Hey! Muse has returned! Hurrah! I know I left you guys hanging on a cliffhanger, so I'm going to try to wrap up this plotline. You'll learn more about Harry's past and how he knows Shadow. Hope you enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter! I am neither blonde nor British.

The next morning at breakfast, the Gryffindors were joined by Harry's mysterious friend. Harry and the Headmaster stared at each other for a moment before Dumbledore turned away, leaving Harry smirking. "Shadow" rolled her eyes. Tess took a good look at the younger girl. She was very pretty with smoky brown hair and wide moss-green eyes. The bruises were mostly gone, but she could make out the faint outline of one on the girl's jaw.

"Shadow" seemed to realize there were eyes on her. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself last night," the girl apologized. "I'm Adrianna Callen."

"Tess McKinnon," she introduced herself. The girl brushed her curls back nervously. "So how long have you known Harry?"

Adrianna shrugged. "As long as I can remember. My brother found him and Bea in London and brought them to our place when I was four. He was the one who took care of me. Our parents died in an accident, and he didn't want to go live with our uncle because he hated magic and didn't like girls either. I was only a baby then."

"You were probably the clingiest little kid I have ever met," Harry stated with a smirk. "But you were the youngest one of us, and so everyone loved you. You adored Bea the most though. Clung to her like you were her shadow."

Adrianna smiled, a real one that lit up her face. "I remember that. She used to watch me while Ralph and Matt took you boys to do whatever it is you did. Amelia and Pandora used to teach us how to sing and dance." Even though she had been a young child then, Adrianna had never forgotten their safe haven under the bridge. No matter what the weather had been like, it had always felt warm. There were tents scattered around the area in different colors and fabrics. A park nearby guaranteed people to watch the girls' performances and trees for the boys to climb. Protective spells around the tents shielded them from unsavory eyes, but the secret was guarded tightly.

The Harry in her memories was different. He was all crooked smiles and stories written on whatever paper he could scrape up and the smell of bark hanging on his clothes. She still caught hints of the boy she had idolized as a little girl, but it got harder as the war progressed. That Harry had no place in a war. In a way, it was almost a good thing Bea wasn't alive because it would break her heart to see Harry like that. While Harry had always had a quiet darkness about him, Bea was all smiles and curly blonde hair and laughter. There was something innately soothing about the curly blonde, something that made Adrianna cling to her like a "shadow".

She pulled herself out of her memories to find Harry staring at her, his startling emerald eyes taking in everything. "Your brother was a good guy, Shadow," he said quietly. "I looked up to him." There were the sounds of a couple people choking on their food or juice. It was hard to image Harry Potter, the tough hardened Boy-Who-Lived, looking up to everyone. Adrianna only nodded, her memories of her brother far and few in between.

Harry sighed. Adrianna had only been four when their world had burned to the ground. She didn't remember much about Matt, which was a shame because he had been a great guy and a good leader. He had been the one to discover him and Bea, to bring them to the little sanctuary under the bridge. Remembering what Markus gave him, he reached into his pocket. He took out the photo out and smoothed the edges, sliding it over to Adrianna.

She picked up and looked carefully. It was a picture of them right in front of the bridge. She traced the faces with her fingers. Slowly, she found her brother's face, smiling almost defiantly as he had an arm wrapped around Amelia's waist. Both of them had died defending their home. Matt fought off the Aurors while Amelia helped them escape. Next to her were Ralph and Pandora. They were still alive and together, but each scared in their own ways. Pandora had suffered horrible burns to her face, and while they hadn't killed her, they did permanently scar the skin on her face. Ralph, on the other hand, had lost half of his pinky. Old Mam was standing next a man who was unfamiliar to her, but they were holding hands. A girl with a remarkable likeness to Markus was in front of them, a smile from ear to ear. Two guys whom she assumed were brothers stood on other side of her, both making a funny face.

The next row, however, really caught her attention. Four children stood, arms slung around each other's shoulders. Harry was on the very far left, his smile contagious. Adrianna shot a look at Harry, who was still watching her. Some things were the same: messy black hairs and alluring green eyes. But this Harry's smile wasn't guarded, had no plans or ulterior motives. It was younger, more innocent. Next to him was Bea, who was exactly as she remembered, warm and bright. Next to her was Isa, who was smiling in a way Adrianna had never seen her before. Isa's smiles now were half-smiles, smiled designed to intrigue and lure men in. This girl, however, smiled a genuine smile. Next to her was a boy who Adrianna couldn't remember but who she knew was responsible for Isa's smile. Finishing off the row was Markus, who was smiling as if he had just caused trouble.

Finally, sitting on the grass, were two little girl. One Adrianna could pick at as herself. Her hair was braided, and she remembered Bea's gentle hands as she did so. The other little girl caused a bang to go through her heart. Glinda had been her only friend, her best friend, until that day their home burned down. She had asked for Glinda over and over after that day, not understanding where she had gone. It was Harry who had explained to her that Glinda was in heaven with her sister.

"Where did you get this picture?" she asked softly.

"Markus gave it to me when I saw him in Diagon Alley. He said he wanted me to have it, but I also think that it's dangerous for him to have something that can like him to me right now." He paused. "It's probably the last picture left. The fire burned everything."

Harry leaned in closer, looking at the picture. He started to name everyone, filling in the blanks of Adrianna's memory. "We called Matt the General because he was basically our leader. In another life, he could've been an Auror. Knew how to fight. Made sure we knew how. Amelia was pretty tough too, but she preferred healing to hurting. She would coddle us after every bump and bruise, especially you and Glin. It drove Matt crazy, but he never fought her on it. You had to be crazy to fight Amelia when she made up her mind. We called her Mother Bear or just Bear."

"Why?" Tess asked curiously, her eyes sliding down to the photo. By now, she, Delia, and Sean were all listening carefully to Harry's narrative. After all, he never offered up this much information about the past at once, and he didn't even seem to mind them listening. The other Gryffindors probably couldn't hear them considering they were sitting at that far end of the table.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Ever seen a mother bear when her cubs are threatened? She'll maul you to pieces. Of course, I would've rather taken on a bear than made Amelia mad. Of course, Matt did all the time. They were a good match." His finger stopped at Ralph. "Ah, our Chief. Ralph was always good at strategizing. Matt and he were friends for that reason. Your brother never put much faith in a plan. Ralph would've probably stopped breathing if his plan told him to. Of course, ironies of all ironies, he falls in love with the girl who literally has chaos stamped on her forehead. We called Pandora Trouble because that's what followed her wherever she went." His finger started moving again, stopping at Old Mam. "Never understood why the old folks stuck with us, but we loved them anyway. Matt was the oldest, only 18, so it was nice to have someone like a grandparent. Old Mam could make anything taste good. Even the one time we caught rats, she managed to make it taste like a five-star meal. Paps was an inventor. He could make something out of nothing. He was obsessed with Muggle stuff. He loved taking apart, seeing how it worked."

The next row had Harry grinning widely. "The twins, Tim and Tony, were major pranksters. One time, they glued me to my tree." Seeing the incredulous looks he was receiving, he added, "Well, at least my pants. I went to jump down from the branch, and the back half of my pants ripped off. I was so mad. I almost put fire ants in their pillows, but Bea talked me out of it. I just filled their underwear with sand instead. Grace managed to fix my pants. She could fix the biggest holes in anything. If the world could've been fixed with a needle and thread, I would've picked her to do it."

The last row, however, had Harry very quiet. He lingered in the younger image of himself, his eyebrows furrowed together as if thinking of something complicated. He didn't speak until minutes had passed. "Before they decided to call me Scamp, they wanted to call me Tree Boy. I probably spent at least ten hours a day hanging out in a tree."

Delia, who hadn't spoken much since Adrianna arrived the previous night, gave Hairy a searching look. "Why?"

She wasn't expecting a real answer from Harry, simply one of his half-shrugs or non-specific grunts, so she was surprised when he started to take. "When I was in school, my teacher told us that climbing to the top of the tree was the fastest way for us to get as close to heaven as possible. I thought, if I claimed high enough, my parents would come down and close the gap." He stopped. "Of course, they never did, and I stopped expecting them to, but by then I liked it up there."

Tess smiled. That sounded like the Harry she remembered, and she was starting to think that the Street Rats and her were more similar than she'd expected. They remembered people that they lost too soon and watched as people they loved turned into ghosts of the ones that were once there.

"How did you meet Bea?" Adrianna asked, genuinely curious. She had never heard one of Harry's childhood stories where Bea wasn't present.

Harry smiled. "The bus stop."

*flashback*

Harry sat on the small bench, staring at his very dirty and scuffed up sneakers. In stark contrast, Dudley's new sneakers practically sparkled as he stood with some of his friends a few feet away, no doubt planning how to steal some kid's lunch money. He only hoped Dudley and his gang didn't try to chase after him today.

"Hi!" Harry turned to see a small blonde girl giving him a wide-tooth smile. "Can I sit with you?" He only shrugged, which the girl took as a yes. "Thank you! My family just moved here, and I don't know anyone. I have an older sister, Emily, but my mom had to take her to the dentist this morning. Do you have any siblings?"

Harry was impressed at the pure speed the girl used to fire off her questions. He shook his head no.

"So what..." Bea didn't get to finish her question. Dudley and his friends spotted someone talking to Harry and felt it their duty to inform that person of how the rules worked.

"You don't want to talk him," Dudley advised smugly. "He's a freak."

The little girl's eyebrow furrowed. "Says who?"

"Everyone," Dudley said. "His own parents even got themselves killed in a car accident so they wouldn't have to deal with him."

The girl gasped. "That's mean! You're not a very nice person." Dudley turned red and dragged his friends away. "Like I would ever listen to a beached whale like him," she muttered.

Harry, somewhat startled by this girl, laughed, causing the girl to smile. "Why does he hate you so much?"

"He's my cousin," Harry mumbled. The girl winced in sympathy. "Still, the whale is nothing compared to the elephant."

"Your uncle?" the girl laughed.

"Accompanied by my aunt, the horse." Both the kids exploded into giggles, causing Dudley to turn around and glare at them. Neither noticed.

"I like you," the girl said. "We should be friends. Or best friends."

"Best friends?" Harry repeated. "I've never had a best friend before." Actually, he'd never had a friend before, but she didn't need to know that.

"Neither have I," the girl said. "But my sister has, and she said they're nice. But first I need to know your name."

"I'm Harry," he said. "Harry Potter."

"Beatrice Dupont, but you can call me Bea. I hate my name."

The bus finally pulled up. Bea grabbed Harry's hand, much to his surprise, and started running towards the bus. "Come on, Harry! I wanted to sit in the back."

Harry just laughed and followed his new best friend onto the bus.

Tess smiled. "That sounds like something Bea would do. What happened to her sister?"

Harry shrugged. "Don't know. For all I know, she's stilling living at Privet Drive."

"Harry?" Adrianna asked gently. "What was her nickname?"

Harry's tone was very soft when he replied, "Sunshine." He turned to his long-forgotten breakfast, signaling the end of this particular conversation. His friends followed suit, all their heads spinning with new information. To even his closest friends, Harry Potter was a puzzle wrapped in an enigma.