Pulling up into the driveway, the Dursleys got out per usual, with the same amount of grunting, but this time it was more about the ride than the inconvenience. Harry however decided it would be best to stay quiet as that was usually the best way to handle his family. Vernon went around to the back of the car to retrieve his nephew's school trunk as the boy had his hands full with his owl.

As soon as the large man had the trunk on the ground, the Grangers were finished parking in front of the house. Hermione shot out of the car like a stray hex, launching herself at her brother.

"Harry!"

"H-Hermione? What are you doing here? What's with all the excitement? We just saw each other," he said, blushing furiously.

While he was aware that the Dursleys knew that they were 'related' he was extremely unused to public displays of affection. Granted he was unused to and uncomfortable with most forms of physical affection, but with Hermione, it simply felt natural. He thought it might be a little different once they were back amongst muggles, one of his random daydreams where he was allowed to see his friends. Hugging his sister back, he was glad that was not the case.

The only other being who had been allowed the luxury of physical affection from him was actually Hedwig. The snowy owl hooted softly, happily fluffing her feathers at seeing the curly haired witch.

Abagail got out of the car much more dignified, laughing softly at her daughter's antics. It wasn't often that they had seen their daughter behave in such a manner. There weren't many people on her small list of loved ones that deserved that kind of affection. Her brother it appeared was one of those few that deserved it and more. It only further solidified her resolve concerning Harry. Her father was also an exception, but they kept their affections private lest someone think something improper was happening.

"Abagail, what a pleasant surprise. You didn't let me know you'd be showing up," Petunia said as she subtly fixed her dress.

The Duchess smiled at her sister, "What can I say, I thought it would be proper to let him know ourselves. It's a huge change, it would be extremely impersonal and careless to just drop a bomb on him like that."

"Indeed," Leeroy said walking around his car, Elara was perched on his shoulder.

He was surprised at first, but knew that Hermione had given the owl instructions to find Harry. There was a small letter attached to her foot, which Leeroy tried to take, but couldn't. So he decided not to bother with it since he was aware of the enchantments on her bracelet. It was a letter for Harry, so Harry would have to take. In the meantime he was the newest perch.

Vernon flushed at the sight of the other man standing casually with the owl on his shoulder. He didn't want his neighbors to think they were freaks, and here was the Duke walking about with a bloody owl on his shoulder like it was no big deal!

"Let's get inside," he gruffed.

The large man knew he had to play nice with his relatives. He wouldn't explode on his sister Marge, so he wouldn't explode on his sister-in-law Abagail, and he would try to refrain from exploding on her husband. They were good standing British citizens, well to do, and it would behoove them to clash with such people. The Duke and Duchess were people they had been working hard all their lives to meet, not them specifically, but people of their status.

They were family now, which was a boon of itself. Everyone shuffled into the house as quickly as possible, Petunia immediately turning the kettle on as she directed everyone into the living room, including Harry.

Harry was surprised and waiting for the other shoe to drop, but did as he was instructed. He was only allowed in the living room when he was cleaning it.

The Grangers were making themselves comfortable on the couch, as Dudley sat on the floor nearest to the TV and Vernon in the chair. Harry stood awkwardly until Dudley lightly tapped the floor next to him. Taking a breath and hoping that he wasn't following the wrong cue, Harry sat next to his cousin on the floor, but was facing the Grangers.

The kettle whistled for a few seconds before Petunia came out with the tea tray. Upon it was Petunia's finest porcelain tea cups and silver. They were a wedding present from her parents, and their only appearances thus far had been for Vernon's boss and his wife.

She placed the tray on the coffee table and passed out cups, taking her own last as she was able to fiddle with the cup to hide her fidgeting.

"I'm not sure how you take you tea, but I remembered that you were dentists so I didn't bring out the sugar."

Abagail smiled, "Thank you, Petunia! My daughter and I actually take ours with lemon and honey. Leeroy takes his black," she giggled, "Don't worry though, we're fine with drinking black tea."

"Thank you, Aunt Petunia. You didn't have to," Hermione murmured.

Leeroy simply saluted his new sister-in-law with his cup.

The thin woman blushed pleasantly. So far their first family gathering was going smoothly, and there wasn't any tension. It was like a blessing of what was to come into the future.

The Grangers all started to nurse their tea, taking their time, as Petunia continued to fiddle with her cup, sipping every so often. Dudley and Harry didn't have cups of their own and Vernon cupped it as though he were drinking coffee.

"Hermione, you never answered my question," Harry tried to whisper.

The witch in question however merely smiled at him like the cat who ate the canary. Her eyes glowed merrily and he could feel the giddy warmth that swirled inside her like a tornado. It was such a wonderful feeling that he couldn't help but grin back at his sister, unable to contain her emotions.

"Actually, Harry, we would like to answer that question," Abagail said with her own smile; it wasn't as large as Hermione's, but just as warm.

Looking at his sister's mother with a burning curiosity fit for a first year, his green eyes shined with a bright with that curiosity. The extreme derailment of his normal return for the summer temporarily pushed the darker recent events to the back of his mind.

The Duchess put her hand on Leeroy's knee as though to include him in something he wasn't already a part of.

"In a few days we'll be going to court to gain full legal custody of you. You'll be able to move in with us whenever you want, be it today or after the proceedings. We've already spoken with your family here and were able to convince them that it would be better for you. I've already bonded with your aunt, making us blood sisters, on the off chance that you still need the blood ward to keep you safe. It was more so that it would be a moot point in the terms of the magical protection being an argument to keep you here. In some custody cases though you will be asked which family you want to go to. So the real reason we're here, Harry, is to ask if you would like to be part of our family and live with us?"

The poor wizard could only nod as his bottom lip started to tremble before he bit it. He didn't know what to say. He had always wanted to live somewhere other than the Dursleys, but they had always said he was too much of a freak and no one would want him. Then there was Dumbledore who told him it was necessary due to the blood wards, but they had already taken care of that too. He didn't know Hermione's parents well aside from knowing that they were dentists, but he would get to live with his sister. That would be more than worth it, and considering they had raised her, they couldn't be bad.

The Grangers grinned at Harry's positive response. They could tell he was overcome, but had been trained not to have outbursts of emotions and thus turned a blind eye to it.

"We'll have to get your passport ready," Leeroy said, "We're not going to stay here any longer than we have to."

Harry looked at Mr. Granger with a furrowed brow. Passport? Why would he need a passport to leave the Dursleys?

"Do you not… live in England, sir?" he asked politely.

From their accents and Hermione's knowledge of muggle school, he thought it was safe to assume that they were also English citizens. He had spoken with Fleur and heard her speaking with her classmates. Their English didn't sound like the Queen's English.

Hermione laughed.

"We live in England, Harry. But we're going to our home in France for the summer," she supplied instead.

It wasn't a lie, however she also didn't want the Dursleys to know about the chateau. She felt she was already pushing her luck by mentioning them having more than one home.

"So… does that mean he's going to be rich?" Dudley asked, trying not to look at his cousin.

Hermione frowned a little at the question.

"What are you talking about? Harry may be a halfblood but he comes from a long line of purebloods," Vernon flushed a horrid red at the mention of the magical world, "He's already rich."

It was so quiet they could have heard a pin drop.

Harry flushed looking down at the table. It was one thing he had managed to keep secret because the Dursleys didn't want to know anything about his freak family or want anything to do with it.

Petunia paled, having already known that before taking the boy in. She remembered her sister gushing in a letter about how her wedding could be the way she always wanted it due to not having a fund limit. Instead she looked into her teacup as though it would be able to swallow her up and give her safety.

Abagail frowned a little. She remembered reading in a few papers Miss Burming was able to get for her that the family in guardianship of him should receive a stipend of 5000 pounds a month, or the wizarding equivalent of 1659 galleons, 3 sickles, and 26 knuts.

"Petunia, you don't have to answer me if you don't want to, but… did your family receive a stipend for Harry?" she asked carefully.

Vernon looked at his wife, also wanting to know the answer. He worked hard for his money to support his family, and was much too proud to accept what would essentially be a handout. Granted there were time where he thought that was something that came with being a guardian of an orphan, so he wasn't sure, never having dealt with one aside from the boy.

"No. We just found him on our doorstep one morning with a letter. Once we read it the darn thing burst into fire and nearly startled me half to death!"

Abagail tilted her head ever so slightly, it was something Harry had seen Hermione do numerous times when she was thinking while talking to someone. Usually it was to him, Ginny, or Neville. Like she was trying to read them like one of her books, but had to tilt her head just so to see the words.

"Do you remember what the letter said?" she inquired gently.

Petunia shot a fearful look over to Dudley before looking back at her sister, "I don't remember all of it word for word. I only got to read it once."

"What did it say?"

"It basically said that Lily and her husband were dead and he had to stay with us because of some magical ward that would protect him and us from w-wizards."

"I'm sorry something as important as being informed of deaths was given to you in the form of a letter. Someone could have at least had the nerve to knock on your door and tell you in person!" she tutted, "That's why we're here anyways. How rude," she muttered with a slight sneer on her face.

"It appears that you were also misinformed. Whoever was guardian of Harry was supposed to be receiving at least 5000 pounds a month, to provide for him. I suppose his magical guardian took that as well. He wasn't even on the list in the will," she grumbled, her expression turning dark.

Harry sat dumbfounded and he looked over at Hermione.

Hermione frowned and shook her head letting him know that she didn't know that either.

"We were supposed to receive money for taking care of the boy?" Vernon asked with an odd expression on his face.

"We already agreed what you did was hardly care for him, Vernon," Abagail said coolly.

The larger man blushed before pushing through his gaff, "I was left with the impression that his parents expected us to just take care of him out of the blue."

Abagail sighed, knowing how upset she would be if her sister just dumped her child on her. She mentally rolled her eyes at her niece Phoebe. As much as she disliked her niece she knew she wouldn't have treated her the same that they treated Harry. However her sister would do something like that just to spite her after death.

"No. There was a list of people Harry was supposed to go to in the case of their death. However certain incidents happened that left you the next of kin. It was supposed to be Sirius Black, his godfather," Harry smiled at the mention of the old marauder, "Alice Longbottom, his godmother," his smile slid off his face slowly, "Remus Lupin, was their third choice. There were no others after that."

"Well what happened to them?" Dudley asked, now confused.

"Sirius was arrested without trial, he's being given a trial tomorrow. With the new evidence that Pettigrew is alive, he should be able to walk a free man tomorrow. Remus is a werewolf, it wasn't long before Harry was born that so many anti-werewolf laws went into effect. It's hard for them to get jobs in the community, with so much misinformation the people simply won't take the chance," Hermione answered, "I'm not sure about Neville's mum though…"

"She was cursed by Bellatrix Lestrange. She has a permanent bed at St Mungos in the Janus Thickey Ward…" Harry answered softly.

"Oh," the young witch said.

"Everything happens for a reason, Harry," Leeroy said gently, "Some reasons we might never know."

Harry nodded softly at Mr. Granger's comforting voice.

"Think of it this way, dear. If things didn't happen the way they did, would you and Hermione be bonded? Could you imagine your life without your sister?"

He looked at Mrs. Granger and a gleam came back into his eye. While he would have wanted a better childhood, he wouldn't trade it because it allowed him to meet his sister. His best friend and biggest support system. If it wasn't for her… he didn't even want to think about it.

Without her he wouldn't have survived first year. They wouldn't have known it was a basilisk second year. He wouldn't have been able to save Sirius, Buckbeak, or even himself third year if she wasn't taking so many courses. He wouldn't have survived this year without her help in training and learning all those spells, even solving the clues for the tasks! He probably would have been expelled if it wasn't for her and Dumbledore being so keen on him.

He took a deep breath and smiled at his sister who smiled back. She was definitely worth it.

"I couldn't even if I tried. She's too amazing."

Hermione blushed and stuck her tongue out at him childishly causing him to laugh at her. Abagail simply smiled at her children.

Petunia watched Abagail and Leeroy as they slid into their parenting roles like a second skin. They made it look so easy. If it was her or Vernon they would have simply yelled at him and told him not to ask questions. He didn't ask any questions, but they still comforted him and answered some he might have had. It was gentle and not overwhelming for him. They didn't even have to touch him, as she felt she had to every time she tried to comfort Dudley.

Vernon let out a gruff sigh, which made him sound like a walrus more than it didn't. He would give it to them, they were good parents and they would make good caretakers for the boy.

"Well, you didn't unpack, your trunk and your bird are still in the hallway," he bumbled.

He wasn't used to being nice to the boy. It wasn't his fault, and the Duchess already made it clear that they didn't care for him, so it would be pointless to ask to be reimbursed for all the years he was in their care. It was part of their case, and they were kind enough to not push it farther where they stood a very real chance to lose Dudley. His son was worth more than that and he wouldn't push boundaries trying.

Abagail grinned at her brother-in-law, she could see he was trying, and that was all that matter right now. Harry got up quickly and started to make sure he had everything together. He didn't have much of anything in Dudley's room, almost all he owned that was of value to him was in his trunk.

"We'll see you in court soon. I called our lawyer, we've bumped the date and time. You should have received a phone call, but I'm not sure if you got it or a voicemail. I know you were busy at Hogwarts. We'll see you tomorrow at 7."

"In the morning?" Vernon asked.

"In the morning," Leeroy said with a small sigh.

"If your workplace troubles you too much about the lack of notice, call in sick and I'll give you the quid for the day's work," he said with an easy smile.

Vernon's face started to scrunch up and turn that awful shade of puce that Harry knew so well before Petunia placed her arm on his shoulder. As she was rubbing it soothingly his face turned down to a red.

"We would appreciate that Leeroy," Petunia said instead.

"Please, call me Lee. We're family, we have to look out for each other, right?" he said.

"Right," she said quietly.

"Oh, goodness me. Harry, would you care to go for a walk with your cousin. It'll be a while since you'll see him next," Abagail said.

Dudley looked at his aunt strangely. He didn't want to walk anywhere with him, even if he didn't hate him.

"Go on, son. Say good-bye to the boy. You'll be seeing him on holiday," Vernon said, "and we'll be able to tell him all about your boxing accomplishments then."

Dudley wasn't sure what was wrong with his dad, but he sounded kind of choked up. He was probably holding back some choice words, though. After almost seeing a dead body it was surreal thinking about normal things, such as boxing.

However he got up and walked to the door anyways, his cousin falling in step behind him.

They walked down the street about a block away before either of them said anything. The sun was almost finished setting as they made their way around the neighborhood.

"That was some tournament, a lot longer than mine," Dudley started.

"Yeah," Harry said in a breath.

"My cousin, Her… Her-my– something," he said with a roll of his eyes, annoyed with himself.

"Hermione."

"Yeah, Hermione. Did she really help you in the tournament?" Dudley asked curiously.

"Yeah, she did. She's wicked smart, I wouldn't have survived without her help," he admitted.

"So she saved your life?" he asked.

"No, she helped me save my own life. It's not the same in our world," he said.

"Oh… but she helped you?"

"Yeah. She looked up the spells and helped me practice them and train and stuff," he replied boyishly, "Like a coach would show you maneuvers."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence.

"I think if we weren't cousins, I'd have a chance at her," Dudley said suddenly, as they were walking through a dark side street.

"I doubt it. She's dating an international quidditch star," Harry replied gruffly.

"So she's a groupie? I think she'll wet her knickers for me, I'm a champ after all," Dudley insisted.

"Hermione isn't like that. So stop talking about things you don't know about," Harry said angrily.

"So she's dating a international star, just because?" he sneered.

"She's dating an international quidditch star because she doesn't care that he's famous. That's why he asked her, even with his groupies following him around like cats in heat."

"I'm sure she's dropped her knickers for him."

"That's my sister, Dud. So stop talking about her and her knickers."

"Or what? It's not like she can drop them for me now," he said.

"Shut UP!"

"Or what? You can't do magic outside of your castle freak school, they'll expel you!"

"What if they changed the rules for me because of the tournament?" Harry shot back.

"I– I bet they didn't," Dudley said feebly, looking away from the other boy.

Harry tutted.

"I bet you wouldn't be so brave if you weren't leaving tonight," Dudley said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked with a glare.

"You wouldn't be so brave, reaching out for your sister, who was sitting on a bloke's face."

"She had to have a good grip on him for the portkey."

"So she had to sit on his face? I bet that Cedric kid got a good whiff of her quim."

"She had to have a good grip on three people and the portkey. She broke her wrist getting us back there and all you're thinking about is her knickers!"

"He survived!"

"You didn't know that!"

"So what!? Your sister must be a tart! Even that red headed fat lady thought so!"

"Don't even talk about that again" Harry pushed his cousin against the wall, with his wand pointing under his chin, snarling. "D'you understand me?"

"Point that thing somewhere else!"

"I said, do you understand me?"

"Point it somewhere else!"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM —"

Dudley gave an odd, shuddering gasp, as though he had been doused in icy water.

Suddenly everything was pitch-black dark. There were no lights, no moon, no stars, not even the streetlamps. There were no sounds of any other life, no cars, no people, not even the wind. The hot evening weather was suddenly icy, biting cold.

Harry had a moment of panic thinking that he did accidental magic, but even he knew he didn't have the power to blot out the sky. He tried to see if he could see anything.

"W-what are you d-doing? St-stop it!" Dudley's voice was terrified, Harry could only imagine his face.

"I'm not doing anything! Shut up and don't move!"

"I c-can't see! I've gone blind! I –"

"I said shut up!"

Harry turned around slowly, but kept his hand on his cousin the whole time. He made sure he stayed pressed against the wall. The cold was so intense that his skin had goosebumps and he was shivering. The hairs on the back of his neck and his arms were starting to stand up.

'They can't be here. That's impossible. Why would they even be in Little Whinging.'

He strained his ears, knowing he would hear them before he saw them.

"I-I'll tell Dad!" Dudley whimpered, "W-where are you? Wh-what are you d-doin –?"

"Will you shut up I'm trying to lis– ?" he hissed.

But before he could finish his sentence he heard what he had been listening for. He heard his mother's dying screams. Beyond that they were drawing long, hoarse, rattling breaths. The smell of rancid flesh was coming from down the alley.

"C-cut it out! I-I'll hit you! I swear I will!"

"Dudley, Shut–"

THWAP!

Small white lights were dancing in Harry's vision. Dudley had obviously used his best right hook to hit him in the head. Harry hit the ground, his wand fell out of his grip rolling a little but away.

Harry knew he didn't have time to give into the pain though, not yet.

"Dudley, you fucking moron!" he yelled even as his eyes teared up.

He got onto his knees, feeling for his wand. Once it was safely back in his hand he stood up, still listening to his cousin run and bumble along in the dark.

'He even sounds stupid when he runs.' He thought amazed.

"DUDLEY, COME BACK! YOU'RE RUNNING RIGHT AT THEM!" He yelled, hoping it would make his cousin see sense.

Of course as luck would have it his answer was his cousin's frantic squealing yells.

'Sweet fucking Merlin!'

"DUDLEY KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! WHATEVER YOU DO KEEP IT SHUT! KEEP YOUR MOUTH LITERALLY SHUT!"

He cast a quick lumos to help him see as he ran to his cousin. Thanks to the small light he was able to see a dementor coming to sweep in on him, sucking the air around him.

"Expecto Patronum!" a silver wisp came out.

Harry stumbled back, tripping over his feet, trying to put distance between him and the dementor.

A pair of gray, slimy, scabbed hands slid from the robe reaching for him.

"Expecto Patronum!" another wisp came out.

He could smell the dementor's putrid, death cold breath, that seemed be filling his lungs and drowning him on land.

'Something happy, something happy. The Grangers, a new family, Hermione!'

"Expecto Patronum!"

A brilliant large silver stag shot out of his wand at the dementor. It charged its horns at what would have been its heart, launching it back with a screeching scream.

"This way!" he yelled at his patronus.

"Dudley? DUDLEY!"

He ran towards his cousin, who was curled up on the ground with his arms over his face. The other dementor was grabbing his wrists, appearing as though he was pulling them slowly and lovingly apart, lowering his hood, getting ready to kiss his cousin…

"GET IT!" Harry shouted angrily.

The stag shot off like a rocket and charged its horns at the dementors face, throwing the dark creature into the air like nothing.

The stag came back and walked around the two boys, filling them with a bit of cheer before he disappeared. Suddenly the lights and sound returned, just for Harry to hear feet rushing towards him. He turned around with his wand out prepared to defend himself and his cousin.

Hermione appeared at the end of the alley, Mr. and Mrs. Granger were behind her.

"Harry! Oh, Harry! Are you okay!?" she screamed as she came closer to hug him and reassure herself.

"I felt it, I felt you," she said with her arms around him.

"I'm fine, Hermione, Dudley almost got kissed though," he said.

Leeroy walked past them and checked Dudley's vitals.

"He's cold, sweaty, and his heart-rate is up, but he's alive," he released a breath, "Harry give me a hand with him. Abby, go get the car," he said as he tossed his wife the car keys.

Abagail caught the keys nodded and ran back. On her way she passed an old woman who was running after her cat.

Harry leaned over and helped Mr. Granger pick up his cousin. When he stood up he saw Mrs. Figg.

"Keep your wand out, girl! They could come back," she hissed, "Hurry, we have to get you lot back! This is going to cause trouble that Dumbledore didn't want!"

"You know Dumbledore? You're a witch?" Harry asked his neighbor.

"No I'm not a witch, I'm a squib. Couldn't do a lick of magic to help you. Of course I know Dumbledore, who doesn't?"

Hermione looked over to her brother to check him for shock.

"Never mind the Statue of Secrecy now! This is exactly what Dumbledore didn't want. And it's not even been a day! The Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery my tea-kettle!"

Leeroy kept a careful eye on the squib woman who Harry knew. They were making slow progress due to his nephew's dead weight and the odd placement of weight between them. She obviously knew about Harry, and was keeping contact with Dumbledore. Even though he wasn't in Harry's life, apparently he still 'watched' him and kept tabs on the boy.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a squib?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore's orders. I was to keep an eye on you but not to say anything, you were too young. I'm sorry I gave you such a miserable time, but the Dursleys wouldn't have let you come over again if you enjoyed yourself. But oh my word when Dumbledore hears of this he's going to have a kneazle! I don't even know how to tell him! I can't apparate–"

"I have an owl," Harry said, trying to be helpful.

"Harry, you don't understand! He'll need to act as quickly as possible! The Ministry has their own ways of detecting underage magic, they'll already know!"

"The trace, Harry. Underage wizards and witches have a trace on them if they're not home schooled," Hermione said.

"Surely they'll be more concerned about dementors than a bit of magic?" Harry tried.

Leeroy scoffed at the boy's optimism,

"It's politics Harry, it doesn't work like that. The bigger the issue, the more they want to ignore it. The smaller the issue, the more they'll want to make a mountain out of that mole hill so they can ignore the real issue."

"He's exactly right, I'm afraid," Mrs. Figg said.

"You could floo?" Harry tried again.

"Yes, that I'll do that I'll floo."

Abagail pulled up the car to the alley.

"Thank, Merlin," Hermione said, putting away her wand as the men got Dudley into the car.

"Poor, dear. I hope Petunia doesn't cause too much of a fuss," Abagail said, "She was already fretting when we ran out the house."

Harry groaned at the thought of having to deal with his aunt and uncle. Dudley was almost seriously hurt, almost worse than killed, and he had to face them one more time before he left.

There it was. The other shoe dropped. He knew it. On the bright side, he wouldn't have to stay one more night in their house.