Sloane's life."

"Best of luck, mate." Bill said. "Who is Sloane's dad?"

"No one knows. Only mom knows for sure, and she's not telling us."

"Listen, next time you speak to Sloane, let him know that I'll be rooting for him to pull through," Bill told Harry. "You two were the ones who really made me want to continue to be a Curse-Breaker. I was thinking about changing fields - you know how rough Mr. Waters was on me - but when I saw how much you and Sloane admired what I did, I decided to continue. I haven't regretted that decision, and it's because of the faith of two boys who, quite frankly, disobeyed their mother to visit me."

Harry gave a small laugh. "I'll tell him. Maybe, sometime, you can stop by for dinner. Mom would like company."

"Maybe I will."

Harry went back to Ron's room after telling Bill and Hermione that he was tired. They would have to get up early in the morning to use a port key to get to the World Cup. He was already pretending to be asleep when Ron and the twins arrived. He prayed as hard as he could in every language he knew that Sloane's father agreed to help Sloane.

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A/N: Two chappies! Yahoo!