210Chapter one
Harry took a deep breath and started to walk out of the airport his trunk behind him. Admittedly he was wishing that he had just been able to apparate here, but Kingsley…no Minister Shacklebolt Harry thought with grin…anyway the new Minister of Magic had decided that it would be safer for him to travel the muggle way and Richard had insisted on coming to pick him up at the airport, so he had been stuck on a plane for the last sixteen hours with a baby that screamed for the first few hours straight before Harry had broken and had cast a charm to relieve the pressure in her ears and a cheering charm on her for extra measure.
The baby's mum had been a little concerned with the turn around in her baby but had been clearly relieved that everyone had stopped glaring at her. The food was disgusting and shrivelled, even by his standards of being forced onto rationing for the last year and half, that plus the fact that his 6,1 frame had been extremely cramped in the seats after the first hour meant that Kingsley, Minister of Magic or not, would be receiving a very nasty howler from Harry any day now. Yawning widely Harry stepped out into the greeting area and couldn't help but feel more nervous than he could remember feeling since his first day at Hogwarts.
He had written to Richard, spoken to him on the phone and even managed to start e-mailing him over the past couple of months, however that was very different to meeting the man in person, moving into his house and praying to Merlin that the man would want to keep him around as he was the last chance of having real blood family and that he wanted to keep him, unlike most people, oh they cared for him, liked him, wanted the best for him, but in the long run, no one wanted the boy-who-has-a-giant-target-painted-on-his-back living in their home. Pushing aside those painful thoughts quickly he looked around trying to spot Richard whom he had seen a picture of with his family before they died. Suddenly a very tall, broad Chinese man was in front of him dressed in an expensive-looking suit. Harry's wand hand twitched automatically as his feet shifted into a fighting stance.
"Harry Potter?" the man asked in a deep voice with a hint of danger behind it.
"Asking?" Harry glared suddenly having a bad feeling about this whole thing, since the plane had started dropping into St Louis his magic had picked up an unusually high mix of strange magic. The man in front of him seemed to twitch in annoyance.
"Shang-Da," the man answered shortly after seeming to consider whether he should answer or not. In her cage Hedwig was hooting and clicking her beak indignantly at the man whom Harry could see was trying not to look shocked at his choice of pet, meanwhile he could feel Nagini shifting uneasily around his arm where he had ordered her to stay during the flight, but now he could feel her twisting around his wrist at the feeling of his rapid pulse as adrenaline started shooting through his body at the thought of an attack.
It took him a few moments to remember where he had heard that name before but it came to him, Richard had spoken about his two friends Jamil and Shang-Da that acted more like bodyguards than friends around him.
"Oh right, yes, sorry…is Richard here?" Harry asked looking around.
"Had to go to a meeting so he sent me to pick you up," Shang-Da said making it clear what he thought about being sent to pick up a teenager.
"Oh, ok, well, thanks," Harry tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace. Richard hadn't even come to meet him from the airport?
Oh wonderful, such a good sign for the start of things. Shang-Da considered him for a minute seemingly sensing his drop in emotions but Harry took a deep breath and cleared his face pulling his now well-worn mask into place, the calm and even facade, shoulders back with confidence, air of nonchalance about him that he had learnt while dealing with the ministry, this when mixed together was his 'meeting with Voldemort and the Death Eaters and wetting his pants but pretending to be confident' mask that he had been using since he was eleven.
Shang-Da seemed surprised at this but just reached out and took the handle of Harry's trunk and simply lifted it before starting to walk out the airport leaving Harry to follow with Hedwig's cage, he felt something against his neck and smiled at the feel of Nagini settling comfortably there.
Harry blinked when the car pulled to a stop outside a house. He had been nodding off on the way here as the trip from the airport to Richard's house was a fair drive and the dark night and stuffy heat had hit him quickly. He sent a brief mental thanks to Severus for the potion that prevented jet lag.
Severus.
Thoughts of the potions master rolled around his head as he followed Shang-Da up the path to his cousin's house, it was a family house, a family home, the type that gave you a warm and comfortable feeling just by looking at it. Then his thoughts went back to Severus, surprisingly during the war they had grown close, became friends as much as necessary allies. It was Severus who had fought at Harry's back in the final battle, the two of them sticking to each other like glue as they cut their way through the Death Eaters until they reached Moldy Shorts himself.
He had been upset when Harry had told him he was leaving for America, but he had made him promise to write letters and phone as often as possible, his floo was always open and a bedroom ready at his and Remus's house for Harry should he need it and if his cousin treated him badly he was to tell him and Severus would come right away and show him why he had been thought a prize Death Eater once.
Richard had gotten in contact, somehow he had managed to find out where Harry lived after trying to track down his cousin and his uncle James for over seven months with the help of a 'friend'. This friend had Harry worried because he was more than aware of the types of people that would be able to find him and not many of them were of very good characters.
However after speaking to Richard for a while he had discovered that Richard had found out about his branch of the family after his mum died, and he and his brothers had found letters from James Potter in England from when they were about eight right through to twenty-six and then a whole collection of returned letters written by Charlotte herself.
By reading these letters they gathered that James and Charlotte had been cousins but Charlotte's mother had moved to America and fallen in love, marrying and staying to have Charlotte, that didn't mean that they fell out of contact with the Potter's having regular visits until James and Charlotte were both eight, then it was letter correspondences. Richard had asked Harry about the strange code they seemed to write in, almost as though they were talking about a big secret but were keeping it hidden, Harry of course had a good idea what they were talking about but didn't say anything.
Eventually, Richard had made the offer after three months of talking for Harry to go over to America and live with him to see how he liked it, so they could get to know each other properly. After a little hesitation and talking it through with his friends Harry had agreed to give it a go, seeing as he was unsure what to do with his life next, and he didn't want to face living by himself.
Richard had made his offer about a week after the final battle. And so Harry found himself on the way to America to live with a cousin he hadn't known existed for years. Harry smiled, if someone had come up to him after his first potions lesson and told him that Severus Snape would be one of the few people he would miss most about England he would have laughed in their face, asked what spell they were under and then tried to hex them into next week.
Harry didn't see the house as he walked through it, he barely even saw the room Shang-Da showed him into as he absently thanked the man before closing the door after him. He pulled off his shirt and jeans, changed into new boxers and then just sat staring at the wall. Nagini and Hedwig both settled on his new bed watching him with worry when he barely moved a muscle after an hour. The last 2 years were shooting through his mind, the people he had loved, the people he had lost, the things that he had had to do. He was marked and scarred and when Richard found out he wouldn't want to keep him.
Harry would tell him everything, he had to, he had had too many things kept from him in the past to do it to someone else. Harry was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he missed to sound of a car pulling up to the house and so jumped when the front door closed somewhere below, he sat and listened to the low rumble of definitely male voices, a deep laugh and then the sounds of chairs being pushed out across a stone floor. The sounds of footsteps on the stairs had him turning towards the door and he panicked when he heard someone at the door, scrambling he dropped on top of the covers and pretended to be asleep in time for the door to open and someone to look inside.
"Damn Jean Claude, I should have been there to pick him up, how must he have felt? Thinking I couldn't even be bothered to come meet him when he arrived?" a voice he recognised as Richard's sighed.
"Things have been tentative with everyone in the city for a while, the past few years have been mayhem, with things being quiet now it's the time to work out the kinks, you had to go. Don't worry I'm sure he'll understand and you have a long time now to make it up to him, he's here to live with you Rich, but you need some sleep as well, come on," Another male voice whispered seemingly pulling Richard from the room and closing the door. Harry lay still for a few moments before hissing happily to Nagini.
*He wants me here, he wanted to come and meet me!*
*It seems so, give him a chance, this could be your time for good luck and some happiness young master,* Nagini hissed back before giving her version of a smile and curling up on his pillow. Rolling his eyes he placed her on the edge and lay back down himself.
"Hedwig you can go for a fly now, you must want to stretch your wings after all that time on the plane," Harry whispered to his owl who gave an appreciative hoot before gliding out the open window like a ghost. Harry's smile widened when he heard Richard sleepily ask from the next room
"Did you just hear an owl?"
"Yeah, we don't normally get many owls around here," a second voice mumbled causing Harry to raise an eyebrow, Richard was gay? Shrugging he suddenly realised how tired he was and settled down to sleep thinking that maybe Nagini was right, maybe this was his chance for a new start.