Quite a few months had gone by and life couldn’t get any better for young Harry. He had a new mum, two wonderful grandparents and his very own room filled with toys. He still didn’t have many friends but he had started talking to one boy more often in class and they got to know each other pretty well. Harry hoped they’d get to hang out sometime and possibly have a sleepover. These last few months had been absolutely wonderful for the eight-year-old and he hoped nothing would ever ruin his happiness.

Before Harry knew it, the school year was over. Cathy was very pleased when he brought home his final report card filled with good grades and decided to take Harry to the new toy store that opened in London. It was one of the largest around and had only opened a few weeks ago and Harry was eager to check it out.

Unfortunately, Cathy was called in to work at the last moment so Nick volunteered to take his grandson to the store. Unlike the first week it opened, it wasn’t too busy so Nick agreed to let Harry wander around as long as he didn’t stray too far.

“Cool,” Harry murmured to himself as he inspected the cool action figure. He just put it back on the shelf when he heard several voices that made him freeze, eyes widening in horror.

“What about this my Dudders? Would you like mummy and daddy to get this one for you?”

“No! I want this one!” The voice of his cousin Dudley Dursley whined loudly and impatiently.

“We’ll get that one then,” Vernon Dursley acquiesced to his son’s demand. “Now wasn’t there some action figure guy that you wanted? Let’s go look at them then.”

Harry stood still, frozen by fear as the voice of his relatives came closer. His mind had shut down in panic and he couldn’t bring himself to move from the isle that his relatives would come to any minute now.

Nick looked at the family that entered with disdain. The father and son were entirely too large, while the wife was the complete opposite. How could these parents condemn their child to an early grave by allowing him to eat so much? That boy was likely to become diabetic or get some other health problem due to the amount of junk food he ate. As they walked by, Nick could even see the large half eaten candy bar in the kid’s hand.

The older man walked away from the family, which was now attracting attention with the obnoxious demands from the boy, and began looking for his grandson. Harry had wandered off and was around here somewhere. Nick spotted him standing still in the middle of an isle with a look of terror on his face. The retired military man began gently pushing past a crowd of kids and tried to make it towards Harry.

Nick stopped walking and stared in shock. His grandson was doing something weird, causing his face to slowly change. The boy’s hair lengthened and turned to a strawberry blond color, matching that of his daughter’s. The boy’s face even narrowed slightly and finally his eye’s changed to the exact shade of his own. Harry then hastily stuffed the glasses Catherine had purchased for him into his pocket. Nick, stared in astonishment after the transformation, wondered what just happened.

It took a moment for Harry to snap out of his shocked state. He wanted to flee from the isle but there was no where to go except towards the Dursley’s who he could now see approaching from an isle over. He quickly concentrated on changing into the “Cathy’s son” face. He could feel his face narrow, his hair lengthen, and a slight tingling in his eye’s that assured him his eye color changed. He quickly pulled off his glasses, not wanting to be recognized at all. They were new frames but the Dursley’s knew he wore glasses so he didn’t want to stand out at all to them. He planned to slip by them, hopefully unnoticed, and get out of this store as swiftly as possible.

Harry lifted his shaking hands and grabbed a random toy off the shelf and looked down at it. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, he was able to see the Dursley family enter this isle. Dudley had grown since the last time he saw him but not in height, rather he had gotten wider. Vernon was as big and scary as he last remembered him and Petunia still wore that same expression of wanting to please Dudley in every way possible.

“I want the new ninja turtle guy!” The large boy demanded.

“Okay Duddykins,” Aunt Petunia agreed easily. “What’s his name? The character you want?”

Dudley frowned in concentration. “Mi- Mekelanglo? Something like that.”

“Did you mean Michelangelo, my sweetums?” Petunia asked with that sickening smile that Harry hated.

“Yeah. That’s what I said,” Dudley stated indignantly. He began looking around for the toy and started sniffling after finding the empty shelf where the toy should have been.

“There aren’t anymore mummy! I want one NOW!” the boy demanded, fake tears coming to his eyes.

Vernon came closer to Harry, who couldn’t bring himself to move, and began ruffling through the shelves. “I don’t see anymore, Dudley. We can always go somewhere else and get one.”

“NO! I want one now!”

Vernon came closer to Harry, who turned his gaze down to the toy he was holding. His eye’s widened when he realized he was holding the action figure that Dudley wanted. Just as Harry realized what he was holding, so did Vernon Dursley.

“Give me that boy,” Vernon snatched the toy from Harry’s shaking hands. He looked down with disdain at Harry’s slightly dirty clothes from playing outside earlier that day. “What are you doing in here boy? I’ll bet you can’t buy anything anyways so go on, scram.”

Harry looked at the man who haunted him in nightmares and shook in terror. He couldn’t bring himself to move or walk away or anything. He just froze. He knew that his uncle wouldn’t recognize him but it didn’t make it any easier to move. Being called boy again didn’t help either.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Go!” The last word caused Harry to take a step back in fear.

“Don’t talk to my grandson that way,” the stern voice of Nicholas came from behind Vernon. Harry let out a quite sigh of relief. His grandfather was here and Vernon wouldn’t be able to do anything to him with Nick around.

The fat man turned around and glared at the retired military man. “I’ll talk to him however I please.”

“Come Harry,” Nick instructed. The two older Dursley’s looked startled for a moment and turned to look again at the boy. Harry kept his eyes on the ground and walked shakily towards his grandfather. They won’t recognize you, they won’t recognize you, they won’t recognize you. Harry silently hoped that was true.

“If I ever see you talking to my grandson like that again, you will be sorry,” Nick threatened and placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder. He felt the flinch and frowned internally. He thought Harry had gotten over that.

“Don’t you threaten me!” Vernon took a step closer to them. “Do you know who I am?”

Nick felt Harry take a step back. “I do not care if you are related to the Queen of England. Do not ever speak to my grandson ever again.” With that said, Nicholas turned and led Harry out of the store. They hadn’t bought anything but neither felt like looking around anymore. They both climbed into the car and as Harry was buckling his seatbelt, a sudden shocking thought occurred to him. Nick must have seen him change, otherwise the man shouldn’t have recognized him. Harry sat perfectly still in his seat as his mind screamed out in horror. Nick knew his secret! Oh no, no, no, no, no!

A short and silent drive later, the two arrived at Harry’s house. Cathy was still at work since the house was empty when they entered. Nick led Harry to the sofa and the boy sat down without much thought. Harry was still in shock over thinking he would be sent away now that everyone would learn of his freaky secret.

“Harry,” Nick got his attention. “What happened back there?” he asked slowly from the seat next to the boy.

Harry pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged them closely. “I-I,” he began but started crying. Nick reached over and began rubbing circles on the distraught boy’s back. Harry flinched again, which caused Nicholas to frown.

“Please, ‘m sorry, don’t send me back, please, please,” Harry mumbled incoherently through the quiet sobs racking through his body. Everything was so perfect! Why did the Dursley’s have to go and ruin everything?!

“Send you back where?” Nick asked softly. He was very worried about Harry’s reaction right now and wasn’t too sure what to do. He couldn’t find any logical explanations for the reason Harry now looked like his biological grandson with the new face features. The transformation itself was interesting and he wanted to learn more about it but at the moment, asking Harry to demonstrate was out of the question.

Harry lifted his red, puffy, and still blue eyes to meet Nick’s gaze momentarily before looking down again. He let out a quiet hiccup. “The orphanage. Please don’t send me back there. I love it here,” he whispered.

“Oh,” Nicholas said with sudden understanding. He gathered the boy in his arms and held him as he felt the shudders go through Harry’s body. “Harry, I promise you that no matter what happens, none of us will ever send you away. Never,” he stated clearly.

They sat together quietly for several minutes before Nick spoke again. “Can you do this –transformation? – when ever you want?”

Another soft hiccup before Harry answered. “Yeah,” he whispered. “I practiced a lot.”

“Can you show me? Maybe change back to how you normally look?” the older man asked curiously.

Hesitantly nodding, Harry complied and closed his eyes and concentrated on returning his black hair and green eyes. A soft gasp made him open his eyes and he looked at Nicholas, who was staring at him in wonder.

“So this is your normal appearance without changing anything?”

Wavering slightly, Harry shook his head negatively. “I-I hide scars,” he said softly.

“Oh,” Nicholas replied. Scars from the people that abused him? Wait until he got his hands on them… He shook his head to rid the negative thoughts before turning back to the boy. “I think this is a very unique thing that you can do.”

Harry looked up at him, clearly shocked. “You-you don’t think I am a f-freak?”

“No!” the retired military man exclaimed vehemently. Harry leaned away from the sharp tone, but stayed in his seat. Nick lifted Harry’s chin and gently eased the boy’s face to look at his. “You are not a freak. Just because you can do something special doesn’t mean you are a freak.”

After Nick released his chin, Harry paused for a minute before nodding.

“Did you know those people?” Nicholas asked carefully. Harry’s head shot up quickly before looking down. He curled his arms around his stomach and nodded once.

“Who were they?” he probed gently.

“J-just people I lived with before,” came the hushed answer.

Nick thought for a minute. That would explain his reaction and changing his face like that to avoid them from recognizing him. It also made sense why those dreadful people looked startled when he called Harry to his side. If only he knew their last name, then he’d track down those bastards…

“That fat guy was Vernon?” the older man asked for clarification. He received a nod in return. “Can you tell me his last name?”

Harry shook his head in a negative manner fiercely. He figured that Nick wanted to have a little chat with his uncle and then send Vernon to jail. But then he’d have to testify or something like that and he couldn’t do that! There was no way he would be able to tell so many adults all the horrible things his uncle did to him.

Nicholas looked at his grandson and could tell the boy was withholding the information. He didn’t know if it was to protect Vernon or some other reason. He might not be able to get this guy now, but he would find out who he was sooner or later.

“You aren’t going to tell anyone are you?” Harry asked suddenly. No one else needs to know his secret!

The retired military man could see the desperation on his grandson’s face. The boy clearly wanted to keep this a secret. He didn’t want to disrupt their relationship or cause Harry to lose faith in him. He sighed wearily. “For now, this will stay between the two of us. If you use this –disguise- of sorts to get away with anything, I will tell your mum.”

Harry gave him a relieved smile. His secret was safe for now.

“Can you change for me again? I’d really like to see it,” Nick asked curiously.

Harry nodded and concentrated. In just a few seconds, he was now sporting the face that bore several similarities to Catherine.

“That is truly remarkable,” he commented. “What made you chose this look?”

The boy looked down embarrassed. “I just wanted to look like Cathy’s son, biologically.”

Nick smiled at the boy leaning comfortably against him. “You are her son in every way but blood. You will always be a part of this family. Never forget that Harry.”

Harry awoke early on the morning of July 31st and sat up slowly. He was nine today! He was pretty sure that Cathy knew his birthday but she hadn’t said anything about it. It was pretty quiet downstairs with the exception of quiet murmurs. That must mean grandma or grandpa was over, otherwise Cathy wouldn’t be talking to anyone this early. She wasn’t much of an early riser, as Harry had found out.

Harry went downstairs and entered the suddenly silent and dark kitchen. The lights flickered on and his mum and grandparents were standing there with smiles on their faces. They all began to sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song, which made Harry grin widely. It was his very own birthday party!

“Come sit at the table Harry,” Catherine pulled out a chair and set an empty plate in front of it. “I made all your favorites this morning so dig in.”

“Thank you,” Harry said sincerely as he sat down.

The others joined Harry at the table and everyone began to fill their plates with food. Throughout the entire meal, Harry had a silly little grin on his face, showing that he was absolutely thrilled with this day so far.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and get changed while we clean up? Then we can leave,” Harry’s adoptive mum suggested.

“Where are we going?” the boy asked curiously.

“You’ll see,” she replied and made a shooing motion.

Harry dashed upstairs and got ready quickly. He was very eager to find out where they were going. In a matter of minutes, he was downstairs waiting by the front door. His mum had already gotten ready for the day and she had just finished loading the dishwasher. His two grandparents followed her out of the kitchen and the four headed outside to pile in the car together.

A short drive later, Harry found himself staring up in wonder at the giant sign that read: ‘Chessington World of Adventures’.

“We’re going to an amusement park?!” he asked shocked, but very thrilled.

“Obviously,” Nick answered with a smile.

Harry gave him a mock-glare. “That was one of those questions you don’t answer. What’s the word I’m looking for?”

“Rhetorical?” Eleanor suggested.

“Yeah, rhetorical,” Harry answered, sounding out the last word slowly.

The traffic was moving slowly and Harry started squirming in his seat in anticipation. “Come on…” he muttered and scowled at the other drivers.

The adults in the car all shared knowing smiles. It wasn’t often that they saw Harry like this, gleeful and filled with excitement. Deciding to come here was a good idea after all.

Finally they parked and the birthday boy all but dragged them to the gates. Of course, they had to stand in line which felt like forever to Harry. At last they made it to the booth, paid for their tickets and entered the park.

Harry looked around in wonder at all the exciting rides and places to check out. This was certainly going to be a birthday to remember!

After one exhausting day filled with walking, rides, food, more walking and more rides, they finally left the park. Harry was practically dead on his feet, but he was still grinning happily. He got to ride so many rides and even check out the zoo portion of the park. It was neat seeing all the different animals but he felt bad for them that they had to be trapped in those cages rather than running wild.

Once they made it to the car, the nine-year-old climbed into his seat slowly. He was feeling sleepy so he figured he’d rest his eyes just for a minute…

Cathy and her parents smiled as they gazed at the worn out boy who had fallen asleep. It was quite the eventful day. Since it was Harry’s birthday, they allowed him to drag them all across the park to all the rides that he wanted to go on. They stopped for lunch after a while and after that, Harry pulled them towards the zoo area. They spent a while looking at all the different animals until Harry decided it was time to go on more rides. No wonder the boy was so tired!

Harry woke when the car pulled to a stop in the driveway of their home. He yawned as he hopped out of the car and followed the adults into the house. Once in the living room, Cathy ushered him upstairs to put away the souvenirs that he picked up from the park. Harry placed the bag in his room and came back downstairs into the kitchen, where everyone else was waiting. As he entered, they started singing the birthday song for the second time that day but this time there was a birthday cake in front of him. Once they finished the song, Harry made a wish and blew out the candles.

“What did you wish for?” his grandma asked.

Harry gave her a big smile and replied cheekily, “If I told you that, it wouldn’t come true!”

“Aw, yes of course. Well grab some cake and afterwards we’ve got presents.” She motioned to the pile of presents off to the side. Harry’s eye’s widened and he grinned happily before digging into his piece of cake.

After everyone had finished, Harry tore into his presents. He received the usual interesting toys and such that he would surely have fun playing with later.

“This last present is from all three of us. Come on,” Nicholas said and motioned towards the garage door. Harry followed curiously, wondering what needed to be kept out there and stopped in shock. In front of his was a brand new shiny bike, just for him.

“I’ll even teach you how to ride it tomorrow,” Nicholas said. Harry turned and gave him a big hug before doing the same to the two women who were beaming happily at him.

“Thank you so much!” Harry exclaimed as he looked over the new bike. This was certainly the best birthday ever!