Harry pov

Harry had been anticipating quite a few situations when he found out that he was being invited to a family reunion. What if this aunt was just as terrible as the last? What if he lost control of his magic? Worse, what if they found out? Mad-Eye and Auror training taught him that anything was possible, and to expect everything.

He failed to consider Dudley apologizing.

It wasn't a half-hearted attempt to preserve some of his dignity, either. Dudley Dursley, for the first time in his life, has apologized to him, a freak, and genuinely meant it. That wasn't something to be taken lightly. Dudley may not be Ron, but he didn't deserve to be brought up by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Dursley, who could hardly be considered parents. Perhaps it all really was faulty upbringing, and he actually took more after Harry's mother, Lily, who everyone had confirmed a kind person. Maybe it had something to do with the Dementors.

He contemplated this while sipping his tea, trying to decipher what Dudley could possibly had heard that night when the doorbell rang. He jolted out of his seat and whipped out his wand on instinct. Then, seeing Dudley's alarmed face at his sudden movement and hearing Aunt Petunia's false, high-pitched laugh that hid a note a wariness, he sat back down and blushed. This had been happening quite a few times over the past few months. Everyone was still alert and anxious after the recent war, but Harry was one of the worst. At every small movement, he tensed moved into a defensive position. This was looked upon approvingly in Auror training and was further reinforced when people starting making a game out of it to get him to stop blaming himself for tolls the war took on everyone. Ginny would sneak up behind him and jump out from behind the couch, Ron would blast him with fizzing whizbee (once it even got a chuckle out of George. Hermione and Molly looked upon the whole thing with an aloof objection, thinking Harry still a little delicate to be dealing with that sort of nonsense, but when they realized it actually pleased him in an odd, comforting way, they grudgingly accepted that it was a better method of internal healing than their soothing words and cautious tones (though they undoubtedly helped).

Harry and Dudley both snuck a glace at each other, then realized the other was looking and decided to cover things up with a fleeting, nervous smile. Harry sensed that Dudley, too, was unsure of meeting their new family, and it relieved him that he wasn't the only one. They made their way to the door together past Petunia and Vernon and greeted their long lost Aunt (second Aunt? Third? Harry wasn't exactly sure) and cousin.

The woman had brown hair and soft, kind eyes that reminded him of Mrs. Weasley's stern motherly look, but at the same time, Remus's steady, pleasant gaze that made you a hundred times warmer and wants to break out beaming, because he was there. Harry felt a sharp pang in his chest that echoed and drove into him like a thousand crucios and a small drop of water forming in his eyes that he brushed off casually. The woman, as if sensing his pain, tentatively reached out a hand and smiled at him. Definitely Mrs. Weasley, Harry thought. He had more than a little experience of judging character, and this woman, he knew already, was a good person. She turned to Aunt Petunia and the air seemed to drop 20 degrees.

"Hello, Petunia. Long time no see. I wish Lily were here to see us- if only you could have said a little earlier." Her tone was civil enough, but there was a menacing undertone. Clearly, Petunia wasn't her favorite sister. Harry thought this with smug satisfaction. Uncle Vernon introduced himself with his usual superior expression.

A boy stood tall next to the woman. From a certain angle, Harry considered, the two young men might look fairly similar. They both shared the same shock of messy, raven black hair, and bright green eyes- though at second glance, you could easily differ the boy's sea green from Harry's bright emerald orbs. Apart from that, their facial features were completely different, and Harry was much skinnier and less muscular in build. He had an easygoing, and friendly manner about him, quite like Ron. Also similar to his friend, the boy's eyes shone of determination, loyalty, and- to Harry's surprise- a deep sadness. He had gone through some traumatizing experiences for sure.

The boy spoke first. "Hi, I'm Percy Jackson." He held out a hand and smiled lightly. "Nice to meet you."

Harry resisted the urge to laugh out loud. This Percy already seemed everything that the Weasley wasn't. He took his hand, surprised at the firm grip (he had heard Americans were lousy with handshakes). "I'm Harry. Harry Potter. Pleasure."

Percy swept an analytical gaze on Harry. He seemed to be calculating the latter similarly to how Harry had. Then Percy nodded. "We're cousins, right? Your Petunia's son?"

Dudley stepped up nervously and shook his head. "Actually, I am. Dudley Dursley." Then, with a furtive look behind him, "Just saying, my parents can be arses sometimes."

"Haven't you got that right." Harry murmured under his breath. Percy heard him and simply laughed and raised an eyebrow. "I've gotten a pretty clear message of that so far."

Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and the woman, who turned out to be Percy's mother, Sally Jackson, chose that moment to have us all make formal introductions. Harry could still sense the tension between them.

"Well," Petunia giggled in her false, shrilly way, "I have tea! Harry and Dudley were just catching up in the other room. We could all sit there and enjoy some dinner, now. There's fruit cake for dessert!"

"Fruit cake?" Percy asked. Everyone turned their attention toward him, and he shrugged. "I've never really tried it. Worse come to worse, Mom can always make some of her famous blue chocolate chip cookies." Blue chocolate chip cookies? Americans were weird. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon exchanging looks. How disrespectful, it seemed to say, boys these days. No manners. As if they were one to talk, Harry thought wryly as Uncle Vernon belched at the sight of the steak.

There was an awkward silence as the only sound was forks and knives clattering. What a family. It was as different as possible from the boisterous, jubilant dinners Harry shared with the Weasleys and the Order. Percy finally broke the discomfort.

"So," he said conversationally, "What do you guys for a living?" Harry bit down his lip to hold back a groan. Sure enough, Uncle Vernon started droning on and on about drills.

Percy winced around ten minutes later and turned to Harry. "What about you? You and Dudley," he added.

Harry looked up from his food, thought for a while, and just settled with, "I'm a police officer of sorts. Still training. Dudley is a boxer. A good one, at that. You and your mum?" The other boy looked at him for a long while, and then said, "All right."

They started conversing more about school, and Harry had to fib his way through half of the questions. When he got to the subject of Ginny, though, he almost broke into a wide grin.

"Yeah, I have a girlfriend. She's a fiery redhead. Annabeth sounds like a friend of mine." At this, the Dursleys were startled. They didn't know that Harry was dating anyone. Dudley shot him a curious look.

"Maybe they could meet one day."

"Yeah, maybe." But he highly doubted this.

Mrs. Jackson, who was as good-natured as her son, joked around about Percy's baby stories. Petunia and Vernon, of course, started raving about Dudley.

"How cute of a baby he was! Intelligent, too. Good babies grow into good men."

"Yes, I'm sure they do." Mrs. Jackson and Percy looked amused.

Then she zeroed in on Harry. "So, what about you? What was Harry like when he was young?"

Aunt Petunia hand moved to cover her mouth, and Uncle Vernon nearly choked on his steak. "The boy? Young? Not much to boast about." Harry vigorously nodded in agreement. He wasn't in the mood to get into the topic of his childhood, though he knew Percy's was as bad. His father had left before he was born, and his stepfather abused him.

But Sally was unrelenting. "Nothing to boast about? Oh, I'm sure that's not true. I remember Lily was talented in school, wasn't she?" The Dursleys froze, Dudley sending a cautious look at Harry's direction. Percy looked confused.

Harry cleared his throat. "Well, I, um... as a baby I..."

"You wouldn't remember, of course. But your eyes are Lily's exactly. Don't you have some pictures?"

"I... don't have any with me at the moment."

Sally's eyes narrowed, but it was gone so quickly that if Harry hadn't been surviving for years just by looking at tiny details, he wouldn't have noticed it. "Oh. I see."

Percy cleared his throat and decided to join the conversation again. "Well, if you don't mind me asking... how did your parents... you know. And did it have anything to do with the destruction of the house?" In contrast to his calm, confident air before, he seemed a little flustered. Everyone was. Aunt Petunia had been purposefully weaving around this subject for a while now.

"They were murdered. And..." he considered lying but decided against it. All hell wouldn't break loose if he told some Muggles a tiny portion. "Yes, by the same people that were doing all the murders. But they're gone now. For good."

Sally and her son exchanged an unconvinced look. "Well, if you say so."

"I do."

So yay, another chapter out. Thanks to everyone that reviewed and/or followed and all that stuff.

Hermionechase16: For the power thing, it just might be a little OOC. Harry doesn't really like attention or showing off. Maybe a little later something will come and they'll be forced to? I dunno. I'll try for longer chapters- and I'll sort of have a crazy update schedule, but yeah. Thanks.

Guest (chapter 2): This is after the HoO, therefore Percy will have earned a little bit of leniency with Zeus. Maybe I can go back and make some edits so the plane will be extra turbulent, but Zeus wouldn't Olympus's hero.

If I have any grammar issues or repetition and stuff like that, tell me. I use Grammarly, but that fails sometimes.