Harry Potter sat on the swings in the park thinking to himself. It was night and nobody else was around except for the occasional bypasser or Dudley's gang – who, even though they were notorious bullies, paid no attention to Harry. The air was hot and there was little prospect of their being any wind. The summer promised to be a hot one and that was the last thing he needed after the horror of the Triwizard Tournament. A lonely streetlight dimly lit up the shrivelled brown grass near the entrance of the playground. Harry was completely in the dark, nobody could see him.

'Well, I'll start moving my things around to make way for Alex tomorrow', thought Harry, 'Right now I'll just relax – it is my first day back at the Dursley's.'

When he came back to the Dursley's he was greeted with an unwanted surprise, he would be sharing his room with another boy for the first week. Harry had never seen or heard of him before, but technically the boy was his half-cousin. He was a bit younger than Harry and his name was Alex Rider. He was raised by his Uncle Ian Rider after his parents died in an aeroplane crash, but Uncle Ian died a short time ago, leaving him an orphan. Alex was only staying here because his guardian was sick. He would be staying with the Dursleys for a week and then probably be gone, never to be seen again.

Apparently Harry's mother had an older half-sister called Helen, who also had a son. Aunt Petunia had never mentioned Helen before, but she never talked about her sister Lily either. He was told that Helen was a successful nurse before she died. It was obvious to Harry that Aunt Petunia was jealous of both her more talented and successful sisters.

Harry was unsure how he would cope with his newly discovered cousin around, after the Triwizard Tournament he just wanted to be alone. The boy was a muggle, which would also make his study difficult as well as receiving owls from his friends. Worst case scenario his half-cousin would be another Dudley or even a non-magical Draco Malfoy. On the bright side they already had some things in common; the instant dislike from the Dursleys and being orphaned at a young age.

'Well, at least I could try to give it my best shot with him." Harry muttered under his breath.

Harry got off the swing and put on his invisibility cloak, then walked home unseen by the snobby neighbourhood of Little Whinging. When he was a child he had hoped for other family besides the Dursleys, he had gotten his wish - though it was far from what he really wanted.