Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; the usual rules, you know (And I got the original idea for this from 'Harry Potter and the Time Mage', even if I took the time-travel aspect out of the equation)

Feedback: Always a pleasure

AN: The third story in the series where Harry was adopted by the Grangers, now delving deeper into the family dynamics that Harry and Hermione have developed in a world where they were raised as siblings rather than just coming together as friends (As well as the obvious issue of Sirius).

Hope you like the little 'blast to the past' I included here; could have been better, but I think the end result works…

Harry Potter/Granger and the Prisoner of Azkaban

As he walked through the streets of Paris, Harry was amazed at how relaxed he felt about everything; after the chaos of last year's events in the Chamber, it was surprising how comforting anonymity was.

While he and Hermione had spent the first couple of weeks of summer grounded for their further violation of school rules during the Chamber incident, it had mainly been used as an excuse for them to get their schoolwork finished- Hermione, as always, nearly writing far more than was required before Harry convinced her to space it out a bit more- before departing for the previously-planned holiday to France. After visiting a few locations of historical interest around the country- Harry and Hermione had managed to suggest a few magical-themed locations that were comfortably dismissive of blood-based prejudices, allowing them to show their parents around without worrying too much about running into the French equivalent of Draco Malfoy-, they'd made their way to their current hotel, spending time visiting the local tourist attractions, both the conventional muggle spots and the magical locations.

Looking up at the Eiffel Tower, Harry smiled at the thought that they were about to go up it; they'd seen some fascinating sights, but there was still something about the chance to see the Eiffel Tower that really made his day…

"Harry?" Hermione said, walking up to look at her brother from where they were waiting at the edge of the river near the Tower, enjoying the sights while their parents waited in the queue. "Are you all right?"

"Just enjoying the view," Harry said, smiling over at his sister. "I mean, do you even realise how long it's been since I was somewhere where I knew I wasn't going to attract attention in a crowd?"

"A couple of years at least, right?" Hermione said, grinning back at her brother.

"More or less," Harry replied, nodding back at his sister.

His celebrity status in the wizarding world had its ups and downs, but one of the most obvious ones was the fact that it was hard for him to have any sense of privacy in public locations; even if he didn't show off his scar, it wasn't impossible for someone to recognise him…

His thoughts were interrupted when a large boy hurrying past bumped into Harry, sending both of them staggering slightly as the boy's larger bulk was countered by Harry's own physical presence. Turning to look at the large figure that had just struck him, Harry was about to apologise for the accident, but his eyes widened in shock as he recognised the other boy.

"Dudley?" he said incredulously before he could stop himself.

He hadn't thought about his cousin for years- ever since he'd left the orphanage with the Grangers, he'd tried to forget anything to do with that time of his life-, but Dudley had been such a constant figure of torment in his childhood that it would take a lot longer than the near-decade he'd spent away from him to forget what he looked like. Since he'd last seen him, Dudley appeared to have become increasingly fatter than he'd ever been with the Dursleys even allowing for his greater age, putting Harry disturbingly in mind of a pig that someone had squeezed into a set of clothes.

"Who-" Dudley began, before his eyes settled on Harry's scar and widened in shocked recognition. "You?"

"Dudders?" another outrageously fat woman said as she walked up to the boy in question, looking at him with an affection that Harry couldn't help but regard as exaggerated compared to how the Grangers and the Weasleys treated him. "You shouldn't run off-!"

The woman halted mid-sentence as her eyes fell on Harry, an expression of recognition and rage on her face as she glared him, Harry's sense of panic growing even before he recognised her. Harry vaguely remembered his uncle Vernon's sister Marge, but if he'd not thought about Dudley willingly for years his memories of Marge had been comparatively easy to ignore considering the lack of contact they'd had. She might have been just as abusive towards him as the Dursleys, letting her dog chase him and barely acknowledging his presence- the closest she'd come was giving him a bag of dog biscuits as a Christmas present the year before he was taken away-, but she'd never really gone out of her way to do it, relying on her brother to 'discipline' him.

"You…" Marge Dursley said, glaring at him in pointed recognition as she stepped forward in what could have been a gesture of protection if it wasn't for the fact that she was protecting a bully already nearly as wide as she was. "My poor brother had to leave his son because of you-!"

"Leave Harry alone!" Hermione said, stepping forward to stand between her brother and the older woman, glaring back at her with a greater intensity behind her stare than Marge's. "He never did anything wrong-!"

"He should have been grateful that his good-for-nothing parents had any family willing to do something for him!" Marge yelled, looking indignantly at Hermione as Dudley looked at Harry with a satisfied smirk. "My brother put up with that delinquent for years, and the only thing this boy did was hand him over to the police-!"

"For behaviour that amounted to attempted murder," a cold voice said as Alan Granger walked up to stand behind his children, looking coldly at Marge as he spoke. "Marge Dursley, I take it?"

"And you are?" Marge replied.

"Alan," Alan replied simply, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm Harry's new guardian."

"Really?" Marge said, looking at him with a more eager smile. "You are aware that my brother was a prominent figure in his community-"

"Who used Harry as a source of cheap labour while pampering his own son beyond the point where anyone else would?" Alan said, looking at Dudley with a pointed stare for a moment before turning his attention back to Marge. "I'll make this simple; stay away from Harry and don't voice any unwanted opinions, and I'll make sure he stays away from you."

"That delinquent-" Marge began.

"Has never caused us any trouble," Alan said firmly. "If you don't want us to have to dig up everything your brother did to him back then, I suggest you stop this little 'chat' now."

After looking at him with a frustrated expression, Marge nodded grimly and turned away, Dudley shooting a malicious glare at Harry for a moment before turning around to follow his aunt.

"What a revolting boy," Hermione said, looking at Dudley with an expression that suggested she was trying to decide if she'd just smelled something bad and how foul it actually was.

"That's Dudley," Harry said, shrugging as he looked at her. "Either you hated him as a bullying idiot, or you considered him the perfect child and were blind to all his faults; there wasn't much of a middle ground when I knew him."

"Your file said that he was involved in your abuse and that he seemed rather happy about it, but I didn't think anyone would go that far," Alan said, looking grimly after the rapidly-vanishing form of Marge Dursley. "How can anyone do that to their children…?"

Harry wasn't sure what to say to that- he wasn't even entirely sure what his father was referring to; Dudley was a bit overweight, but that didn't exactly seem like a harsh fate-, but his adoptive father didn't seem to be that concerned about receiving an answer; he just looked thoughtfully after the vanishing Dursleys for a moment before looking at his own children.

"Come on," he said, indicating the tower with a smile. "Your mother's got the tickets; she's just holding our place in the queue."

As he and his sister hurried over to the tower, Harry resolved to put that particular meeting out of his mind it was unlikely that he and Dudley would run into each other again any time soon, and all that meeting had accomplished was to reassure him that he was better off where he was than he ever would have been with the Dursleys.

He didn't need to feel Hermione's hand taking his to know that the Grangers would never care about whatever he'd been regarded as by the Dursleys; even if he had been a burden to the Dursleys, all he was to the Grangers was a son and a brother.

He'd always been amazed that the Grangers had chosen to take him in, but moments like this, when they made it clear that they didn't care what his biological family had thought of him, just made him love his new family that bit more…

When he woke up later that night, for a moment, Harry wasn't sure where he was, but then he looked over and saw his sister lying close to him in the hotel's other bed and smiled as he allowed himself to relax.

The sudden meeting with Dudley and Marge aside, they'd had a good day in Paris, and Harry was satisfied that they'd never run into them again; the vaguely-remembered dream of Vernon's treatment of him had been a shock at the time, but it was quickly pushed aside by the sight of Hermione sleeping near him, his sister's presence a reassuring reminder that those days were over.

Looking over at the corner of the room, Harry was only slightly surprised to see that Hedwig was absent; he might have gone to the trouble of bringing her along, but they'd all been aware that it was unlikely she'd spend much time with them. It had been difficult to work out how she might come with them in the first place- owls weren't exactly the kind of pet that were normally seen on airplanes-, but, with Harry not wanting to leave her on her own, they'd come up with an effective solution by packing a collapsible stand and sending her along ahead of their plane. So long as they left their windows open each night when staying in non-magical hotels, Hedwig could spend the night with them and head off hunting during the day, as well as picking up their deliveries of the Daily Prophet; she might attract attention from local ornithologists looking in the right places, but she seemed to like spending time with the family in the evenings.

Glancing at the clock by his bed, Harry was surprised to see that it was after midnight already- he'd gone to bed relatively late, but he thought he'd had a shorter sleep than that-, but thoughts on the fact that it was his birthday already were forgotten when his attention was drawn to something else when he looked out of the window and saw something strange flying towards them, the moon behind the shape illuminating it even further.

Getting up from his bed, he walked over to open the window even further- they left it open every night for Hedwig to slip in, but whatever this was looked like it deserved closer inspection-, ignoring the startled gasp from Hermione's bed as the influx of cool air apparently woke her up as he realised that the odd shape was two owls carrying a third by its wings. Stepping aside to allow her to see what had attracted his attention, Harry waited until the strange trio of owls arrived in the window, flying through I to land on Harry's bed.

"What the…?" Hermione said, getting out of bed to look at the newly-arrived owls. One owl was easily identifiable as Hedwig, looking at them with her usual self-satisfied manner, and the owl that she had been carrying was obviously the Weasleys' elderly family owl, Errol, who they quickly moved to Hedwig's perch after pouring him some water from the room's sink. The third owl was one that neither had seen before, being a handsome tawny owl, but the fact that it was carrying two letters with the Hogwarts crest on it at least answered where it had come from, even if the packages it was carrying were a bit of an anomaly.

Exchanging glances after the tawny owl had flown away with its delivery completed, Harry and Hermione mutually decided to open the package Errol had been carrying first, revealing an object wrapped in gold and a birthday card that, when opened, was revealed to contain a letter and a newspaper article. Putting the card to one side for the moment- the thought was nice-, but both siblings were sure that more would follow-, Harry and Hermione turned their attention to the article first.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw.
A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet, "We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank."
The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend.

Looking at the accompanying photograph, Harry smiled at the sight of the nine Weasleys- including the as-yet-unmet Bill and Charlie- standing in front of a large pyramid, grinning and waving at the photographer, Ron and Ginny in the middle of the picture with Scabbers perched on Ron's shoulder.

"Good for them, eh?" Harry said, smiling over at his sister as she crawled over on to his bed to study the picture.

"I can't think of anyone who deserved it more," Hermione replied, smiling back at him. "Plus, the history might be interesting…"

Her voice trailed off as she sighed. "What am I saying, this is Ron we're talking about here; how much of what anyone says about the tombs' history is he going to pay attention to?"

"Maybe his brother being there will help him pay attention?" Harry pointed out; Ron was a great guy to have in a tight spot, but he wasn't always the most attentive when it came to research-related matters. "Besides, Ginny seems fairly sharp…"

His voice trailed off despite the open-ended nature of the sentence, but Hermione understood; Ginny had made a mistake with the diary, but even if all had turned out well, it was too soon to even think about making those kind of jokes.

To take their minds off that rather bleak train of thought, the siblings turned their attention to the letter accompanying the article, evidently written by Ron.

Dear Harry,
Happy birthday! (Hi, Hermione; just wanted to say the birthday bit first).
Hope you're both having a good summer. Would have written back earlier, but it's been a bit hectic here; everything's been happening at once since Dad won the draw.
It's amazing here in Egypt. Bill's taken us around all the tombs and you wouldn't believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them. Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one. There were all these mutant skeletons in there, of Muggles who'd broken in and grown extra heads and stuff.
I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred galleons! Most of it's gone on this trip, but they're going to buy me a new wand for next year; old one's approaching its last legs, you know.
We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get my wand and our new books. Any chance of meeting you there?
Try and come to London,
Ron
P.S. Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week.

"Not much of a surprise with that, I suppose," Hermione said, looking at the photograph in the article with a slight smile. Now that she looked closer, she could see that Percy was actually wearing his badge pinned to a fez, despite the fact that that the badge didn't actually give him any kind of authority at the moment.

"Same old Percy, I suppose," Harry said, smiling slightly as he turned his attention to unwrapping the present. Inside was an object that looked like a small glass spinning top, along with another note identifying it as a Pocket Sneakoscope that would allegedly go off if anyone untrustworthy was in the vicinity, along with a note that it had already identified Fred and George as trouble when they put beetles in Bill's soup the night before.

"Nice," Hermione said, nodding thoughtfully at the object. "Could be useful, and a nifty bit of magic that manages to look relatively inconspicuous at the same time."

"Quite," Harry said, before he turned his attention to the two packages collected by Hedwig. "Hold on a minute… this is from you… and the other… Natalie?"

"Well, I sent Hedwig to collect my gift- it was cheaper to arrange a pick-up time than have another owl bring it to you-, but the package from Natalie is a complete surprise," Hermione said, shrugging slightly as she smiled at her brother. "Come on, open up."

Deciding to open Hermione's present first, Harry picked up the large package, opened it, and found himself looking at a large, sleek black leather case, Broomstick Servicing Kit written on it in silver. Opening it revealed that the contents included a large jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, a pair of gleaming silver Tall-Twig Clippers, a tiny brass compass to clip on your broom for long journeys, and a Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare.

"I thought it was something you'd find practical and interesting; Quidditch is becoming your favourite sport, after all," Hermione said, grinning at her brother before he reached over to give her a hug.

"Thanks," Harry said, still grinning at her as he stepped back from her. "I mean it."

"Any time," Hermione said, before she indicated the other package. "Shall we see what Natalie sent?"

Nodding in agreement, Harry opened the package from their cousin, smiling at the contents; a selection of Terry Pratchett novels- he'd read some of them in the local library but never managed to find the time to buy any of them for himself-, each focusing on the adventures of Rincewind, the wizard so useless he was incapable of even spelling 'wizard' correctly but who nevertheless ended up in the most ridiculous and terrifying situations with the fate of the world depending on him.

Smiling at the obvious sentiment behind the gifts, Harry picked up the note and began to read it.

Hi Harry!
Sorry I didn't give this to you earlier, but Mum and Dad already gave the family's present to Uncle Alan and Aunt Jean and I didn't know how to explain why I wanted you to have these in particular. I couldn't believe it when I found Hedwig at my window- she's a beautiful owl; you're so lucky!-, but she seemed to want to take it, so I wrapped it up and gave it to her.
It's all good here; we're just staying in England this holiday, but we've been visiting some interesting places. I've been reading those books you gave me about Wizarding history and magical theory, and it's really interesting; I can't wait until I have the chance to go to Hogwarts and learn it for myself!
Hope you're all having a good time,
Natalie

"Good to hear from her, anyway," Hermione said, grinning over at her brother.

"Yeah," Harry said, smiling over at her as he looked at the books. "I wonder what Ron would make of these…?"

"It could be amusing, anyway," Hermione said, grinning back at him- both of them remembered Ron's 'Martin Miggs the Mad Muggle' comics and wondered what he'd make of novels about a man who could be the wizard equivalent- before she picked up the last parcel, looking thoughtfully at the label. "This looks like it's from Hagrid…"

Reaching over, Harry removed the paper around the parcel, revealing something green and leathery that suddenly quivered and snapped at them, the dual sound alerting the siblings to the fact that there were two of whatever it was before they'd finished unwrapping it.

Remembering some of Hagrid's past pets, Harry and Hermione glanced briefly at each other before Hermione grabbed the bedside lamp as Harry ripped the rest of the paper off, revealing two thick copies of what appeared to be The Monster Book of Monsters before they started attacking each other, snapping at the other in a manner that reminded Harry of clawless crabs. Stuck for anything else to do before things became too noisy, both of them practically jumped on top of the books, managing to keep a tight hold on them until they were able to pull out one of Harry's spare belts and wrap it around the books. Shoving them to the bottom of their bags- they'd worry about how to stop someone looking at it who shouldn't be later-, Harry turned his attention to Hagrid's card.

Dear Harry,
Happy Birthday!
Think you and Hermione might find this useful for next year. Won't say no more here. Tell you when I see you. Hope you're having a good time.
All the best,
Hagrid

"He thinks that a book that tries to bite us will be useful?" Hermione said, looking uncertainly at Harry.

"Well… we'll worry about that later," Harry said, shrugging slightly at his sister before he turned his attention to the Hogwarts letter, handing Hermione hers before opening his own. Both letters reported the standard information regarding the departure time of the Hogwarts Express and the accompanying lists of relevant reading material, but included the promising-looking bonus of a form that the Grangers could sign confirming that they would be allowed to visit the village of Hogsmeade, an all-magical community close to Hogwarts, on certain weekends.

"We're going to get to go to Hogsmeade?" Hermione said, looking at Harry with a grin. "How's that for a neat addition to the curriculum?"

"Should be good, anyway," Harry said, looking back at Hermione with a smile; they might be comfortable in wizarding or muggle society, but it would be fascinating to see how a purely magical village differed from what they'd seen in other places.

Glancing over the attached reading list, Harry smiled slightly as he noted Monster Book of Monsters as the relevant text for Care of Magical Creatures- at least they knew why Hagrid sent them such a book now-, before he looked over at his sister's list, noting with only slight disappointment the first sign of their diverging academic futures, her Arithmancy book adding an extra line to her courseload that his didn't.

It wasn't like he hadn't known it was going to happen, but seeing it printed out just made it seem more… real… that he and his sister were starting to take separate paths.

Hermione had been there for him since he was six years old, the first person he'd ever met who really, truly, completely accepted him; the thought that they were approaching a time when she wouldn't always be there felt…

Harry shook that thought off before it could finish.

He was just being stupid, really; no matter what happened, Hermione would always be his sister, closer to him by chance than his living blood relatives had ever even tried to be, and nothing would change that.

Nothing could change that; with his biological family either dead or a hideous failure, Harry only retained his original last name because he respected the memories of the parents that had originally brought him into the world.

There was no other relative out there for him, and he was content with that…

AN 2: Hope it was worth the wait; unless anyone has anything they REALLY want to see happen to Marge and/or Dudley before the holiday's over, we're back to Diagon Alley next chapter