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Family Ties	By : mindovermadness Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 7872 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Disclaimer: I was born in the southern part of the US and have never been to England in my life. I don't own any part of the Potterverse. I don't think I even own the title... I might have snagged it from one of the thousands of fics I've read.

You might need these:
thoughts
{Welsh talking to someone mentallyy}
{{Ephraim talking to Welsh mentally}}
[Harry talking to Welsh mentally]

Chapter Two- Little Brother's Memories

Being back at Hogwarts is bittersweet. Sure this place is the first I ever called home but that was before�

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~thoughts

Before my so called friends let it slip that they only wanted me for my fame. When I fulfilled the prophecy, they were going to use me to get to the top and then ditch me. I should have expected it. I lived with the Dursley�s for years. One of the first things you learn is never to trust what seems too good to be true.

First year, there just happened to be someone talking about Muggles and Hogwarts when I needed to find the train. And what about Ron�s attitude when he met me? The twins had to have seen my scar when they helped me load my trunk on to the train, but Ron made a big deal out of meeting me. What about a muggleborn witch who had already mastered a spell that was more complex than what most eleven year olds should be capable of? Or practicing spells at home when it�s against the Code of Secrecy? How did Quirrel get a Troll to let loose on the school? Hagrid getting the dragon he always wanted and my friends and I smuggling it out of the country. Hermione had the book with information on Nicholas Flamel. McGonagall sets up a chess set as her barrier to the stone, while Ron is one of the best Wizard Chess players in the school. At Christmas, Dumbledore explained how the Mirror of Erised worked and then used it to store the Sorcerer�s Stone. Let�s not forget all the time I spent in the Hospital Wing

Second year, was the year of the Basilisk. We got: a DADA professor who was beyond inept, a demonic house elf, a possessed diary, mandrakes (which can restore anyone who was been petrified), and somehow Hermione knew about Polyjuice Potion in-depth when the only record available was in the Restricted Section of the Library. Saving Ginny getting bitten by a highly poisonous snake, meeting Tom Riddle, finding out how Hagrid got expelled, pulling Gryffindor�s sword from the Sorting Hat, obliviated Lockhart, rogue bludgers, and hospital time. Not necessary in that order.

Third year: Marge the Large balloon, escaped Sirius, werewolves, Marauders Map, Dementors, illegal animagi, an illegally and falsely imprisoned godfather, Peter Pettigrew being alive, Hippogryphs, Time Turners, and Divination�

Fourth Year: TriWizard Tournament, being the fourth champion, facing dragons being abandoned by friends, the school turning against me, fake Moody, Ron being an idiot, Rita Skeeter, the maze, Cedric dieing, Voldemort coming back�

Fifth year was basically a screw up from the beginning. Visions, Dementors, Dudley, the disciplinary hearing, summer at Grimmauld place, Occlumency lessons with Snape, the wizarding world thinking I�ve lost my mind, people calling me a liar, the attack on Arthur Weasley while guarding something for Dumbles, DE meetings, Umbitch and her blood quills, the quidditch ban, the attack on the Department of Mysteries, Sirius falling through the veil�

While I accept that bad things happen, a great deal of what I went through could have been stopped if only the Great and Magnificent Dumbledore the Omnipotent had just stepped in. If he had just told me the truth from the beginning, so much could be different.

Some of the finer points, like how we just happened to be studying the plants or potions or have been exposed to the theory of whatever seemed to happen that year, I didn�t notice until just recently but still I didn�t question it.

That was rule number two in surviving at the Dursley�s. Don�t ask questions.

Let no one say that I never learn. My lessons are learned well and quickly. Keep your head down, don�t ask questions, be seen and not heard. For years the Dursleys� pounded these lessons into my head, many times it was a literal pounding. If I�m so important, why didn�t anyone come to check on me?

What really gets me though is that if Dumbledore really does know everything, why didn�t he know about Peter Pettigrew? Or that it wasn�t the real Alastor Moody in fourth year? Or that Tom Riddle�s diary was controlling Ginny Weasley? Or that Sirius was innocent? What about Quirrel having Voldie on the back of his head? I guess he really doesn�t know anything.

Summer after Fifth Year, I knew I wouldn�t be safe going back to the Dursleys. I petitioned Professor Snape to help me. I let him look at my memories, apologized for looking into his pensieve, and confessed to only wanting to find out what Dumbledore was keeping from me. It took every spare moment either of us had spending together talking but we finally got through everything. Severus was surprised that I hadn�t been in Slytherin after he saw the truth about my life. I told him about the Sorting Hat wanting to put me there. Away from the eyes and ears of the school, Severus and I forged a friendship.

He agreed that the Dursleys� was not a good option, neither was Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore wouldn�t allow me to stay at the school. It was decided that I would spend the summer with Severus at his home in the United States. I accepted readily.

Severus made all the arrangements for our departure including letting my relatives know that I would not be returning. I rode the train to London as always and left the platform before anyone could stop me. Severus and I met up at a coffee shop a couple of blocks away. In the alleyway, my trunk was sent on ahead of us. Severus, in a fit of humor that very rarely surfaces, had created our portkey using a �Get Out of Jail Free� card from a Monopoly game. Laughing at the irony, I grabbed the other end of the card and felt the pull just behind my navel signaling that we were off.

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It was early afternoon when we arrived at our destination.

�Welcome, Harry, to Savannah, Georgia,� Severus told me as he pulled back the front curtains in the living room giving me my first view of my home for the summer.

Outside the windows, cars passed by on cobblestone streets, horse drawn carriages offered tours of the beautiful squares full of trees draped in Spanish Moss and flowers blooming in a riot of color and the cities historic monuments, people passed bye in that small-town-no-big-hurry kind of way contridicting the suits, ties and briefcases many of the had. I couldn�t wait to see more of the city.

�Thank you, Severus. It�s amazing.�

He just laughed and told me we could explore tomorrow after we were settled in, then showed me upstairs to my room. I know I saw a lovely house with perfectly decorated rooms but I was too tired to take it all in. Severus opened to the door to my room and said that he was just across the hall and the bathroom was the door to the right of mine in the hall. The last thing I remember was lying down to test the bed.

The next day, the smell of tea and fresh scones woke me. I stumbled to the bathroom get ready for the day. Dressed in jeans and a green wife beater, I head off to find the source of the wonderful smell that woke me up. Walking downstairs I noticed that the walls were painted in varying shades of light blues and greens with cream accents. The furniture was all of an antique design�what the style was called, I don�t know�and stained a rich Oak color. The kitchen was to the left of the front door while the living room was to the left, the stairs and a hallway separated the two. Walking into the kitchen, my mouth began to water at the smell from the oven. On the table was a plate of scones and jars of homemade jams. From the over issued forth a smell I had never smelled before. It was sweet and fruity and my stomach rumbled with the hunger.

Severus walked in the back door at just that moment.

�Help yourself to some breakfast, Harry. A lovely older woman lives just up the street that makes absolutely delicious jams, jellies, and preserves. Her grandson and his girlfriend have come to vist for a couple of weeks so she made a larger batch and had some to share.� He had walked to the stove by that point. Severus opened the door of the over to check on whatever he was making. Seeing that it was fine he came and sat down with me at the table.

I slathered a scone with peach jelly, a flavor I hadn�t tried, and listened as he explained about where we were and what to expect as far as weather and people. Ten minutes into the conversation he got up to remove whatever it was from the oven and placed it in the window over the sink to cool before coming back to the table and pouring himself a cup of tea which he drained before continueing.

I learned that we were in the southern part of the United Statesand; that it being summer, the weather was going to be hot. I was told that there were plenty of things to do and see outside the house and that I didn�t have to stay inside. I was given a cell phone to use incase of emergencies, shown how to work it, and given any numbers I might need including the hospital and Severus� friend down the road. I was also told that whenever I left the house I was to let Severus know.

I found out later that day that Severus had made peach cobbler for after dinner and that he was going to introduce me to his friend and her grandson.

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Mrs. Adelaide Devereaux was a charming woman with a hearty laugh, kind eyes, and more energy than any 97 year old woman should have. With her brown hair just starting to grey, she passed for someone so much younger. Her house sat back just a bit from the road. It was white with green trim. Two floors, the first with a wrap around porch and the second with a small balcony, both lined with flower boxes full of foxglove and daffodills. Azaleas lined her driveway and her back garden was brimming with roses, lavender, jasmine, and lilac with a lattice arch covered in honeysuckle vines.

When Severus and I came up the walk, we saw a young man with medium brown skin and dressed in blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt sitting in the porch swing (which had been made into a small couch with the addition of legs but was still attached to the ceiling of the porch) engrossed in a thick book. Severus called out to him. The boy�s head jerked up at the call revealing a round face that rapid burst into a smile when he spotted Snape and I.

�Ephraim! Is your grandmother in?�
�Hello, Professor Snape. Yes, she�s inside. She�s trying to teach Ashlynn how to bake. I thought it safer to stay out here. Who�s that with you, Professor?�
�Ah, the illusive girlfriend Addy�s been telling me about. This is Harry, he�s a student of mine at Hogwarts. I brought him with me this summer. Finally brought her home?�
�I was told it was impolite not to. You two go on in if you want or I can bring some tea out here and you can join me in safety from plotting females.�
�I think I�ll go in and say hello, what about you Harry?�
�Is it really that bad inside?� I ask.
�Not bad exactly, but Ashlynn�s a whiz in the Potions lab and a goddess at the stove so I just thought I�ld stay out of the way until they call me in to eat.�
�Can she trump your grandmother�s petitfors?� Sev asks.
�Never made one in her life, so Grandmama is teaching her and in return Ashlynn�s going to teach her how to make Treacle Tarts and Hazlenut Fudge.�
�Merlin save us from women who think sugar is a mandatory food group. Well I better head on in before I get accused of hiding from Addy. Coming, Harry?�
�Another Mrs. Weasley? No, thanks. I think I�ll stay out here where it�s safer.�

Severus went inside the house and I climbed onto the porch to sit with Ephraim on the swing.

�What�s your favorite subject at Hogwarts, Harry?� he asks me.
�Self-defence. What about you?�
�DADA? I like Transfiguration best.�
�You�re a Wizard?�
�Sure am, me and Ashlynn both. We go to Hollstone in Arizona.�
�Arizona?�
�Western part of the country. What�s Scotland like?�
�Haven�t seen much of it, actually, just the school and Hogsmeade which is right next to it. Haven�t seen much of England either, for that matter. I grew up in Surrey but I was pretty sheltered. On my way to catch the train or get school supplies, I get to see a bit of London, and I have a friend I stay with sometimes who lives in Devon.�
�That�s cool. I�ld never seen much of the US until I went to Hollstone. Ashlynn�s been to Wales. She says it�s beautiful, almost like it�s right out of a book. I can�t wait to see it when she takes me in August.�

As if she�d been summoned by our conversation, a girl, standing tall at 5�10� with pale skin and a light tan, walked out the front door with a large tray containing glasses and a large pitcher of cool lemonade. Her dark brown hair was streaked with jewel tones of emerald, ruby, and sapphire. As she turned around and looked up, I saw that she had wide, almond shaped, dark brown eyes that she had rimmed in dark purple. Dressed in camoflage carg pants and a white lace trimmed tank top, she looked like she could have been headed to the mall or had just gotten out of bed, either way she was pretty with her almost aristocratic features. Her willowy form moved with grace one would expect in a dancer.

She set the tray down on a wicker table in front of us then sat in one of the two matching chairs on the other side.

�Harry, this is Ashlynn Tarrington. Ash, meet Harry. He�s spending the summer with the professor.�
Ashlynn made a few gestures but said nothing.

�Ash says it�s nice to meet you.�
�It�s a pleasure to meet you as well.�
�Did they run you out of the kitchen?� Ephraim asked the girl. She shook her head and signed somemore. Ephraim just laughed.
�She says something about him gives her the chills.�

The three of us sat there in silence for a few minutes before Ashlynn sighed and picked up a glass full of lemonade and drained it in one go. She set it down and signed to Ephraim.

�Ash has taken a shine to you for some reason. She wants me to tell you why she isn�t talking. Ash has been mute all of her life. Her vocal chords were destroyed by an overpowered cleaning spell her mother�s Healer cast when she was born. She also wants you to call her Welsh like all of her friends. On that note I�ld like you to call me Swamps.�
�Thanks.�

Ephraim reached over and brushed a finger over a spot behind Welsh�s ear which caused her shoulders to shake in silent laughter. When he drew the finger away, a small light green dragon tattoo moved onto her right shoulder and pouted at Swamps who rolled up his left sleeve to reveal a small murky green dragon. Each tattoo was about four inches tall and on seeing the other started doing flips.

�Welsh? Swamps? Would that be short for Common Welsh Green and Siamese Swamp Dragons?� I ask. I�m really not as slow as people seem to think. Welsh smiles and nods her head.
�We�re part of Team Dragon. There�s six of us. Welsh, myself, Richard a.k.a. Fireball, Marcus a.k.a. Opal, Micah a.k.a. Onyx, and Caleb a.k.a. Sandy. All of us are nicknamed after dragons.� Welsh gestures to Swamps who translates almost instantly.
�Do you have a nickname?�
�No, not unless you consider �Boy-Who-Lived� to be one.�
�Do you want one?�
�Sure, but what?�
�Got a favorite dragon?�
�Hungarian Horntail.�

Ephraim looks at Ashlynn who nods quickly.

�Horntail it is. You have officially been adopted into Team Dragon.�
�Just like that?�
�Ash is a bit of a Seer. Very few question her feelings. I don�t know why but she thinks it�s going to be good for you.�

The rest of the afternoon we spent talking about Hollstone, Hogwarts, our likes and dislikes, our goals in life, basically getting to know one another. By the time Severus was ready to leave, I felt as though I had made to very good friends with whom I could truely be myself.

The three of us spent almost everyday together that summer exploring Savannah and it�s Antebellum charms. We were inseperable right up until the last two weeks of August when Swamps and Welsh went to Wales and Sev and I had to go back to England as both of us had to get ready for the new school year. All four of us shared a portkey to London from which Ashlynn and Ephraim apparated to Hay-on-Wye and Severus and I walked to Diagon Alley after exchanging promises to write.

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I had a feeling of dread when I boarded the train to school that year. The two weeks spent at the Leaky Cauldron had proven uneventful and Severus and I kept up a steady stream of letters. It was as I was sitting in the last compartment of the train, I realized I hadn�t gotten any letters from my friends. It had been set up that Hedwig would deliver my post to a box in the Owlry at Hogwarts that would instantly deliver it to a matching one in Savannah. From there I would Floo call with my response or I could use an international owl to send a letter.

I spent the whole train ride alone, my friends never coming to find me. When I tried to catch up to them on the platform, they avoided me like the plague. In the Great Hall, everyone shot me dark looks. Dumbledore called me up to his office the next morning to interrogate me and when I wouldn�t tell him where I had been he got upset, called me a disrespectful brat, and gave me a weeks worth of detention with Professor Snape (who he still believed I hated).

Breakfast two days latter brought with it an article in the Daily Prophet saying I had joined the Death Eaters naming Dumbles a the source.

The Slytherins just sneered, as if the Golden Boy Gryffie would join Voldemort, but the others believed it and life became hell after that. By December I had unofficially moved into the dungeons and barely made an appearance outside them for classes as what started as pranks for being a �traitor� turned into fist fights and borderline dangerous set ups from my fellow classmates. When Christmas break hit, I was barely eating or sleeping I was so nervous about what was going on. Severus suggested I transfer to another school. I immediately thought of Hollstone and mentioned it to him. Dinnertime a week later had the two of us reading over brochures for Hollstone Military Academy and School for Magic. The first day of the new term, I was enrolled and officially a member of Team Dragon. Welsh and Swamps didn�t ask any questions knowing I wasn�t ready to talk yet. I wrote to Severus once a week to let him know how things were going. He always wrote back with news on the situation over there and answers to any questions I might have asked and well as questions for me.

While I missed Hogwarts dearly in the beginning, at Hollstone I found a place where I fit in, where I didn�t have to live up to being the �Boy-Who-Lived�, and where I had people who accepted me for me.

My time at Hollstone flew by while I learned swordsmanship, magical and Muggle defense, how to shoot a gun, archery, meditation, Occlumency, Legelimency, how to swim, apparation, the beginnings of wandless magic, potions from the beginning, and surprisingly Ballet. Ashlynn decided that I maybe poetry on a broom but I was hopeless on the ground and that ballet would be just the thing to help me. By the end of each day, I was exhausted. So much so that all the memories and negative emotions my peers at Hogwarts had stirred up faded into the background allowing me to deal with them in my own time.

The Dragons made sure that I was never alone but that they didn't push me too far. Welsh in particular seemed to understand me. Though she's only a little more than a day older than I am, she has become the older sibling I came to wish for. My big sister is over protective of the entire team but she takes it a bit farther with me making sure I know when I've screwed up.

One particular episode, not too long ago, reminds me just how much Ashlynn and the others have come to mean to me and I to them. I almost screwed up royally... I guess it's lucky that Wlesh has some kind of radar on me that lets her know when I'm being an idiot.

~~Flashback~~

I listen for sounds that Fireball is asleep before I move. Welsh and Swamps are on a mission for the International Confederation of Wizards and aren't due back for another week while Caleb, Micah, and Marcus are at a Marshal Arts Tournament in Chicago and will come home tomorrow. This is my only chance if I'm going to go.

I've known for awhile that I would have to go back to England, I just hoped it wouldn't be so soon. The Daily Prophet has been full of stories of massacres over there. Just like at the end of Fifth Year, the Wizarding World has finally ackowedged the truth... That I was right and they were wrong. My "friends" have publicly apologised for not believing me and call for me to come home saying that no one blames me for leaving in the face of such outright hostility. Dumbledore has been removed from Howgwarts because of his actions. It seems I am the world's sweetheart again.

I throw back the covers on my bed revealing my fully dressed self. After standing up, I move to the wardrobe and grab the bag I packed during dinner that holds all of my stuff. I look around to make sure I haven't missed anything and place a letter on Ashlynn and Ephraim's bed. I throw my invisibility cloak over me.

Tip toeing out the door I feel the weight of what I'm doing begin to settle on my shoulders. I'm leaving behind the people who accepted my unconditionally and without explaination. I'm leaving my family in the middle of the night, sneaking off like I am ashamed.

I make it to the Entrance Hall before I run into an obsticle. To get outside I have to go through the front doors which are guarded at random times throughout the night. It figures it would have to be now. I raise my wand and whisper a 'Stupefy' at the guard on duty and watch as he slumps down the wall unconcious.

I move forward towars him when I feel a spell was over me. I can't move. I begin to panic when I hear a voice from somewhere in the hall.

"You didn't think you would make it did you?"

I know that voice, it's Ephraim I close my eyes when he speaks again.

"Honestly Harry, did you think we didn't know you would feel like you had to go back? We've all been actively getting ready for this since the middle of July when Welsh told us it was coming. That's three and a half months of preparations."
"What's the matter Horntail? Did you think we would let you go off on you own?" said Micah in his deep baritone
{I don't abandon my family, Little Brother, and I though I taught you better than to abandon your team. Recklessness doesn't look good on you, Harry. You were going to leave while no one was watching and without thinking about how we would react. We're not like those morons in the papers, Harry, we won't turn our backs n you when the going gets too tough. You disappoint me, Brother.} I allow a tear to slip out of my eyes
[I'm sorry. I just didn't want to get you guys involved]
"We've been involved, Harry, from the very beginning of this thing," Ephraim tells me.
"We are a team, Hortail. There's nothing that can stop us when we work together. It's only when we insist on going it alone that we fail," said Marcus' guiet tenor. Micah and Marcus, two sides of the same coin. One quite and thoughtful the other loud and stubborn. They complement each other in their opposite approaches.
"If you go off by yourself and get killed, who's going to help me prank snotty Team Alpha?" Caleb asks and I can't help the slight laugh that escapes my throat.
"Where are you guys?" I ask as I open my eyes.

Out of the shadows step the group who makes me feel like just another person in the world. As they materialize around the room, I feel the spell being lifted and allow my shoulders to sag.

"Before you three head off tonight, I would like to know something."

Oh my god. I thought he was asleep.

"What's that, Richard?" asks Ephraim.
"Why he didn't at least say good-bye in person. It's a very painful thing to watch your boyfriend walk away without a passing glance back."
"I thought it would be easier than if I said something," I offer weakly.
"Easier for you maybe but not for those who have to watch you leave. I'll forgive you this time but if you do something this stupid again, I will track you down and turn you over my knee. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Love," I say.

It's only been two months since Richard and I got together but already I feel a connection with him that has never happened with anyone before. I lean back into his arms as he moves up behind me. His arms wrap around me and give me a feeling of security that I bask in. Richard gives me the feeling that we could easily be together for a long time. Ephraim pulls me out of my thoughts.

"Now that all countries of this discussion have been heard from, how about we go back up to our dorm and talk about what's going to happen now?" Ephraim offers.

The entire group nods and we walk back up stairs. In the dorm we settle in a circle in the middle of the floor as Ephraim outlines what he and Ash have been working on getting unanimous approval.

~End Flashback~~

Today is Halloween, a scant week after my failed escape. We convene once again in the Entrance Hall. Welsh holds out an empty potion vial. Swamps summons his and Ash's bags then he and I grab the vial and we were off. Swamps, Welsh, and I portkey to Hogsmeade and walk up to the school from there. Transfer papers have already been submitted for the entire group, the Headmisstress is simply waiting for us to show up. The others will arrive the next day, portkeying directly in to the Head's office.

The walk from Hogsmeade was just as I remembered and I point out various things along the way. The school still sits atop a hill like a light house calling her children home in the darkening night. The front doors open for us and Ashlynn gasps at the sight that greets us. I took for granted just how breath taking the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts can be to those who have never seen it before.

Peeves greets us by throwing Dung Pellets at the three of us but Ash just raises an eyebrow and stares at him afte placing up a shield. Peeves is shocked at her display and floats off mumbling. I walk over the doors to the Great Hall and wait for the others who come stand on either side of me. Ashlynn grabs my hand as Ephraim pushes open the door.

I can feel Welsh stiffen beside me and tighten her grip on my hand but it's too late to back out now, the whole school is looking at us. I take a deep breath and exhale as I step forward.

~end thoughts~

[It will all be okay, Ashlynn. You'll see.]
{If you say so, Little Brother}
[I know so... Big Sisiter]

She relaxes slightly and we make our way to the front of the room with Ephraim following behind us.

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...I had found a new place to call home.

AN: Well there's chapter number two, edited for better reading (I hope) Next chapter should be more Hollstone and then Ephraim and possibly after that we find out who else isn't human.

If you find anything wrong or have a question just let me know. Even if you guess about the other Royal Elf, I can't say as I haven't got that much figured out yet. I'm still trying to choose between a couple of different characters.

Until next time,
Charli a.k.a. Madness

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