"Dad." Bluey asked Bandit as they where preparing to go to Uncle Stripe and Aunt Trixie's house.

"Yeah mate?"

"How come Harry wasn't with his mum and dad? But with his Aunt and Uncle who where mean to him?"

Bandit sighed. He wondered which one would ask first. He got on one knee.

"Kiddo do you remember the budgie we found and took to the vet?"

"Yeah, it died." Bluey said sadly.

"Sometimes, life can be very cruel. It isnt always fair and It took Harry's mum and dad from him very young and thats why he was with those mean dogs."

"Oh." Bluey said sadly. Picturing a baby harry crying for his mum and dad. Being ignored by the grownups.

"But now he has Uncle Rad and Aunt Frisky." Bandit reassured her. "Not only them, but all of us. And we're gonna make sure he knows he's loved and valued."

"Yeah!" Bluey agreed eagerly.

Bandits phone rang.

"Speak of the Devil. Its Uncle Rad." Bandit showed Bluey Rad's face on his phone as it rang his ringtone.

"Yallo." Bandit answered his phone.

"They made him cook for them." Came Rads tired voice.

"i gotta take this in the office." Bandit told Bluey."

"Okay. Tell Uncle Rad I said hi!" Bluey waved.

"Bluey says hi." Bandit says as he walked off. "In my office door locked. What did you just say?"

"It gets worse every day Bands. We where at Mum and Dads, he's an instant hit mum and dad love him. Mum says she'll tell him stories about our childhoods if he's Nana's little helper with lunch and he starts acting like a litte robot going to the kitchen turning on the oven and cutting tomatoes like he's fucking Gordon Ramsey! When Frisky asked what he was doing he said "I'm a good boy."

Bandit sat down. It just gets worse. "You gotta find him a therapist mate."

"I know." Rad said on the other end with a sigh. "How could My Tuney do this Rad? How could she do this to her own flesh and blood?"

"Look Brother, dont beat yourself up over this you had no idea the boy existed until now." Bandit said. "I'm sure if Lily knew you existed she'd have rather he gone to you than that lousy [HONK]fire even if she didnt know you."

"Yeah from what we know about their family history and it isnt alot by the way, they where estranged for years by the time Lily and her husband James passed.

"How did Lily and Petunia get estranged?" Bandit asked.

"Something about being picked for a prestigous boarding school in Scotland. Being picked for this school runs in families apparently so we should be expecting contact from them by the time Harry turns or ten or eleven."

"A prestigous boarding school, runs in families?" Bandit thought with his voice. "Curiouser and Curiouser said Alice."

"No kidding. Lily's public records just drop after eleven years old and we cant find anything on James Potter apparently they met there at school and where Head Boy and Head Girl together in their final year. Thats all we know. They graduate, get jobs, get married, Have Harry, die somehow and he winds up in Petunia's custody."

"Well i mean they did go to a private school, comes with the territory i expect." Bandit suggested.

"You know its weird Bands we cant find anything on their deaths either no family announcement or anything." Bandit heard clicks from Radley's mouse.

"Are you checking newspaper records where the family lived?" Bandit suggested as he sat on his yoga ball.

"Yeah, The Evans lived at Number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey they gave it to Petunia and Vernon as a wedding gift."

"Is that where Lily, James and Harry lived?"

"You know I dont know." Rad said in sudden understanding. "I did find one thing."

"Whats that?"

BWIP

Bandit clicked the messages on his computer to see a link to a small village newspaper article.

"Elderly wife and husband die in housefire explosion. It was about the Evans. They had moved to a small village called Godrics Hollow when they gave Vernon and Petunia 4 Privet Drive. "Rad, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, fuck The Evans they abandoned me when i was Harry's age." Rad reminded Bandit. "Mum and Dad are my Forever Parents, Is it weird a part of me does feel bad?"

"No I don't think so." Bandit said. "They where your mum and dad for your formative years mate. Of course there's a part of you that still misses them."

"I wish i could go and tell them fuck you myself if they where still alive and kicking. But i could settle for pissing on their gravemarkers."

"There ya go." Bandit agreed. "If Harry gets contacted and goes to this boarding school all us Heeler Brothers will go to over england and take a nice long piss on the Evans graves."

"I'll see you at the barbie." Rad said.

"See ya mate." Bandit hung up.

"What did Uncle Rad want?" Bluey asked. When Bandit came downstairs.

"He was doing research on Harry's family and wanted my advice on where to go, he was stuck." Bandit said simply.

"Okay." Bluey said as she went back to her cartoons.

"Everything okay with the new parents?" Chili asked as she came in with Bingo.

"Come into my office." Bandit said. "Bingo stay here with Bluey."

"Okay." Bingo said as she sat with Bluey .

"They find out more and more as time goes on." Bandit told Chili and he relayed to her the story of Harry cutting tomatoes.

"Oh my God." Chili said. Putting her hand over her mouth.

"Yeah God only knows what else happened to that poor kid." Bandit said.

"Well, at least he's with a real family now who knows how to treat children." Chili said holding Bandit's trembling hand in support. "I saw Harry that first day Bandit he was a scared little boy terrified of being around strangers. But once we brought him home and he began to open up more and let some of that scared, lonely boy out to play with Bluey and Bingo i saw him so relaxed and playful he began to fill with brightness and a joy i could only describe as well, hope."

"Our girls are amazing." Bandit beamed with Pride at the family photo on his wall.

"They sure are." Chili agreed with a smile.

Saturday came quick. Tio quick for Harry's liking. Mum and Dad packed him into the car and they took off into town. They where going to Uncle Stripe and Aunt Trixie's house for a barbie. A barbecue in the Queens english. Dad had bought adult beverages as it was tradition in the Heeler family that new Dads bring adult drinks to the next family barbie.

Little Harry was very very nervous. There was always the possibility of another Vernon, Petunia and Dudley no matter how much Mum and Dad tried to reassure him they would never endanger him. He knew way too young how Dogs could hide their true faces from others with how the Dursleys acted towards the neighbors and how they acted when the door closed.

They pulled into a lovely home's driveway with three 4 cars already in it. Harry heard excitement in the backyard.

"Sounds like fun already." Radley encouraged the boy as he unbuckled Harry's safety seat. Until he grew he would have to use it.

"There's the man of the hour!" A Blue Heeler Harry hadn't met yet answered the door. "Frisky!" He hugged Harry's mum. "And this must be the newest member of the family! Nice to meeta ya kiddo I'm your Uncle Stripe."

"Oooooohhhhh." Harry understood Bandit and Stripes naming now. Uncle Stripe had a stripe running through his fur around his belly, Uncle Bandit had a mask like fur pattern on the top half of his face. "Hi." Harry said nervously,

"Uncle Stripe, we want to play on the slippy slide!" Bluey said running up in a bathing suit

"Coming Bluey. Hope ya brought a bathing suit kiddo. We got some wet toys in the backyard."

Rad smiled at Harry's hopeful look as he brought around a small boys bathing suit. Harry smiled wide as he took it and went with Bluey outside jumping into it as he ran.

"Thanks for the heads up about the water toys." Rad said as they carried the beer inside.

"No problem, we wanted the litlte guy to have a fun afternoon with his cousins."

"This is Muffin." Bluey introduced Harry to a small Heeler. Not Blue exactly like her dad. "Thats her sister Socks. She's one. She's still a baby."

"Woof Woof!" Socks said happily. Socks looked more like their dad. Socks jumped on Harry and started licking his face making him laugh.

"How come your not a Heeler?" Muffin asked bluntly. Talking about obviously that he was a Beagle not a Heeler, Red or Blue.

"Muffin." Bluey warned in a be nice tone.

"My Mum and Dad adopted me." Harry explained. "Like Nana and Grandad Bob adopted Dad."

"Oh." Muffin said. "How come you arent with your real mummy and daddy?"

"Muffin!" Bingo said, sterner this time.

"What?" She asked.

"I dont know. I dunno what happened to my mummy and daddy my auntie and uncle always told me they died in a car crash." Harry said. "Its how i got this." He parted the fur on his forehead.

"Ooooo." The girls said as they saw the pretty scar on his forehead shaped like lightning.

"They're just talking." Bandit told Rad as he joined the grown ups on the lanai. "Looks like its going well. Socks likes him at least."

Rad smiled as he watched his son talking with Muffin.

His son.

"Oh God. Bands I'm a Dad now." Radley said in shock. It suddenly just hit him he was responsible for a child's life. The past month was a whirlwhind of emotion.

"Easy." Bandit said. Realizing what just hit Rad. "Mate your gonna be a great Dad. Harry's only been with you and Frisky for a month and he's already thriving."

"Thanks Bands." Rad said as Stripe joined them.

Rad, Bandit and Stripe watched their kids playing on the slippy slide together. Giggling and laughing. "Come on, someone's gotta compliment my grilling." Stripe said as he left.

"Right behind ya mate." Bandit said.

Rad stood there on the lanai sipping his beer watching over the kids playing on the slippy slide while he smelled grilling meat.

To be continued...