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,

Here is your next chapter. Hope you enjoy it. PLease let me know what you think about it!

Sunny

Chapter 4 - Family

-II-

"Really. Now let's go before Mum sends a search party." Taylor threw his arm over Harry's shoulder. When Harry jerked away, Taylor stopped shocked. "Did I hurt you? I thought Dad had already healed you."

Harry blushed. "I'm sorry. I..."

"Not used to it, right?"

Harry shook his head.

"No, problem, but I fear you will have to get used to it now." Taylor stepped closer to Harry again. "Ready to learn?"

Harry breathed deeply and nodded.

Taylor slowly laid his arm around Harry's shoulder. "Okay, little brother. Time for supper."

-II-

It was like being in paradise. Harry had never seen so much food, and he was surprised how nice it was to eat with other people at the table. They were chatting happily. Emily was talking about her daycare, Taylor rolling his eyes when James asked him about his homework for the summer holidays and Clara was talking about a girl at Hogwarts who had tried to apply a salve to make her spots go away and instead of them got big boils.

Hogwarts was the school Taylor was going to. A school for wizards and witches, and you get a wand when you are allowed to attend it. Harry was sad he had to wait until he was eleven to be accepted, but he was relieved that James and Clara promised him that he would be accepted. A school full of freaks like Harry. That must be cool.

Taylor seemed to be a good student but nevertheless was annoyed by the amount of homework. He had just finished his 5th year a week ago.

Emily was going to daycare. It seems there also were just wizards and witches. Harry wondered if he could go there as well.

"Harry? Are you all right?" James who sat beside him at the head of the table asked. "Do you have a stomach ache?"

Harry shook his head. He felt awkward between all the chatty people. Maybe they find him odd because he was so silent? "I'm not hungry anymore."

"That's normal, Harry. Your stomach slowly has to adjust to more food. In a few days you will be able to eat as much as you wish to." James smiled knowingly at Harry.

Harry let his eyes wander over the food again. Yes, he would love to try more of the food, but his stomach was so full. "What will happen in a few days?"

Before James could answer the fireplace close to the table flared green and to Harry's horror a big man stepped out of it, the green flames dancing around him on his clothes until he wiped over them with his bare hands. Harry fell more than jumped out of his chair. He wanted to run, but James was quicker and had grabbed for his arm. "Calm down, Harry. That's a normal way for wizards to travel. They are friends. No need to be afraid of them."

When James hand had closed around Harry's wrist, the boy was surprised of himself when he didn't fight to get loose but stepped closer to James. The healer pulled him almost onto his lap, throwing an arm around his waist.

Harry's eyes were fixed on the man who now stood close by. A woman stood beside him, but Harry's eyes could just stare at the man. He was bulgy and looked as if he came straight from the battlefield. His long black coat was open, and Harry could see an odd metallic leg where the man's right leg should be. The scariest thing was the man's face. It was covered with scars and instead of two eyes he only had one. The left eye was replaced with a glassy one; a big glassy one. The iris didn't even have the same color as the healthy eye. It was of a bright blue as the real eye was more gray-blue.

The man stared at him. Then suddenly something happened that made Harry swallow some air in shock. The glassy eye started to spin around, the pupil even rolling into the head.

Emily giggled wildly and clapped her tiny hands. "Yeah, Uncle Al!" she cheered at the scary looking man and bounced on her chair.

The woman beside the man wasn't as amused as Emily. She glared at the man and gave him a cuff on the back of his head so Harry feared the odd glassy eye would pop out of the man's eye socket and roll over to him. "Really, Alastor, how old are you? Do you want to give the poor boy a heart attack?"

Still muttering something that sounded like 'old fool' she came over to Harry. "Hello, young man. I'm Aunt Poppy, Clara's big sister."

Harry's mouth dropped open. Did this woman really want him to call her aunt? His Aunt Petunia always seemed to wanting the ground to swallow her out of shame when Harry called her aunt. Insecurely Harry craned his neck to look at James. The healer smiled reassuringly at him and nodded.

Shyly Harry extracted his hand to the woman and she took it smiling happily as if Harry had made her a big gift with it. "I... I'm Harry."

"Nice to meet you, Harry."

Harry's eyes became bigger again when the strange man stepped beside the nice woman, and Harry pressed himself harder against James.

"This is Uncle Alastor, Harry. He looks scarier than he is," James reassured the frightened child who was now almost crawling on his lap.

Alastor made a grim face and leaned down to be close to Harry's face. "Not many people would say so." After a short dramatic pause and an elbow hit of his wife, Alastor grinned and ruffled Harry's hair. "But you can, lad. I'm Uncle Al and I hope you left me something to eat." Alastor straightened up and let his eyes roam over the table. "Came straight from the Auror office after I got your message, James."

"Let's talk when the kids are asleep. Now dig in." James gestured Alastor to one of the free chairs and conjured two more dishes on the table for their guest.

"Oh no no, I already ate at Hogwarts," Poppy said, but nevertheless sat down on a chair exhausted. "What a day."

"Then at least a cup of tea, Poppy," Clara said and had already poured her sister some tea.

X-X

"Tired?" Taylor asked when Harry yawned for the sixth time since they were playing Exploding Snap. Harry had loved the game but now he looked really tired.

"A bit but the game is cool." Absentmindedly Harry rubbed his eyes.

"We can play it again tomorrow, and I'll ask Dad if I can teach you flying with a broom. I'm—"

"Like them?" Harry asked, excited, fully awake again, as he pointed at the Quidditch poster.

Taylor chuckled over Harry's enthusiasm. "Yes, like them. I play Quidditch in Hogwarts. That's the game they play on the poster. I'm a beater. My best buddy, Charlie, is the seeker of our team. Maybe we can go over to the Burrow in a few days and play a real game of Quidditch with him and his brother. He has a brother in your age. His name is Ronald, but we all just call him Ron. His twin brothers Fred and George are responsible for that poisoning accident, so I'm not sure if we will be allowed to go over anytime soon. We will have to see."

Harry had listened in awe. Playing Quidditch with Taylor's friends. That would be great. "What's a seeker and what's a beater and how—"

Taylor laid his finger over Harry's lips as he had done with Emily. "I will tell you everything you want to know tomorrow. Now off to the bathroom, Mum has placed everything you need beside my things. I'll show you."

Harry felt his heart jump when he found a beaker with his name on beside Taylor's. The toothbrush was brand new and not old and damaged like the one Harry had to use at the Dursley's. Harry could hardly reach the sink, so Taylor showed him Emily's little bench. "You can use Em's bench to reach the sink and mirror better."

Harry blushed. He hated being so small. In school the other kids always mocked him for it. "Do you really think I will have a grow spurt?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Ugh?"

"You said it to Emily when she said I'm small."

"Oh, yeah, of course. I grew eight inchs in half a year, so don't worry. With the food you will get here you will grow fast now. Wizards often take a little longer to grow as their magic is taking energy of them. You need more food than Muggles, and I don't need to be a healer to see that you aren't a normal weight for someone your age."

Harry looked down at himself. He thought he looked much better with Taylor's clothes and not so skinny anymore.

Taylor ruffled Harry's hair. "Don't worry about it. You will grow, I promise."

Harry smiled. He was almost the same height with Taylor now where he stood on the small bench.

"Now, brush your teeth or Mum will have our heads."

It almost felt as if Harry really belonged to them. Taylor was talking with him as if he had always been his brother.

"Will I go to daycare, Taylor?"

Taylor spilled the water he had in his mouth to rinse the toothpaste off in the sink. "Daycare? That's for babies like Em."

"But I can't go to Hogwarts yet."

"Of course not. You will go to pre-school. You will mostly learn things you learned on your Muggle school. You have been to school, haven't you?"

"Of course," Harry said quickly. Then he sadly added, "But I didn't like it."

Taylor laughed and clapped Harry on his shoulder. "Who likes school, Harry?" When he had calmed down his laughter, he said, "At least you will get to know other wizards there and the teachers know how to react to accidental magic. Nobody will punish you for things you can't control. Em is making her daycare teacher go crazy. It's not normal to show so much magic in her age."

"What if I don't have enough magic, Taylor?"

Taylor snorted and then shortly paused. "You are Harry Potter."

"Yes," Harry said almost afraid to hear more.

"You really have no clue, right?"

"No clue about what? About magic?"

Taylor shook his head. "I think Mum and Dad will explain everything to you soon. Now, are you finished?"

Harry knew Taylor was hiding something from him, but the boy had been so kind to him that Harry didn't dare to nag him more about the topic.

Taylor threw his arm around Harry's shoulder again in the hall and they went to see Clara and James in the living room.

"Headmaster Dumbledore," Taylor greeted the old man who sat beside Clara.

Harry felt Taylor's arm tighten around him protectively which made him immediately suspicious of the old, harmless looking man.

"Hello, Mr. Smith. How is your holiday?" the old man with his long white beard and twinkling blue eyes asked.

"Fine, until now." Taylor looked at his father who nodded at him.

"Come over here, Harry." James gestured him to come to him.

Cautiously Harry went to James not leaving the old man out of his sight.

"Smart brat, isn't he, Albus?" Alastor said from the couch opposite of the Headmaster. "Knows just by instinct who to be wary about."

"There is no need to be wary about me, Alastor. You shouldn't give Harry that impression."

"Oh really, old man? I would say placing him in a family—"

"Alastor, that's enough," Poppy said, glaring at her husband. "Albus already agreed to let Harry stay here."

"Oh, how gracious of him. That's the least he should do after not checking on the boy for years."

"I already said I'm sorry, Alastor. I can't make it undone. I thought the boy would be safe with them. I had no idea what sort of people they really were."

"Then you should have checked," Alastor thundered and let his fist smash down on the couch table that it creaked dangerously.

Harry jumped and landed on James lap. He was not really frightened, no he felt a strange feeling seeing Alastor fight for him. Never in his life had anyone cared what happened to Harry and never had anyone fought for him like that.

"You two will stop this nonsense and remember that you are friends or I have to ask you to leave my house."

Damn hell, was that the same Clara Harry got to know the last few hours? She looked dangerously as if she really would dare to attack one or even both of the old men.

Both men sat down, Alastor grunting something like insufferable woman and Albus smiling at Clara.

"Did you hear what the headmaster had said before the shouting match started?" James asked Harry.

There had been said so much, Harry couldn't remember anything particular.

"Professor Dumbledore is not only Taylor's headmaster but your magical guardian as well. Since your parents died he had custody over you. He thought your family would love you, so he gave you to them until you would have turned eleven to attend Hogwarts. He didn't know what bad people your relatives are, so he never checked if you were all right."

"You knew my parents?" Harry asked the old man.

"Yes, I did. They were very kind people and they loved you a lot."

Harry shook his head. "Uncle Vernon said my dad was a drunk and he killed himself and my mum with a car."

Gasps were to be heard all over the room, and Harry looked around puzzled. The old man recovered first. "Your parents were honorable people, Harry. You father was no drunk. They died in a battle, a wizard battle. A dark wizard came to your house and attacked your family. You were the only one who survived. The scar on your forehead is a sign of that battle."

Harry felt for the scar that looked like a lightening. "Uncle Vernon said it was from the car crash."

"Your uncle lied to you about many things, Harry. In our world you are well known as the defeater of the Dark Lord. Nobody knows for sure how you did it but there are many theories. What is for sure is that you backfired the killing curse the dark wizard send at you and killed him."

"Me?"

"Yes, you, Harry. It's too late today to tell you the full story, but I would like to explain to you why I placed you with your relatives. Nobody knew about your aunt and uncle as your mother had broken up with them to keep them safe from the danger of our world. Only I as your magical guardian did know. Even though the dark wizard is dead, many of his followers are still alive looking for revenge. You are a main target—"

"Albus, he is eight," Poppy protested.

"Still he needs to learn that he is in danger to know that he needs protection and can't move around as easily as others. He needs to know that there could be children of Death Eaters in his class when he goes to pre-school."

"Death Eaters?" Harry whispered, scared.

"The followers of the dark wizard Professor Dumbledore just told you about, are called that," James explained and stroked his hand through Harry's hair.

"And they want to kill me?" Harry asked James.

James didn't answer immediately, but eventually he replied, "Yes, I fear so, Harry, but we will do everything to keep you safe."

Please review!