Thanks a lot to my beta-reader, Emma, for correcting my mistakes.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.

A great thank you to my moti-betas as well.

I'm not a native speaker of English!

Dear readers,

I was absolutely amazed by the feedback I got for the first chapter of this story. Thank you very much. I hope you will review again after reading the new chapter. Please tell me what you think.

Sunny

Chapter 2 - I'm a Wizard

-II-

"He has eaten," Mr. Dursley screamed and slammed his fist on the couch table.

James's alarm bells rang so loud he wasn't sure he could listen to the lies of these people any longer. Arthur had told him to threaten people that won't cooperate with some people called the police. They seemed to be the Aurors of the Muggles.

"If you won't show me Harry in the next few minutes, I will call the police, Mr. Dursley. This poison is dangerous, and I need to make sure everybody in this area is checked over."

Mr. Dursley seemed to be close before explosion and Mrs. Dursley close from fainting out of fair. James was very worried for the small boy he had talked to yesterday. He should have checked on him immediately. What have those horrible people done to him?

-II-

Harry sat fearfully on his bed, his legs drawn up to his chest when Uncle Vernon stormed into the room.

"You will listen very clearly now, boy. We will go down, and you will tell the doctor you are all fine and haven't eaten anything from the shop."

"But I secretly eat some of the vegetable, Uncle Vernon. What if I'm poisoned?" Harry was so scared. This thought hadn't left his head for the whole night. He had eaten a little bit of the cucumber as his relatives had already punished him for buying it even though they didn't like cucumbers. Harry hadn't known this.

"Do you think I care if you are poisoned, freak?" Vernon grabbed Harry's arm forcefully and pulled him off the bed. "If you let the doctor see your wounds, I will kill you, boy."

X-X

Damn, this boy was definitely abused. His clothes hang off of him like rags and his expression was one of pure horror and fear. James felt guilty for making the boy suffer miserably even longer than he had to for not coming yesterday. Trying to control himself, James smiled friendly at Harry. "Hello, Harry, it's nice to see the face that belongs to the nice voice I talked to yesterday."

Harry looked so scared that James feared the boy would faint. "I haven't eaten anything. I didn't feel well, so I didn't eat anything."

James frowned. What had the whale of a man told Harry upstairs? "If you didn't feel well, it's good I'm here to check you over."

Vernon grabbed for the fragile boy's shirt and pulled him forcefully backwards. "He is all right. You are here to check those who have consumed the poisoned food. The boy hasn't eaten any of it, so you can leave now."

James was in a dilemma. Would they be a magical family, he would long have called the Aurors and taken the boy away from his family. Those here were Muggles, and he couldn't just take a Muggle boy out of his family. "I won't leave before I've examined, Harry. He may have eaten some of the food secretly."

Harry bit his bottom lip in guilt.

"So have you eaten something without your family knowing, Harry?" James asked, having seen the gesture.

Big tears started to spill from Harry's eyes. "I don't want to die."

"You won't die, Harry. Come over here so I can examine you."

Harry shook his head in fear and looked at his uncle.

"That's enough. I will use your phone now and call the police." That threat worked, and the fat man shoved Harry violently down the stairs in James direction.

"Go over to the doctor!" Vernon ordered angrily.

"Vernon?" Mrs. Dursley exclaimed, scared.

Harry stood sobbing in front of the kind doctor. He didn't want to die of poisoning, but he also didn't want to be murdered by his uncle for letting the doctor see his wounds.

"You don't need to be scared, Harry. I will just listen to your heart and lungs and examine your stomach and belly." James pulled out the Muggle stethoscope.

Harry trembled like a leaf now and clutched the hem of his shirt to hold it in place. What was the boy hiding?

"You need to undress for this, Harry."

Again the boy shook his head frantically and looked over to his uncle. This boy was screaming abuse from every fiber of his body. James had to control himself to not grab the boy to bring him to safety.

"Harry, it will be okay. I promise I will help you," James said very calmly, hoping the boy would understand his message but knowing the chances were low for this due to the fright of the child.

Slowly and gently James pried Harry's hands away from his shirt and lifted it over the boy's head. A ripple of magic made James stop in his tracks. It was going through his magic sensitive body like a shock wave. The boy was a wizard. A gasp from the woman in the room pulled James out of his stupor.

Harry obviously alarmed by his aunt's gasp, looked over his shoulder at his back. James followed the boys glance and saw an unmarked white back. The ribs stood out as the boy was very skinny but others than that the boy was alright from first sight. So why had he resisted lifting his shirt and why had the woman reacted so shocked?

James let his eyes wander to the people in the room. The woman looked frightened and the man looked furious. He was clenching his hands in fists and his head was red from anger. Dudley was sitting bored at the couch, not a least bit worried about what happened.

"Okay, Harry I will listen to your heart now." James pressed his hand on Harry's back to steady him but also to scan him with magic while he pressed the stethoscope to the boy's chest.

"That doesn't sound good," James said, overplaying his shock over the results of his magical scan. "His heart has a serious arrhythmia," James lied. "I need to take him with me to the hospital."

"We only have three more days of vacation," Mr. Dursley said and stepped closer to them.

"I will check him though and tell you what treatment he needs when I inform you about your results tomorrow. Maybe I can even bring him back by then." This lie would hopefully put the Muggles at ease. The boy's glamour had made them relax as well. They thought James had no clue about the injuries of the boy.

The two adult Dursleys looked at each other until the woman shrugged her shoulders and then nodded.

"All right," Mr. Dursley said and looked warningly at Harry, who cringed under his uncle's glance.

"Do you want to take something with you, Harry?" James asked while he helped the boy to dress again.

Harry shook his head.

"No plushy or anything else?"

Again the boy shook his head.

Five minutes later James was placing Harry on the passenger seat of the car he had lent from Arthur for this job. He drove around a few corners and then stopped to call Arthur. Not wanting to alarm the boy, he used the Muggle mobile. "Arthur?"

The Weasley matriarch replied.

"I have some problems. Until now we only found people with slight side effects, but I found a boy I have to take with me to examine him more closely. Please inform Anna that I had to remove Harry Dursley from his family. They are currently living in the holiday home on Baker Street No. 10. I will contact the Aurors later, but I want her to know before."

"All right, James. If you need help, let me know. I will call Anna. Do you take the boy to your home or to the clinic?"

"I will bring him home with me. I have the rest of the day off. Damn," James exclaimed and had to grab for Harry who was trying to flee from the car. "Arthur, I call you later." James threw the mobile phone away and pulled Harry back into the car with both his hand and closed the door.

"Harry, everything is all right. You don't have to be afraid."

"You said you will take me to your home and not to the hospital, and you said you will call those Outdoors people. What will they do to me? What will you do to me?" The boy sobbed in fear, and James feared he would get a heart attack if he wasn't able to calm the boy down.

"Look at me, Harry," James said and took Harry's neck to soothingly draw circles on it and let calming magic flow into the frightened boy. It worked and Harry became more relaxed. "I would never hurt you, Harry. I'll take you home with me because I have all the necessary things to examine you there and my family will be happy to get to know you. I can monitor you over night for any side effects of the potion."

"What about the outdoor people?"

"I don't know what you are talking about, Harry."

"You said it to the one on the phone. You said you would call them later."

"The Aurors, Harry. I said I'll call the Aurors later. They work together with me and want to know if anyone has been poisoned. That's why I have to call them I will explain everything else to you after I've examined you, Harry."

X-X

Harry didn't believe the man completely. This story was just too weird. At least Harry had managed to hide his wounds. He knew they were just hidden because they still hurt like hell. Things like this had happened lately more and more often, mostly concerning his hair. It often grew back to its normal length whenever Aunt Petunia tries to cut it. One day Harry's black eye was gone whilst he was at pre-school and when he came back home it just appeared again. So Harry hoped his wounds would stay away as long as he was with the sandy-haired doctor with this odd pointy goatee.

In awe Harry looked at the big house the doctor stopped in front of. It had a beautiful garden with a lot of flowers in front of it and a high green hedge.

"Come on, Harry, let's go inside so I can finally check you over." James placed his hand in Harry's neck, ignoring the flinch of the boy. He started to draw calming circles again and let more relaxing magic run into the boy.

Inside the house, they were immediately greeted by a small girl with blond shoulder-long locks who happily ran down the hall to James. "Daddy!"

Harry watched sadly in awe how the girl was scooped up and kissed. "Hello, my darling," James said in greeting.

James sat the girl down when she looked interested at Harry. Maybe his little sweetie could calm Harry's fear.

"Hi," the girl said. "Who are you?"

Harry looked at the cute little girl. "I'm Harry."

"I'm Emily," the girl said proudly and pointed at her chest.

"Hi, Emily." Harry saw another person coming over to them. A boy of maybe sixteen or seventeen. Before Harry could inspect the boy better, Emily pulled at his hand to get his attention again. "How old are you? I'm three."

"I'm eight," Harry said.

"You shouldn't lie," Emily reprimanded, obvious imitating an adult person who said this very often to her.

"I'm not lying."

"You can't be eight. You are too small."

Harry saw James wanting to interfere, but the unknown boy beat him in it. "Some people get a growth spurt later, Em. Be nice to our guest." The brown haired tall boy scooped Emily up and looked at Harry. "My sister here often says what comes to her mind without thinking about it. I'm Taylor Smith."

"I'm Harry." This all was very awkward.

"Daddy, do you know what happened in daycare?" Emily didn't give her father time to answer or stop her. "Paul stole Mrs. Meyers wand and made the big teddy bear explode. I want to do magic as well."

Harry's eyes went wide, and he stepped backwards. "No, you mustn't speak about this." Oh no, now James would beat the cute little girl for talking freak-language.

"Harry?" James asked, worried.

"Magic doesn't exist. She doesn't know that. You can't punish her for it. Please."

James let Harry back into the corner and turned to his son. "Is Mum around?"

"She is over at Hogwarts, helping Aunt Poppy."

"Please call her and ask her to come over."

Taylor nodded and vanished with his sister in his arms behind one of the doors.

"I won't punish my daughter for speaking about magic, Harry. Why do you think I would do something like this?"

"Magic isn't real. Only freaks talk about it." Harry tried to be as small as possible. He didn't want to talk with James about it. He wanted back to his relatives. He was scared.

Harry was still sobbing hard when a woman with brown hair and a very friendly but worried face knelt down beside Doctor Smith a few feet away from Harry.

"Hello, my name is Clara Smith. So who are you?"

"Harry. Harry Potter." Shock, pure shock, was written all over the adult's face, and Harry saw Taylor stare open mouthed at him.

Clara gathered her wits first. "Hello, Harry, it's nice to get to know you. Would you like to drink a hot chocolate? My children say I make one of the best."

Harry looked scared at James. The man had recovered from his shock, and gave Harry a friendly look. So what had been so shocking about his name?

"The living room is much more comfortable than this corner, Harry. Come on, let's have a hot chocolate." Clara held her hand out for him. Harry didn't know why, but he liked this woman and wanted her to make everything all right again. Mrs. Figg, Harry's neighbor, had sometime offered him tea and he was allowed to drink it with her, but other than her nobody ever offered him such kindness.

Shyly, Harry took Clara's hand and let her lead him into the living room. Harry felt like someone special when she brought him a hot steaming cup of hot chocolate and sat down beside Harry on the couch. James had sat down on an armchair, and Taylor had sat down on the smaller couch with his sister.

"What's wrong with Harry?" Emily asked her big brother, but he hushed her and placed his fingers on her lips.

"Harry, what happened that made you panic that much in the hall?" Clara asked, taking Harry's free hand.

First Harry flinched and then he looked shocked down at his hand in hers. Something odd happened; some warm and tickling came from her hand and ran into his and the hot chocolate in his stomach made him feel calm and relaxed. Little did Harry know that Clara was a healer and now was letting magic flow into Harry like James had done and had spiked his hot chocolate with a calming draught.

"My... my relatives say magic doesn't exist, and I never should take the word in my mouth. It's dirty, it's freak language."

"Your cousin said something about freaks, Harry. Now you speak about it as well. What is this about freaks?" James asked. If only he had had time to inform his wife about what had happened, then he would have let her talk to Harry, as she was the neutral one in his eyes, and Harry was more relaxed in her presence. Unfortunately she hadn't had the important information, so James had to interfere from time to time.

Could Harry tell them? Could he tell them about freaks and that he was one? What if they threw him out then? He would never find his way back to his relatives. The warm fluffy feeling became even more prominent and the tickling in his hand had made it very heavy as it made his whole body seem to become more heavy. "I'm a freak." Harry started to whisper. "Things happened with me or around me. Bad things. I'm bad."

"No, you are not bad, Harry. You are a small boy, and you can't be bad. Who told you such lies?"

Lies? The kind woman thought that they were lies. She believed him? Why? "My relatives and they know me, ma'am. They had to raise me and so they know how freakish I am."

Clara shook her head sadly. "You are not freakish, Harry. You are a sweet, very kind boy. I'm glad to be able to get to know you. I'm Clara and not 'ma'am.'" She smiled openly at Harry, which made his heart beat a bit faster. He had often imagined his mother looking at him like this whilst taking him to bed like Aunt Petunia always did with Dudley.

Harry couldn't believe Clara. Too many years he had been told he was a freak.

Seeing that Harry became introverted again, James scooted closer to him by sitting on the couch table. He hoped his little angel wouldn't ruin his tactic by commenting that sitting on the table wasn't allowed. She didn't and inwardly he praised her for knowing that it would have been a bad idea at the moment. She was such a bright girl, just like her mother. "Harry, you said strange things happen with you and around you."

Harry's eyes became bulgy, and Clara could no longer hold herself back. She leaned over to the frightened child and gently pressed Harry against her chest, his head resting on her shoulder. First the boy stiffened dangerously, obviously not used to affections like this, but then he relaxed and started to sob.

Harry didn't know what happened with him, but it seemed something snapped inside of him and all his emotionally pain came over him like a flood wave when the kind woman embraced him. Embraced him! The freak. Why did she do so? Why wasn't she disgusted with him, even after he had told them what he was and what happened around him? "I'm dangerous. You shouldn't keep me in the house. I could hurt your children."

Instead of pushing Harry away, like he had expected, she pulled him even closer to her so he was now sitting on her lap his head still resting on her shoulder with her hand on the back of his head, slowly stroking his hair. "Stop talking like this, Harry. You aren't bad nor are you a freak or dangerous. Calm down." She slowly rocked him fro and back. When he had calmed down, she said, "James wanted to tell you something, honey."

It took Harry a short time to realize he was meant by this pet name. Surprised he looked up at Clara and got even more shocked when she smiled and kissed him on his forehead. If his father hadn't been a drunk and crashed his car, killing himself and Harry's mother, would he have a family like Taylor and Emily now? Would his mother kiss him like this and would his father look so concerned at him and try to explain things for him? The Dursleys never did things like this to him.

Clara chuckled sadly and nudged Harry's chin in James' direction.

"Tell me what happens to you or around you, Harry."

That was it. Now he would have to tell them and Clara would push him off her lap disgusted. He tried to cuddle against her again, shaking his head, but this time she gently refused him. "But you won't like me anymore when I tell you," Harry said miserably.

"I promise you to still like you, Harry. Big, big, promise. Emily and Taylor can tell you I never break a big, big promise," Clara said, smiling at her children.

"Yes, Mummy never breaks the big, big promise and neither does Daddy," Emily said. "You can tell them your secret. I have one too. Want to hear."

James couldn't decide between a groan of frustration or a chuckle. He held his breath when Harry really was interested and nodded.

"I made my hair stand up when Mummy wanted to put it in a ponytail. I hate pony tails," Emily whispered.

Harry's jaw dropped open. Scared like hell he waited for the adult to erupt in screams but nothing happened. "But then you are a freak too, Emily," Harry whispered scared and looked emphatically at the small girl.

"No, Harry, Emily is a witch and you are a wizard. That's why things like this happen around you or with you. You have magic you just can't control it now. When you are old enough you will be allowed a wand and will learn to use your magic correctly," James explained calmly to not frighten Harry with this news. "We adults can already control our magic. See!" James pulled his wand out and made Emily's hair stand up.

Harry was shocked but the happy giggles of Emily, the warm embrace of Clara and the calming draught in his veins made it impossible for him to panic.

"Yes, Harry, we are all witches and wizards," Clara spoke softly in his ear.

Harry let his eyes roam over all the people in the room until he finally understood. "I'm a wizard."

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