Chapter Four: Welcome to the Family

Present Day (August 6th, 2012)

Opening his eyes, Harry found himself looking at the ceiling. The cold floor beneath his back felt refreshing as he stretched and climbed to his feet. While it wasn't every day that he dreamt about the island, it was strange to look back and know that was how he and Oliver had met. What a long, crazy ride they'd both been on. Now, what exactly brought the thought of their arrival on the island to mind, he wasn't sure. Normally it was during meditation where he recalled his journey to this point, but this time, he wasn't too sure. Walking in front of the mirror, Harry eyed the scar tissue that traced his entire body.

Survival comes with baggage, Harry. Are you prepared to carry that with you for the rest of your life?

The question echoed in his mind for a moment as he turned to look at his right bicep. With a wipe of his hand and a whisper of a concealment charm a unique brand appeared out of thin air. It held deep respect and a sense of belonging that he'd never felt before in ways he couldn't quite explain. The answer to that question was what led him to this tattoo, and he had no regrets over his choice. He smiled, as he whispered the charm's name again and the tattoo began to disappear, along with his other tattoos. Right now, he couldn't show them without raising suspicion over how he got them. After all, he was almost thirteen when he went missing and was supposed to be on the island for five years. The detail on every tattoo would require far more hours than what he had available from the moment they were picked up by those fishermen. Originally just the brand on his bicep was supposed to be charmed, but Harry had been under the age of eighteen, so he figured the rest of them needed to be done in case they did go back to living publicly and not as shadows or castaways.

Just as the pigment of his skin returned to normal, the door to his room opened up revealing Thea. "Uh... whoa, I'm so sorry..." she gulped, turning bright red as Harry curiously raised an eyebrow. "Haha, I was supposed to tell you that Oliver wants to uh, he wants to talk to you downstairs."

"It's alright," he chuckled, reaching into his dresser drawer and pulling out a shirt. "Look, not that the attention isn't pleasant, but why are you staring?"

Thea almost let out a squeak as her eyes moved away from his muscular physique and just pointed downstairs. It almost felt like she was going to leave, until he watched with disdain as her eyes grew wide with shock. It was all too apparent she finally noticed the scars spaced out across his torso, and just like that he felt his blood turn cold.

"Wh-what happened to you?!" she asked, rushing over to him, making him stand up straight with a bit of unease at her gesture seeing how they were now only a few inches apart as she examined him like some weird science experiment. "Was this when, when you were with Ollie?"

"I don't want-" he quickly grabbed her hand gingerly as she came close to one of the burn scars on his abdomen. Letting out a deep breath, Harry lowered his voice to keep his composure. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"How are you even alive? You were a kid..." Harry rolled his eyes. So much for him not wanting to talk about it.

"Chalk it up to luck, I suppose..."

Thea scoffed. "This," she motioned at the scars, "isn't luck. It's a miracle."

"That depends on how you look at it," Harry said with little to no emotion in his voice as Thea suddenly realized how close she was to him, backing up to the door with a cough as if to clear the air.

"Like I said, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have barged in without knocking. Ollie wants to talk to you when you come downstairs," she turned around, trying to hide her cherry red face as she darted out the door. Harry smiled slightly at the teen's embarrassment.

And here I thought I was awkward, he thought as he put the black t-shirt on. Deciding it was time to go downstairs, Harry walked out of the room towards the staircase. As he descended, he could see Oliver speaking to Thea, who seemed rather distracted at the moment.

"Morning," Harry greeted as Thea turned to face him and quickly darted off again. Oliver chuckled, turning to face him.

"Morning. What was that all about?" Oliver asked to which Harry shrugged.

"I don't know, but Thea said you wanted to talk."

Oliver smiled, motioning towards the patio. "Yeah, but there's something else I want to ask you first."

As they stepped onto the patio, Oliver shutting it behind them, Harry could see the body language shift in his brother, removing the facade he'd been wearing the entire time. "Alright... why haven't you called Hermione or Ron? I figured that was something you would have done when we got back to the mainland. What's the issue?"

Harry crossed his arms. "There's no issue, Ollie. Look, I can't bring them into this. It's better that I don't talk to them, and they get to keep the memory of their childhood friend intact. Besides, I don't need the Ministry of Magic breathing down my neck."

"Okay. If you ever change your mind about letting them know, I'll help you out. Did you talk to Sirius yet?"

"Not yet, last time I talked to him he was working at the Leaky Cauldron under an alias. All things considered, life's been good for him since we got him out of Azkaban."

"I'm glad. You know, I never said anything but that was a hell of a breakout."

"Well, they never said dementors weren't able to be killed by arrows." Harry laughed, a faint chill from the memory of that night running up his spine. "So, do you remember that thing he gave me before we left England?"

"Uh... that scrying mirror or whatever it was called?"

"Yeah. I can check on whoever I think of with it. It's the only way I'll know how Ron and Hermione are without making contact with them, but I'm not going to use it unless it's necessary."

"Emergency only?" Oliver asked.

"Emergency only." the teen repeated with a nod. "So, hit me with it. What'd you want to actually talk about?"

"I wanted to let you know that I'm going to lunch with Mom, so I probably won't be around for a bit. If you need to find me quickly, use the mirror, but I'd rather you just call. That whole all-seeing eye magic creeps me out; I can't help but think of Sauron ever since I watched Lord of the Rings."

"Alright, not a problem. I'm sure I'll find something to do in the meantime," Harry gave a sly smirk in response, patting Oliver on the back as he turned around to go back inside and proceeded towards the kitchen.

Getting a drink, he heard the soft footsteps behind him. Shutting the fridge, he turned around to see Thea. "Hi."

"Hey, I wanted to apologize about earlier..." she gave a smile, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. "I didn't mean to act that way."

"Which earlier are you talking about? When Oliver got home or when you came into my room without knocking?"

"Uh... both? First off about when you first showed up-"

Harry held a hand up to stop her. "Look, I get it. It's your brother, he was missing for five years. If I were in your shoes I would have done the same thing. Family takes first priority, no matter what."

"Huh," Thea smiled lightly. "I wasn't sure if you'd be upset about that or not, but still I do want to apologize for barging in your room without knocking, it wasn't right. I shouldn't have done that, and I definitely shouldn't have asked about your scars. Who knows, maybe I could make it up to you?"

"It's alright," he smiled softly, getting an idea of what she was hinting at. He wasn't trying to get on Oliver's bad side, not to mention that there was someone else he was content with at the moment. "You don't need to do anything, and look... There's a reason why I don't want to talk about them. A lot of them came from when we were on the island. I don't want anyone feeling worse about what we went through there."

"Wait, does... does Ollie have scars like that?"

Suppose it's not far-fetched to connect the dots... Harry set his glass down and crossed his arms solemnly. "Surviving always leaves scars."

Without another word, Harry took his leave, leaving Thea there to watch him, raising an eyebrow at the teen.

The Queen Manor was exceptionally quiet, it allowed Harry to clear his mind with ease. After spending an hour meditating and then running around the perimeter of the property he had just gotten back, sweat running down his forehead. Walking into the living room, he could see the television playing a news broadcast with an image of Oliver and him leaving the hospital yesterday.

"Oliver Queen alive! The infamous Starling City resident was found by fishermen along with an unknown young man in the Yellow Sea on the island of Lian Yu, five days ago... five years after being presumed dead in the terrible accident. Queen's father, Robert Queen, was confirmed to have died in the accident. At this time, there are only two confirmed survivors of the Queen's Gambit."

The photo of the two men was enlarged, and all Harry could think about was how emotionless he looked. After everything he'd been through it didn't bother him to see all that attention, but he'd need to start acting properly so people weren't suspicious. A normal person would show some kind of emotion.

"Welcome to the Queen family, that happens a lot with us," Thea piped in as she walked into the room with something hidden in her hand.

"Believe it or not, I was on the news quite a bit where I used to live, so this is normal."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, the cameras loved my family." Harry chuckled, lying through his teeth, though not entirely. In Little Whinging, he was nothing more than a measly mouse, but in the Wizarding World he was a celebrity.

"You don't seem like the type." Thea smirked as Harry shrugged.

"Dad was a sports star and Mum was the local humanitarian. They were the talk of the town, so it was natural I got brought into it."

"Where exactly did you live?"

"Godric's Hollow, a small town in West England. It's gorgeous in the winter, you should go there someday."

"I'll keep that in mind," she nodded, before holding her hand out. "However, not meaning to change the subject at all, but Ollie wanted me to give this to you."

Opening her hand, Harry could see it was a silver watch. Guessing from the look on her face, it must have not been Oliver's, but rather Robert's. Taking it gingerly and putting it on his wrist, he could see Thea turn her gaze away momentarily. "This belonged to Robert, didn't it?"

"Yeah," she replied, not looking up to meet his gaze. "He gave it to Ollie on his 18th birthday."

"If it's bothering you that I have this, you could-"

"No!" she held her hands out towards him in defense. "No-no-no, it's not that you have it, it's just I didn't expect Ollie to give you something Dad got for him."

"I'm sure he has his reasons, but if it's any consolation, I'll take good care of it. After all," he reached up to his neck to reveal the bloodstone arrowhead necklace Sara had given him. "I've been wearing this since the time I was at least fourteen."

"Where'd you get it?"

"Oh, it was on the island. Found it in the sand. Thought it was pretty cool and took some string I had in the bag I saved and made a necklace out of it. After we got rescued, I got a chain so it wouldn't break," he explained.

"It's beautiful."

"I thought so too. It's been a good luck charm for me, so I never take it off."

Thea laughed, poking the watch on Harry's wrist. "Maybe this can be one too."

"Maybe, who knows?"

Harry took his jacket off, laying it on the back of the couch for the moment as Thea thought back to his comments about his parents.

"Look, um... don't take this the wrong way, but where's the rest of your family?" she asked, as Harry sighed and frowned.

"My parents were killed when I was a kid, and I went to live with my aunt and uncle. They were on the yacht that night, so... they're all gone." He explained, a little too nonchalantly for his own good.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, really. You wanted to know, and I've gotten over it, so it's not a big deal." Harry couldn't have been lying any more at that moment. Truth was he hated bringing up his family, no matter which side it was. The image of Vernon swimming through the water after Dudley that night was something that still haunted him in that moment. Part of him knew that he couldn't have done anything in that moment, but back then Harry was still the golden boy, wanting to help no matter who they were. Even now, he couldn't help but feel that they didn't deserve to die that way.

"You know, you're different from the other guys I know," she pointed out as Harry gave a sly grin.

"I would hope so. If everyone acts like they were stuck on an island for five years, I'd probably be worried."

"True."

From the other room they could hear voices in the distance as the front door shut. "Pretty sure on Lost, they're all dead I think," an unfamiliar male voice called out, prompting Harry and Thea to walk towards the hallway, as he instinctively grabbed his jacket to take with him. Oliver had just walked into the room with his best friend Tommy Merlyn, (Harry recognized him only because of a photo he'd seen in Russia that Oliver had snatched from the Manor during his brief trip to Starling a couple years ago.) and from the look of it their friendship was just as strong as it was the day he went missing.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked, tilting his head.

"I guess it was like Purgatory or something, I have no clue..." Tommy shrugged, as Oliver turned and looked at Harry, with the same deadpan expression at the mention of Purgatory. Purgatory, huh? "Probably shouldn't be talking about a show where people are stuck on an island, should I?"

"Hey, it's okay." the playboy waved it off, as Thea stepped past Harry and practically bounced to a stop.

"What was it like there?"

The long awkward pause that followed made Harry want to facepalm, but he didn't as he merely leaned against the doorway. With Moira and Walter walking into view, it seemed like everyone was waiting for an answer.

"Cold," Oliver explained.

"Wet..." the other castaway added. Seemingly all at once, it seemed Harry had finally caught Tommy's attention, and Oliver certainly noticed.

"Tommy... I'd like to meet my friend, Harry. He was on the island with me," Oliver motioned to Harry, as the teen waved awkwardly.

"Nice to meet you." Harry smiled.

"Likewise, thanks for keeping my best bud alive."

"I don't know if I could take credit for that." Tommy nodded and turned back to Oliver clapping his hands together.

"Alright! Tomorrow you and me are doing the city. You've got a lot to catch up on," Oliver glanced over to Harry for a split second to see him examining the watch, "and Harry can come if he wants to. Who knows, maybe we can finally upgrade to the Three Musketeers status like I've been wanting for years."

Oliver let out a nervous chuckle. "I don't know if either one of us would be prepared for nights like that."

"Oh, come on, it'll be fine! I see great things in our future."

Harry raised an eyebrow. I think your divination needs a little work, Tommy... "Hey, Walter. I was hoping to swing by the office tomorrow, if you don't mind," Oliver called out to his stepfather as Walter gave him a funny look.

"Well, there is plenty of time for all that Oliver. Queen Consolidated isn't going anywhere any time soon."

Discreetly, Harry made his way to the door to step out onto the porch and sat down, feeling the cool countryside air hit his face. This, the wide-open area, no tightly packed concrete jungle to close him in… it reminded him of a place he considered a second home. Taking in a deep breath, Harry laid back on the porch and watched the clouds go by.

After an hour of lying there, Moira opened the door and looked down at him with surprise. "Everything alright, dear?"

"Yeah, I was watching the clouds." Harry assured her as he climbed to his feet.

"Okay, I just wanted to let you know that dinner is about ready."

"I'll be right in, thank you."

"...so Dad had to come bail me out. How was I supposed to know that it wasn't a stripper?" Tommy shrugged, earning a laugh from the Queens as they ate. Moira had given a well-earned eye roll that only a mother could give. Harry smiled as he took a bite of the steak on his plate.

To be truthful, he hadn't expected to feel as comfortable as he did at the table with them, but they certainly made it easy enough for him. Sitting there at the long dining table, Harry had an image of the Great Hall flash through his mind for a moment. Hogwarts might have been much larger than the Manor, but it gave the same sense of family.

"See, Harry... this is what Tommy wants to drag you into," Thea laughed.

"Hey, it's not always like that, I promise!" Tommy held his hands up in defense as Oliver glanced over to his brother.

"Tommy, to be fair... we've had more than our fair share of charges."

"Dude!" Tommy hushed. "Not helping!"

"So, Harry..." Walter spoke up about halfway through the meal. "Tell us a little about yourself."

Harry tilted his head side to side for a moment, debating on what to say. "Not a whole lot to say really."

"I'm sure there's plenty you could say. Where are you from?"

"Well, I grew up in a small town in West England called Godric's Hollow. When I was about six, I moved to Little Whinging with my aunt and uncle. It's about 50 miles away from London if I recall properly."

"Aunt and uncle?" Moira asked.

"Uh, yeah... around that time my parents were killed, so I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle," he explained, his voice softening slightly. Looking over at Oliver, he saw the same expression that was always on his face when he heard about Harry's parents. It was a deep sadness and regret that Harry could never understand the source of, but he was thankful for it, nevertheless.

"I'm so sorry... I didn't mean-" Moira started, until Harry gave a half-smile.

"It's f-fine. I'm not upset about it. Most people don't ask about my parents, so it's a nice change of pace."

You can thank the Dursleys for that. They made sure I was never around long enough to have anyone ask questions.

"Growing up in Godric's Hollow I didn't get to have a pet, but after moving in with my aunt and uncle I did get to have an owl."

"An owl?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Her name's Hedwig. Got her as a birthday present for my eleventh birthday."

"Do you know where she is now?"

"Before I came to the States, I asked a friend to watch her for me, but other than that I don't really know where she is. For all I know she could have been released."

Tommy tilted his head in confusion. "Wait, if you're British, where's your accent?" Harry was honestly surprised out of everybody that Tommy was the first one to say anything.

"I guess spending all that time around Oliver must have made me lose it, I couldn't tell ya," he shrugged in response.

"Trust me, you get Harry angry or flustered enough, the Brit comes out..." Oliver piped in. "We got a fire going one night and I accidentally put it out. I've never heard the word 'twat' with that heavy of an accent nor the conviction he had."

"Twat?" Thea asked, chuckling. "That's a new one, Ollie."

"Maybe for you, I heard that for years."

"Bloody hell..." Harry muttered under his breath, as Oliver snapped his fingers.

"See what I mean?"

"Whoa... that is one badass scar on your forehead," Tommy abruptly pointed out as the family all turned to look at Harry's iconic scar. "I bet that has one hell of a story behind it."

"I... I'd rather not talk about that, if you don't mind." Harry's voice became unnervingly dark and his eyes went down towards the floor. Even though he wasn't ashamed of his scars, Harry didn't like to talk about the one on his forehead. It wasn't even a lightning bolt; it was the pattern a wand user did when they cast the killing curse. "C-can I be excused for a moment?"

"Of course," Moira nodded as Harry stood up and walked out of the room, everyone looking in his direction.

"Huh, way to go Tommy." Thea grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Hey, I, I didn't know."

After the awkward ending to their dinner, Moira was afraid that they'd pried too much into Harry's past. The moment that scar got brought up Moira could see the change in every aspect of Harry's being. While not knowing the source behind the scar, she knew it must have been something horrible for him to react that way. Seeing as Oliver and the rest of the household had gone about their business for the night following Tommy's departure from the property, she was surprised to see Harry helping clean up and do the dishes. It bothered her to see him take it upon himself to do all the clean-up. For a child that had been on an island for five years, he shouldn't have been able to perform those tasks like it was routine.

As he finished wiping the last plate off and set it aside to dry, he slightly turned his head to the side and straightened up. "Mrs. Queen, is everything alright? You've been staring at me for a while," he asked without turning to face her.

"Yes, everything's alright. I just... I wanted to make sure that we didn't pry too much earlier."

"I'm sorry about that earlier, it's just that, the scar is a sore subject for me. It's nothing against Tommy, or any of you really." Harry explained, turning to face her as he dried his hands off, giving a small smile in return. Moira wanted to believe it, but she could tell a fake smile when she saw one. "Besides, I'm not worried about it."

"Are you sure?" she asked, stepping forward. He gave a nod, walking towards the table. He looked over and saw the worry in her eyes, stopping in his tracks.

"Hey, are you going to be free for a little bit?" Harry asked, as Moira shook her head. "If you want, we can talk for a bit."

Moira smiled. "I'd like that."

"So, Oliver sees this pheasant after he fell out of a tree, and proceeds to chase it, screaming something about 'serving his king' as the pheasant is running away. Then he literally stops, looks at me from a hundred feet away, and says 'Wait, I'm a Queen... SERVE YOUR QUEEN' before running back after it. I honestly think he hit his head a little too hard."

"While that in itself is concerning, I'm glad to see Oliver hasn't lost that sense of humor after all of that," Moira chuckled. "You know, there was something I wanted to ask you, Harry."

"Go ahead," he nodded.

"The reason I was staring earlier is because I noticed how adept you were with taking over and cleaning up dinner from the help. How do you know that, if you don't mind me asking?"

He lowered his head slightly with a nod. "Well, like I said, after my parents died I went and moved into my aunt and uncle's. I felt obligated to repay them back," Oh-ho... that is THE FARTHEST THING FROM THE TRUTH, "and when I turned ten, I asked my aunt to show me how to do the dishes and that. Doing that, even after five years, it somehow still feels like second nature."

"Hmm, maybe you could teach Oliver a thing or two." Harry could only shrug. "Did you get to talk to Robert any before... before the accident?"

"A little, not a whole lot. I only talked to him enough to get the idea that he was a good man."

"Yes, yes he was. Not without his flaws, but a good man at heart."

"He made sure Oliver and I made it, and I'll never forget that, or repay him for the second chance he gave me."

Later that night..

Harry closed the journal he'd written in for nearly three months now, one in a long line of them. As the rest of the household had fallen asleep, the teen couldn't sleep with his body screaming to get moving. Quietly, climbing out of his window and into the yard Harry zipped up his jacket and took one last look at the mansion, adjusting the bag on his shoulder before racing off into the night at superhuman speeds, headed straight for Starling City.

Sometimes I wonder if saving me was the right choice. However, when I think that it might have been a mistake, I have to make sure that it wasn't. Even if it means I have to hide things from my best friend. His mission to save Starling City might not have started yet, but my mission never stopped... and I have a job to do.