A hand gently shaking Harry’s shoulder the next morning caused him to sit up abruptly.

“ ‘m sorry,” he muttered incoherently as he looked around for his uncle but he only saw the blurry figure of Catherine. She handed him his glasses and everything came into focus.

“Sorry I startled you Harry,” she apologized. “I just wanted to tell you breakfast was ready.”

“Oh,” he replied. He slid out of bed and followed Cathy to the kitchen, where several wonderful smells were. On the table were eggs, sausage, and pancakes. When Harry placed a pancake on his plate, he noticed the little dark lumps in it. Catherine caught his puzzled look and smiled.

“They’re chocolate chip pancakes. Have you tried them before?”

Harry shook his head negatively. He cut off a small piece and bit into it. Mmm! It was delicious! He gave Cathy a smile. “They’re yummy!”

“My mother used to make them for me all the time when I was younger. Wait until you try hers. She adds something in it that makes is absolutely wonderful! I just wish she’d tell me what it was,” she added wistfully. Harry giggled and continued munching happily on his pancakes.

After they finished eating, they cleaned up the kitchen together with Cathy washing and Harry drying. Afterwards, Cathy recruited Harry to help her tidy up the house before her parents came.

“I don’t want them to think I’m a slob,” she joked as she dusted off the fireplace mantle.

“I think you keep your house pretty clean anyways,” Harry commented as he cleaned off the coffee table.

“Thank you Harry. I have to do something on my days off,” she replied. “It’s your house now too, you know.”

Harry didn’t comment. He wasn’t ready to call this place home yet in case she changed her mind. She might get sick of him and send him back.

As if sensing his comments, she paused and knelt by him, looking directly at him. “Harry. I want you to know that I won’t send you back there. If anything happens to me, my parents will gladly care for you. You have my promise on that Harry.”

He gave her a hesitant, hopeful smile. “Okay Cathy.” He leaned forward and gave her a quick hug before backing away slightly. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to do that but it was worth it when he saw her smile joyfully.

“We’re just about done here, so why don’t you run upstairs and get ready?” The strawberry-blond haired woman suggested. “I’ll finish this up.”

Harry nodded and dashed upstairs. He searched around through his new clothing and pulled out a nice pair of black slacks and a dark green dress shirt. He wanted to look nice when he met his new grandparents. After a quick shower, he changed into his new clothes and waited downstairs for Cathy.

She came down, wearing a light blue dress shirt that matched her eyes along with tan pants. She beamed happily when she caught sight of Harry.

“It seems we both had the same idea,” she murmured as she looked Harry over. She slowly reached a hand towards him, trying not to startle him, and attempted to pat down his messy hair.

Harry gave her a shy smile as she acted motherly. He always imagined his mother would do that when she wanted to make his hair lie flat.

The sound of the doorbell interrupted them. Catherine motioned for Harry to come with her towards the door. He stood off to the side as she opened the door and let her parents in. She greeted them both and gave them quick hugs before turning towards Harry, who was nibbling on his lip nervously again. She made a mental note to try and break that habit later.

Cathy went and stood next to Harry and placed her hand on his shoulder. She could tell he was trembling slightly and staring at her father wearily.

“Harry, this is my mother Eleanor Jeanne McKinney.” She was a short older woman with hair like Cathy’s only hers was graying. She had green eyes and a kind expression on her face.

“Hello dear,” Eleanor greeted, with a tray of food in her hand. “I’m pleased to meet you. You can call me Ellie if you’d like,” she added.

“And this is my father, Nicholas Anthony McKinney,” Cathy introduced. Nicholas was a very tall and held himself up proudly. He was very fit for his age and Cathy had mentioned earlier that he’s a retired military man which would explain his good fitness. He had blondish hair, also graying, and the same blue eyes that Cathy had.

“N-nice to meet you both,” Harry stuttered uneasily. He looked to the ground, unable to meet their eyes.

“Here let me get that for you mom,” Cathy interjected. She grabbed the platter from her mother and went to the kitchen. Her mother followed her, placing her bag on the counter.

“Harry looks like a sweet little boy. Is he a bit shy?” Eleanor questioned.

“Yes he is,” Cathy nodded, looking towards the direction where she left Harry standing with her father. Hopefully he’d be okay while she talked with her mother. She went on to explain what Ms. Morgan told her about his past life and what he revealed after breakfast the other day.

“Poor little dear,” Ellie remarked. “You are certainly going to have your hands full trying to get him to open up.”

“It will be worth it. He’s so adorable when he smiles,” Catherine said. Her mother smiled knowingly as they sat together and talked.

Harry stood still as Cathy went into the kitchen with her mother. He didn’t really want to stand here alone with Nicholas but he wasn’t going to bother her in case she wanted time along with her mom. He continued to stand there, staring down at the new shoes Cathy bought for him.

Nicholas stood there, observing the small boy. He was quite small and scrawny but he was still a young boy who had plenty of growing to do. Nicholas moved over to the couch and sat down. He frowned as the boy made no move to sit or do anything.

“Come sit here Harry,” he tried to say kindly but it came out more of a command. That tended to happen after spending too many years in the military. The boy’s head jerked up and his astonishing green eyes met his blue ones. The boy shuffled over and sat down on the couch but as far over as he could be. He noticed a slight tremor running though the boy. The lad was obviously frightened and he didn’t know why but he’d make sure to find out from Catherine or his wife later.

“How old are you Harry?” Nicholas asked.

“Eight, sir,” he answered dutifully. He really wished Cathy was in the room. He had a feeling the man sitting next to him wouldn’t hurt him but it didn’t stop the tremors. Nicholas was rather tall and very intimidating from the petite eight-year-olds point of view.

“You’re family now so you can call me Nick or grandfather,” he assured the young boy with a slight American accent.

“Yes s- Nick,” Harry whispered. It felt very odd for him to be calling someone older than him by their first name. It was drilled in his head long ago to respect his elders by calling them sir or ma’am.

“What do you like to do for fun?”

“I like to read,” Harry murmured.

“Look at me when you speak and speak clearly,” Nick said in an authoritative tone.

Harry reluctantly looked up and spoke again, “I like to read.”

“That’s better,” the older man praised. “Reading is enjoyable. What do you like to read?”

“Um, just about anything that I can get to,” the eight-year-old responded.

“I have old military books that you might be interested in.” Harry’s eyes lit up. Harry had a questioning look in his eye but didn’t want to bother the man with his questions.

Nicholas caught the look. “If you have a question, ask it.”

“C-Cathy said you were in the American military,” he began hesitantly. “Could you tell me about it?”

Nicholas smiled at the small boy sitting next to him as he began one of his many tales. “I grew up in America and when I turned eighteen, I joined the United States Marine Corps…”

A while later, Catherine peeked in to see how Harry was doing. The young boy was listening as her father explained one of his many stories using hand gestures to act out the tale. Harry looked enthralled at everything her father way saying so she went back into the kitchen and let them be.

“Did you have fun today?” Cathy asked that night as Harry climbed in his bed.

“Yes. Nick has lots of good stories to tell,” he responded as he grabbed his stuffed bear from the nightstand and clutched it under the covers.

“I’m glad you two got along well. The school you’ll be going to is close to their house so when I’m working late, you will probably walk to their house after school.” She could tell he enjoyed her motherly actions like kissing him on the forehead at night so she made sure to do it before turning off the light.

“Good night Harry. Sleep well.”

“G’night,” came the sleepy response.

Harry searched around his room, trying to find the pocket watch he’d found in the old abandoned house. He found it along with the small mirror in the pocket of his old pants. Seeing the mirror reminded him that he wanted to practice changing his face around some more. He hadn’t been able to practice lately with everything going on around here. He set the mirror aside and went downstairs to find Cathy.

“Cathy?” Harry asked, getting her attention from the book she was reading.

“Yes Harry? What can I do for you?” she placed her bookmark on the page and closed the book.

“I found this before I went to St. Lukes and I wondered if you know how to fix it for me.” He handed over the old pocket watch and she inspected it.

“You have quite the old fashioned watch here,” Catherine murmured. She tweaked around with it and set the time.

“How’d you make it work?” Harry asked. “I thought it might need a new battery.”

“No use for batteries in this watch. It’s one of those that you wind up. Watch.” She demonstrated how to wind it up and then handed it back to Harry.

“Thank you,” the young boy exclaimed. He’d need to clean it up a bit more and it would be a perfect keepsake.

“Where did you find it?” Catherine asked curiously. She watched as Harry looked down apprehensively and scooted back further in his chair.

Harry bit his lip and answered. “It was in the drawer of a desk in an old abandoned house.” He never liked talking about things that happened to him but Cathy was always nice to him. Just being around her made him want to talk to her but he couldn’t find it in himself to bring anything up. If she asked, he’d at least try and answer her questions.

Cathy could tell he didn’t like talking about his past but she knew that telling someone can help them move on. She decided to ask more questions hoping he wouldn’t close up and shut her out.

“How long did you live in that house?”

Harry pulled on the edge of his shirt nervously. “About a week I think.”

“Was anyone there with you?”

“No,” he replied. “I was by myself.”

“How did you end up there?” Cathy asked slowly. She didn’t want to push him too much.

“My U-um Vernon dropped me off there,” Harry managed to get out. He didn’t want to say uncle because then she might be able to find the scary man. He didn’t want to ever see them again and would rather just forget about everything. For all he knew, she’d want to get them in trouble and he didn’t want to deal with any of that.

Cathy paused and hoped her next question wouldn’t scare him off. “Was this Vernon person the reason you were hurt when Officer Peterson found you?”

Harry was breathing a little harder than normal. He pulled his legs up and hugged them to his chest. “Yes,” he whispered.

Cathy sighed. She wished she could find this man and have him arrested for hurting this little boy. She slid over next to Harry and gently put her arms around him, noticing the flinch, but ignoring it for now.

“It’s okay Harry. You won’t see him again and he’ll never hurt you again,” she reassured. Her shirt began to get wet as Harry silently cried. He wasn’t making any sound and the only to tell he was crying was by the wetness on her blouse.

“Shhh, it’ll be aright.” She held him close while she tried to think of a story to tell him in hopes of making him feel better.

“Have I told you yet about the time I went to America with my parents and we went to Disneyland?” she could feel him shake his head negatively. “Well then…” she began.

“…and afterwards my mum was so sick she couldn’t even stand to look at food. She practically turned green when my father asked her if she wanted some crackers to settle her stomach. She later vowed to never ride that again. Although we did return a few years later and my father and I managed to get her on it again,” she concluded. Harry had managed to calm down and stopped crying after she had begun talking. When she finished her tale, he was giggling softly.

“Between me and my father, you will always have a good story to listen to,” Catherine murmured sleepily. Harry hadn’t moved away from her embrace and they were both comfortable. It wasn’t long before they both fell asleep.

They woke up about an hour later when the phone rang. Catherine got up and answered it while Harry relaxed there on the couch. He didn’t really like talking about things earlier but he felt slightly better now that someone knew. He could tell that Cathy would keep his secrets and not tell anyone, except maybe her parents but that was okay for him. He didn’t mind if they knew but he wasn’t about to volunteer information to them.

“You hungry?” Catherine asked as she plopped down next to him.

“Yeah,” Harry yawned.

“Well let’s go rummage through my kitchen and see what I’ve got.” They both got to their feet and entered the kitchen. After looking around they found the ingredients to make spaghetti.

“Spaghetti sound good?” Cathy asked Harry as she pulled out the box of noodles.

“Yup,” he replied. “Can I help you make it?” She looked surprised and he caught the look. “I like cooking, despite the fact that I always had to do it. It’s fun and sometimes relaxing.”

“Alrighty then. Let’s get started.”

Later that night as Harry was brushing his teeth before bed, he remembered that he wanted to practice changing his face. He wished he knew what it was called since he just kept referring to it as changing.

He stood in front of the mirror and practiced changing his hair and eye color. He made his eyes match Catherine’s and changed his hair to her strawberry-blond color. Her face was narrow and he tried to imitate it. He hadn’t tried this before and wasn’t too successful at first. Nothing happened but after several minutes of concentrating, he managed it. It felt very awkward at first, feeling his face change around like that but when he changed it back, it felt more like a tickly sensation. After his face was normal again, he went to bed and fell asleep before Catherine even stopped in to say goodnight.

The remainder of the week flew by. In the mornings, Catherine would wake Harry and they’d eat breakfast together. Afterwards, they would usually go their separate ways for a while. Harry thoroughly enjoyed his new room. All the toys were fun to play with and he loved drawing and painting on the easel in his room. Usually towards their evenings, they would meet up again and talk more. Cathy would often tell stories from her childhood and describe all the wonderful places she went with her parents. She was an only child so she was somewhat spoiled when it came to going places and getting what she wanted.

Harry opened up to Cathy and mentioned some things about his past. He never went into details about his relatives and just called them by their first names. He mentioned the some of the better parts of his past such as going to school. He told her how he loved school and wanted to do well but mentioned how he wasn’t supposed to do better than Dudley. Catherine made sure to tell him she wanted him to do his absolute best when he started school. Harry knew that he could do well and he actually wanted to do as well as possible to make Cathy happy.

During one of their talks, he mentioned that he used to be called boy and freak. Catherine got very upset about that and he didn’t understand why. She told him that he was not a freak no matter what because he was her special little boy. He wanted to tell her then about the weird things that he could do but couldn’t work up enough nerve to talk about it. Things were settling in between them and he really didn’t want her to get rid of him so he decided to keep quiet about those weird incidents. He was pretty sure she’d find out sometime but he wanted to enjoy everything while he could.

Harry was the happiest he had ever been in his entire young life. He had a new mum, although he had yet to actually call her that, a real bedroom of his own, toys of his own and all the food he could want. Things were finally looking up for young Harry.