Thunder blasted through the dark sky coated in light blue blankets of storm clouds. Lightning threatened to strike. Rain flushed down Privet Drive as if it had transformed into a river. Another blast of thunder bolted Harry Potter from his nightmares.

He numbly scrambled to find his glasses on his bedside table. He retrieved them and threw them onto his cold, sweaty face. His frowzy black hair clung to his forehead. He shut his eyes and thought back to his dream:

"Speak. What news do you have?" Lord Voldemort hissed.

"There is talk about the girl having been relocated," a man replied.

"To where?"

"They don't know, my Lord."

"If they do not know then you are useless to me." Voldemort placed his hand on the head of a large snake. "Nagini…" The snake raised its head and focused its attention on the man.

"Wait, wait! There is more," the man spoke quickly. "We have been betrayed. The girl was watched by one of us but he spoke of our plans to the enemy. That's why she has been moved."

"Then find her. I will deal with the betrayer. You may leave."

"Thank you, my Lord."

A small click brought Harry back to reality. He retrieved his wand from underneath the white lumpy piece of fabric the Dursley's had given him for a pillow. He held it out cautiously in front of him. The doorknob turned slowly. Harry took a small step back. The door opened slowly and a tiny dot of light floated into his bedroom. The light illuminated a dark figure. Harry squinted through the darkness and gripped his wand tightly.

"Who's there?" he said quietly. The figure moved closer. Harry's heart began to pound against his chest.

He felt his way through his room to his bedside table, flicked his lamp on, and jumped back startled. The figure was a small girl with dark eyes and brown hair that flowed over her shoulders. She was soaking wet from the rain outside and was dripping cold water onto the carpet.

"Hi," the girl said bluntly.

"Err, hi," Harry replied. There was a moment of silence before Harry said, "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Listen, a lot of shit has gone down, Harry. I have a ton of stuff to tell you so just sit down and listen for a sec," said the girl.

Harry didn't move.

"I said sit down," the girl demanded. Harry sat down on the edge of his bed obediently.

"Who are you?" Harry repeated.

"We'll get to that later. I need to unpack my things. Where's your house elf?" the girl said impatiently ignoring his question again.

"I don't have one," Harry said, getting annoyed by her haughty attitude. "This isn't my house."

"Well, that's good, I guess. This house is ugly as hell. I would never want to live here. I mean all the houses look exactly the same. How do you even know which one is yours? But, how do you not have a house elf?"

"Can we discuss this later? I would really like to know who I've just let into my bedroom."

"Oh, please excuse me for my horrible manners," the girl smiled and rolled her eyes. She held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Harry. I'm Allison Potter." Harry shook her hand lightly, his eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Err, nice to meet you... wait, did you said Allison Potter?" Harry looked at her. He was sure he had been mistaken.

"Yes," the girl told him.

"But—" Harry started but the girl didn't let him finish.

"I'm gonna explain everything but it's all really crazy and you're going to have to keep your mind open."

"Go on..."

"My name is Allison Potter. I am the only remaining witch in our family. Harry, I'm your cousin."

"Hold on, you're my cousin?I don't have any family anymore. My only cousin is Dudley."

"I told you to just listen to me!" Allison reminded him impatiently. "Just let me tell you what's going on. Geez!" Allison rolled her eyes again. "Okay, so I'm your cousin. My father is Matthew Potter. My father is your father's brother."

"James Potter didn't have a brother," Harry told her plainly.

"You think I don't know where I came from? I mean, you know nothing about our family at all, Harry. James Potter, your father, did have a brother. His name was Matthew. Your dad's brother is my father," Allison continued. "We're cousins."

"But…" Harry started trying to put everything together. "This doesn't make any sense," Harry told her finally.

"Does anything in your life ever make sense?" Allison reminded him. Harry eyed her questioningly. He didn't object.

"Well, if you have a family, then what are you doing here at the Dursley's?"

"I don't have a family!" Allison said impatiently. "You're not really helping the situation by asking all these questions. Can't I just tell you what's going on before you open your mouth?" she snapped.

"Shh, my Uncle, Aunt, and cousin are still asleep!" Harry hissed. Allison looked at the door as if they might burst in at any second.

"Anyway," she continued, "your parents weren't the only ones killed by Voldemort, Harry."

Allison looked down at the floor and twisted a piece of her dark brown hair around her finger. Harry stayed silent. Allison took a deep breath and continued. "You may be the "boy-who-lived" and all, but you're certainly not the only person who lived." Allison tucked a piece of her hair behind her left ear, revealing a dark lightning bolt shaped scar on the side of her forehead completely identical to Harry's own.

"We're closer than you may think, Harry."

Harry was silent for a moment. He took a deep breath trying to process all this new information that Allison had just forced upon him in the middle of the night. Allison closed the door to Harry's bedroom. She opened her trunk and pulled out a pair of black sweatpants and a white t-shirt and threw them on the bed beside Harry. An awkward silence fell between them.

"I'm going to get dressed. Where's the bathroom?" Allison asked. Harry nodded to the door.

"Just across the hall."

Allison left Harry. Thoughts swarmed through his mind as though a bee hive had exploded within it. His ideas were like bees, buzzing about in circles in his head. How did Allison get that scar on her head? She had to have been there when I got mine. How did Allison escape Voldemort just as I did? How come Dumbledore never told me about her? If Allison was my cousin, then why did I have to come live with the Dursley's? And the biggest question of all, why had she chosen tonight to show up on the Dursley's doorstep?

Allison came back into the room and sat down on the bed beside Harry

"Why did you come here?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore sent me," she replied.

"You know Dumbledore?" he asked, shocked. Allison rolled her eyes.

"Everyone knows Dumbledore, Harry. You're 16 years old and you still don't know stuff about the wizarding world. It's kinda pathetic really… seeing that you're Harry Potter and all."

Harry didn't know how to respond so he just asked:

"Well, why did Dumbledore send you?"

"I was born in the United States in Virginia. My mom, dad, and I moved to North Alabama to go into hiding when I was a little less than a year old." Allison told him.

Harry nodded.

"See, my dad worked for the branch of the Ministry in the United States. My parents were also part of the original Order of the Phoenix with your parents. I don't know why You-Know-Who was after them but it must have had something to do with what my dad was doing for the U.S. branch of the Ministry. You-Know-Who tracked them down though and so, after my parents were murdered by You-Know-Who, Dumble—"

"Wait," Harry cut her off. "Why did Voldemort not try to kill you too?"

"Can you let me finish?" Allison snapped. "You-Know-Who had no idea of my existence at the time. My parents hid me and after they were killed, Dumbledore came and took me to your house in Godric's Hollow. He didn't know that that was precisely where You-Know-Who was headed next. You-Know-Who came the next night. Your mom gave her life to save both of us. That's why You-Know-Who's spell rebounded when he tried to kill us both. I was with you when he tried to kill you. I got the scar on the side of my forehead the same time you got yours. That's the reason You-Know-Who nearly died that night."

"I'm just supposed to believe all this, Allison?" Harry snapped.

"You can call me, Alli," Allison interrupted him, "No one really calls me Allison."

"Okay," Harry continued, "so... Dumbledore knew this whole time that I had family, and he never told me?"

"Yeah, I don't know. I never knew you were related to me either. I just recently found out myself. I mean I knew my last name was Potter and the famous "boy-who-lived" had the last name of Potter but I never really put two and two together, you know?"

"Right," Harry said slowly. "So, where have you been all this time then?"

"Dumbledore took me from your house that night and brought me to this family, the Herndon's. They were my guardians until just recently. But Dumbledore decided that he doesn't trust them much anymore. I've been with the Herndon's my whole life. I trusted them and well, Dumbledore won't tell me why I've been moved. It must be a really big deal though because he really had nowhere else to send me but here."

"Why?"

She snorted, "Nobody wants the challenge of trying to hide someone from Voldemort."

"Voldemort wants you, too?" Harry asked curiously.

"That's why I'm here, I guess," Alli said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh, right." Harry paused for a moment. "So, we really are that close, aren't we?" he muttered.

"Yes." Alli sighed. "Well I'm really tired now. I literally like stood out there in the rain forever because I was trying to find the right house and they all look the same. It was really difficult." Alli said in all seriousness.

"I bet," Harry said sarcastically.

"I'm ready to go to bed," Alli said folding her arms across her chest.

Harry pulled an old mattress out from under his bed. It was dusty and covered in mysterious brown stains. Alli wrinkled her nose at this. Harry put it in the middle of the floor and threw some blankets on top of it. As Harry was setting up Alli's bed on the floor, Alli pulled a furry pink blanket from her trunk and climbed into Harry's own bed, snuggling down under the covers.

"You can sleep there," Harry told her gesturing to the dirty mattress. Alli blinked slowly.

"Why don't you sleep there?" Alli asked him.

"Alli, be reasonable. Go sleep on the floor."

"But… I'm the guest, aren't I?" Alli said, "Shouldn't I get the more comfortable place to sleep?" Harry rolled his eyes. He sighed and tried to get comfortable on the dirty mattress. "Plus, I heard the Dursley's treat you like shit so you should be used to sleeping on the floor."

"Right, that's why they gave me a bedroom...with a bed," he replied. Alli snorted.

"Right," Alli laughed. "Well good night!"

"Goodnight."

Harry found it rather easy to fall back asleep even on the thin mattress without a pillow. He wanted to think more about what Alli had told him but he couldn't keep himself awake. So, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Sunlight burst through the cloudy sky the next morning, warming up the cold damp ground. Alli rolled over in bed and rubbed her eyes.

"Get up, you insufferable piece of shit, its past ten!" Dudley Dursley's deep voice boomed through the walls. Alli jumped and sat up in bed, her pink fuzzy blanket falling to the floor. Her back ached and her dark brown hair hung pitifully and limply in her face, covering her shoulders in a wavy mess. She brushed it back and looked over at Harry. Dudley's voice had not woken him.

"What the hell?" Alli groaned.

"Duvvley, " Harry muttered into his pillow.

"Oh, your cousin?" Alli asked.

"Yes," Harry groaned.

"Well, he woke me up and I think I'm going to go have a word with him because I was having a particularly wonderful dream," Alli stumbled out of bed and marched toward the door. Harry jumped out of his covers and blocked her path.

"You can't do that."

"Why? Hewoke meup, Harry. You don't expect me to just go with the flow, do you?"

"Well, I'm sorry, Allison, but you're going to have to when you're around the Dursley's."

"Oh, please. They're muggles; they don't know shit." Alli pushed past Harry and headed toward the stairs, Harry following after her in a hurry.

"Alli, that's not a good idea. Come back here!"

Alli ignored him. She turned right as soon as she was down the stairs and walked straight into the kitchen. Petunia Dursley looked up from a pan of sizzling bacon and shrieked. She jumped back and hid behind her husband. Vernon and Dudley Dursley looked up. Harry's uncle's face turned purple, just as it always did whenever he got angry.

"INTRUDER!" Vernon screamed. "PETUNIA CALL THE POLICE! NOW!"

Aunt Petunia was too terrified to move. Alli giggled. Harry burst into the kitchen.

"Alli! Stop!"

"Harry, look," She giggled. "They're all terrified of me!"

"That's not funny, Alli. They're not going to feed me tonight now," Harry snapped.

"GET OUT OF THIS KITCHEN. NOW!" Vernon yelled.

"Calm down, please! She's my cousin! I can explain," Harry said.

"GET OUT! GET OUT!" Uncle Vernon looked on the verge of breaking every blood vessel in his face.

"Come on, Alli. Let's go," Harry told her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the kitchen.

"You can't just do that."

"Do what?" Alli scoffed.

"You walked right into their kitchen, Alli," Harry said plainly.

"How was I supposed to know everyone was gonna be in there?" Alli said.

"Alli, they hateme. Chances are that they will hate you too."

"Why?"

"They hate anything that has to do with the Wizarding World."

"Probably just jealous," Alli replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

They continued walking away from the houses and down the street towards the neighborhood playground where Harry often escaped to when he did not feel like dealing with the Dursley's.

As Harry and Alli walked down the street, Alli felt a wave of happiness overcome her. It was true. Harry Potter was the only family she had left now as well. She sighed and Harry looked at her questioningly.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"It's just… I don't know," Alli said. "Strange, I guess."

"What's strange?"

"Like I keep wondering why Dumbledore would send me here after all this time. I mean I know that your aunt and uncle aren't related to me or anything but you are. It's just weird that everyone kept this secret from us. It's the fact that we actually did have family after all this time. It's actually kind of relieving, honestly," Alli continued.

Then, she fell silent. After all this time, Alli had become a human jewelry box. Keeping all of her little jewel secrets locked away safe and sound so nobody could intrude and break the pearl necklace spilling the pearls all over the floor.

When they reached the playground, Harry sat down on one of the swings. Alli looked down at the dirty, paint-chipped swing and decided against sitting on it. Harry and Alli stayed silent, both contemplating last night's and this morning's events.

"I think it's safe to head back now," he said after a while.

"Okay," Alli nodded.

When they reached Privet Drive, Alli spoke again.

"So, how much longer do we have to stay here?"

"I'm usually rescued before the end of the summer is up."

"Rescued?" Alli said raising her eyebrows.

"By my friends or really anyone," Harry answered.

"Mmm," Alli replied.

They entered the house, sneaking past the living room, and went up the stairs back to Harry's bedroom. The rest of the day passed slowly. When dinner time came, Alli felt her stomach growl.

"I'm hungry," she thought aloud.

"If you hadn't burst into their kitchen this morning then they might have actually fed me tonight and I would have given you some," Harry replied.

"Well, I'm going downstairs and getting food," Alli said. "You do what you want." Alli slid off the edge of the bed and walked towards the door. Harry jumped up and blocked her path. "Harry, come on! I'm starving!"

"No," Harry said. "You can't do that."

"Watch me," Alli said shoving him out of the way. She opened the door and walked briskly out of the room and down the hall. She made her way down to the living room where Aunt Petunia was sitting on the couch.

"Listen, I'm like really hungry and you haven't given us any dinner," Alli spoke up. Aunt Petunia looked up and shrieked.

"Vernon, come quick," Aunt Petunia called.

"I'm serious, lady," Alli said placing her hands on her hips. She glanced into the kitchen where leftover dinner still covered the counter. "Look, there is a ton of food left. I traveled a really long distance last night, I didn't have breakfast or lunch and I'm starving."

Uncle Vernon entered the living room and his eyes narrowed at the sight of Alli.

"Who are you? Get out of my house."

"Um, you met me this morning," Alli said plainly. Aunt Petunia looked at her husband. "Listen, I'm not in the mood to deal with you guys right now. I'm getting my dinner."

Alli pushed past them and went into the kitchen.

"Where are the plates?" Alli called to them opening one of the cupboards. No one answered her.

"What are we going to do with her?" Aunt Petunia whispered to Uncle Vernon.

"We'll make her leave."

"But, Vernon, she's one of them. What if she tries to threaten us?"

"Never mind, I found them!" Alli yelled. Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Alli was scooping some roasted red potatoes onto her plate.

"This is the last time I'm going to take this nonsense from you and your kind, you hear me?"

"I'm not deaf," Alli said rolling her eyes. She helped herself to some pork tenderloin. Alli ate a spoonful of the potatoes and nodded her head in approval. "This is actually really good." She placed the plate in the sink after finishing her meal. "Thanks for dinner. It was delicious."

"But we didn't give—"

"Night!" Alli cut him off.

She jogged up the stairs leaving the Dursley's speechless. When she entered Harry's bedroom, Harry looked at her dumbfounded.

"How did you…?" Harry began.

"They didn't really say much," Alli said. "I think they were kind of shocked at my impudence truthfully."

"Yeah, I'm kind of shocked at your impudence truthfully," Harry said angrily.

"Oh, chill. I was just having fun messing with them," Alli laughed. Before Harry had a chance to respond, there was a tap at the window. Harry looked out to see a small barn owl flapping his wings just outside. Harry lifted the window open and the owl flew inside quickly. So quickly, in fact, that he slammed directly into Harry's wardrobe. Alli snickered.

"Errol," Harry said as an explanation. Errol stood up and ruffled his brown feathers trying to recover from his latest blow to the head. He swooped into the air once more and dropped a letter onto Harry's bed. Harry picked up the letter excitedly. "It's from Ron!"

"Who's Ron?" Alli asked. Harry ignored her and opened the envelope. "Who's Ron?" Alli asked again.

"My friend," Harry said unfolding the letter. Harry read over the letter hurriedly. "We're leaving," Harry said quickly. He dropped the letter back down on his bed and then went to his dresser and began to pull clothes from the drawers. Alli picked up the letter and read it over.

Harry,

We are on our way to your aunt and uncle's house. Be ready to leave when we get there. Hermione just arrived this morning and we plan to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow afternoon.

See you,

Ron

"Wait, Ron is coming here?" Alli asked.

"Pack up your things and get dressed. They'll be here any minute now."

"They?" Alli asked raising her eyebrows.

"We're going to the Burrow," Harry told her throwing a pile of clothes into his open trunk.

"The Burrow?" Alli said, "What's the Burrow?"