Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Family unknown ❯ Getting back to normal ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/N: I like this story idea and I hope you will too. It's post OotP On with the fic.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, it's all someone else's, except for my original character, but even then she's based off other people.

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(Number 4 Private Drive)

Harry lay on his bed. It was the same thing he'd been doing since he got home that summer. Sirius was gone, and no one else mattered. It was as if someone had ripped a large amount of intestine out of him, and left a giant, gaping, bleeding hole. The Dursleys started out being angry with him for not moving; now he thought they were truly afraid of him. That, of course, made absolutely no sense. The “boy-who-lived” didn't care one bit though all he was aware of was the emptiness.

“Boy…” His uncle called nervously through the door. “Dinner is on the table, so come down, we don't want those freaky friends of yours thinking we mistreat you. And don't even think of writing that godfather of yours!”

Harry rolled over. Leave it to Vernon to pore salt into his wound. But something changed in him, it had been three weeks since he got “home”, and he hadn't moved from his bed (except for the necessary bathroom breaks), but today he stood up. His knees almost buckled under the weight of his own slight form though, he hadn't used his muscles a lot lately.

He slowly walked to the door he walked to the bathroom and washed his face, then brushed his teeth. After that he trudged downstairs to the kitchen. His relatives looked up in surprise as he sat down at the table, for once they actually looked at him through dinner, even though their looks weren't exactly what he'd always wanted them to be when they gazed upon him. Fear and awe were the looks he received now.

“What?” he asked. His voice startled even himself. It was so out of use it sounded raspy and evil. The anger and malice he felt towards the universe was obvious in his voice. It sounded more like a Death Eaters voice than Harry Potter's.

“Nothing.” Petunia squeaked, and looked back at her food.

“So today at the office…” Uncle Vernon started one of his business stories, bringing the situation back to normal, and the three muggles ignored Harry's presence. Just like the good old days.

After supper, Harry actually volunteered to do the dishes. What the hell else is there to do? He attempted to not think of his godfather, but his mind drifted to one time they did the dishes after the meal at Sirius' place. Molly had been wiped out, and his godfather didn't know the spell to make the dishes ash themselves. Of course there wasn't a dishwasher, so they were stuck doing them by hand.

It had been fun, and Harry was filled with a happy felling and regret at the same time. He sighed and filled the dishwasher with the soup it used.

He then trudged upstairs to his room and opened his curtains. He had sent Hedwig to Ron to be taken care of, but now he wanted her back. He instead gazed out the window and tried to find shapes in the night's clouds. He saw a wonky one that seemed to be moving faster than the other. Then he realized it wasn't a cloud, it was coming at him, so it must be an owl. Te dark brown owl flew through his window, barely missing his head.

“What the..?” He started, and then saw the writing on the outside of the letter. It was Dumbledors handwriting.

He briefly considered not reading it, but then he thought that it might be something important, or someone else could have died.

The letter read:

Dear Harry,

I'm sorry. I know that it won't help but I am. This letter isn't for that though, so I must get on with the news. I have discovered something that will be of great importance to you, and would like to speak to you immediately. This letter is a portkey, and will activate to transport you to Hogwarts, when you say butter biscuits, so I will see you soon. After our chat you will be taken to the burrow to spend the rest of your summer with the Weasleys. Please tell the Dursleys you are going, we wouldn't want them to panic.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledor

Harry snorted at the last line. The only reason Vernon and Petunia would panic is they'd think that he was going to come back and kill them someday. He went downstairs o tell the anyway.

“I'm leaving now, I won't see you till next summer.” He said, once he arrived in the living room holding the letter.

“Fine, don't forget your things here, I won't spend the money to ship them to you.” Vernon, said not looking up.

“I'll send for them later.” Harry said with a shrug, “Butter biscuits.”

The portkey worked right away, but he saw the look of confusion on his “family's” face before he left. This method of magical travel always made him a little sick.

He landed gracefully on his feet in Dumbledor's office.

“What do you want with me?” He demanded as soon as he saw the elderly wizard on the other side of his desk.

“Just to tell you something Harry.” Albus said calmly. “Some new information has appeared and we would like you to know first off.”

At hearing the “we”, Harry looked around and saw that the Weasly's, Hermione, and Neville were all there, looking at him in shock. He realized that his appearance must have been horrible, and was a little self conscious, but he was still a lot angry.

“It seems that someone we thought was dead a long time ago is alive, and safe.” Dumbledor went on, “Your mother had a brother, who is a muggle, and we thought he'd been killed by Voldemort 17 years ago, but that's just what he wanted us to think. You see, he was very protective of your mother, and was devastated when she died. He went into a deep depression, and left the country, changing his name. Paul moved to the U.S. and never had any contact with the magical world again, until now.”

“And why should I care?” Harry interrupted rudely. “You can't replace Sirius and get your Chosen one back like that, it's not the same and I will never trust you again.”

“That's not it Harry!” Hermione said quickly, “We don't want to replace Sirius, we just thought that you might want to meet your cousin.”

His jaw dropped. Cousin? What could this be, he had no other family than the Dursley's.

“Cousin?” Harry asked in an awed voice.

“Yes Harry, as Miss Granger has said, you have a cousin. Paul's daughter. She has decided to come to England for her schooling, because Hogwarts is a very prestigious school after all. Her father was very pleased when they discovered that she is a witch. I guess it must run in the family.” Dumbledor said smugly.

Harry didn't look at him, he was looking at the floor. Family. He was amazed. It was like he'd been told he wasn't alone anymore, and it made him happy. His heart was still bleeding from his godfather, but his new cousin was working like a sponge to catch the blood and help clean up the wound.

“She'll be arriving at our house sometime this week Harry.” Ron said happily. “She's a first year, so be nice. Hey, now we can complain about female relatives!”

Ginny hit Ron upside the head, but Harry laughed. He actually laughed. Today was different than any other. Today, Harry was himself again.

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A/N: It's not wonderful, but I hope someone likes it. Please read and review.