Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

October 31, 1981

The happiest day of James' life was quickly turning into one of the worst.

He was in St Mungo’s, holding baby Jasmine. Lily was fast asleep in the bed next to him, exhausted from giving birth. James was smiling down at his daughter, noticing how her scalp was already covered in dark fuzz.

Just like your father, he thought, gently kissing her forehead.

This quiet moment of happiness quickly dissipated when Dumbledore entered the room. The old wizard’s eyes were downcast and lacked their usual twinkle. Instantly, James felt a pit open in his stomach. Whenever Dumbledore himself came to give news, it always meant something terrible had happened - usually a death.

"James, a word in the hallway, please?" whispered Dumbledore. James nodded, placing Jasmine down and walking outside, frantically running through the reasons why Dumbledore could be here. Was Sirius or Remus injured? Worse, were the twins? He and Lily had left one-year-old Harry and Oliver playing with Neville under the watchful eye of Alice and Frank Longbottom while they went to hospital. It was the longest he'd been away from the boys for their entire lives, and he felt strangely exposed without the quiet security of the Fidelius.

"What's happened?" James asked urgently.

"There's been an attack at your home by Voldemort himself. The twins are alive," Dumbledore added hastily after seeing James’ face. "We've taken them to the children's ward to get looked over."

Before Dumbledore could say another word James started running, all sorts of possibilities flashing through his mind. He’d been to the aftermath of quite a few Death Eater attacks on muggle children and had seen all sorts of awful things that had been done to them. James had always made sure to hug his boys a little tighter each night afterwards. It was almost impossible to believe that it was happening to his own family.

As James ran, Dumbledore began updating him on the details of the situation. He had been betrayed to Voldemort. The man had murdered Alice and Frank. When Voldemort had tried to turn his wand to the children and kill them, however, the spell had backfired. James could barely take in any of this information, too busy panicking over Harry and Oliver.

Luckily, the children's ward was only one floor up from the maternity ward, so James found himself facing a row of doors before even more awful possibilities crowded his head. "They’re in Room 8." Dumbledore informed him.

James pushed the door open to find his two sons on neighbouring beds, crying. James felt his heart break as he saw a Healer frantically trying to soothe Harry, who had a jagged cut on his forehead. It had been plastered with all sorts of healing ointments, but still looked red and angry. James rushed over to Harry and picked him up, bouncing him and patting him on the back.

"It's okay Harry, Daddy's here," soothed James. Harry's crying weakened as his small fists gripped James’ robes. "Let's go see your brother, okay?"

Oliver was lying flat on his bed, while a Healer waved his wand over the boy’s chest, muttering spells. A large v-shaped cut sat just under Oliver’s collarbone. James sat down on the chair next to his son, and held his tiny hand. He wanted desperately to snatch up his son and never let him go, to protect him from Dark Wizards and Death Eaters and anyone who could ever hurt him.

I'm going to kill Peter for this.

Finally, the Healer stopped casting spells over the cut, applying a large bandage to the wound.

"Can I give him a Calming Draught?" The man asked. James nodded, feeling numb. After taking the potion, Oliver's cries began to soften and he soon fell fast asleep. Harry had also dozed off in his father's arms.

Dumbledore, who had been waiting by the side, came up to James.

"Young Oliver has saved the wizarding world, you know,” The man commented.

"How on earth has he done that?" James asked wearily.

"That V on his chest? Voldemort has marked Oliver as his equal. Tonight, Alice Longbottom put herself between Voldemort and Oliver and that sacrifice has saved his life. The power of her love caused the Killing Curse to backfire and kill Voldemort." The words of the prophecy flashed through James’ mind. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal… James was in disbelief. He’d never thought the prophecy was actually true…he’d always thought Divination was a load of rubbish. He and Lily had only gone into hiding because Voldemort seemed to believe the damn thing and had decided to go after his children.

"You-Know-Who is actually gone?" James felt dazed. He couldn’t really believe that the war was finally over.

"He really is. All thanks to your son, James." The twinkle that had been missing for so much of the war was finally back in Dumbledore's eyes. "I'm so sorry, but I really must go. I have to inform the Minister of this. I'll be around to speak as soon as I can, but for now I hope your boys heal quickly." James nodded. Dumbledore walked out, his plum robes billowing out behind him.

He still felt completely shell-shocked. The world as he knew it had changed, and his son, sleeping next to him, was responsible.

How am I going to tell Lily?

Chapter Text

November 1982

James collapsed into the sofa, exhausted. He'd finally gotten the boys down for their nap and was absolutely run off his feet. He sighed with pleasure as he finally relaxed.

Potter Manor, their new residence after the destruction of their cottage in Godric's Hollow, was full of luxuries. There were more bedrooms than he cared to count, as well as three different sitting rooms. This one, dubbed the Blue Room, was James' favourite. It was the most cosy and intimate place in the whole house, and reminded him of their old cottage, which he missed dearly. He knew that the manor was far better suited to the galas and press conferences that came with being the Boy-Who-Lived’s parents, though, so there was nothing to be done.  The Manor also had the added benefit of house elves - he and Lily used to be very diligent about managing all of their housekeeping but after the attack, they needed more help. 

The attack… James felt a familiar pang of guilt as he looked over at his wife. 

While the manor was being refitted for them to live in after their cottage was destroyed, they'd lived in a small summer house at the edge of the Potter property. They were so exhilarated after Voldemort's downfall that they'd grown arrogant. They’d forgotten that his followers were still at large. 

James thought it would be a long time before his wife's screams under the Cruciatus didn't echo in his ears. Every time he looked at her hair, already greying at twenty-two, or the tremor in her hands, he wanted to throttle Lestrange and her companions. Azkaban was too good for those monsters.

In the end, they owed their lives to Remus. If it hadn't been for his chance visit and quick thinking, James didn't know what state they'd be in. 

"Isn't Dumbledore due soon?" Lily asked, dragging James out of his musings. The man had written to them a few days prior asking to meet and discuss something important. Due to the status of Oliver, this was a commonplace occurrence. He nodded. "Any minute now." 

As if they had summoned him, Dumbledore emerged from the flames of the Floo.

"Good to see you, sir!" James said. Dumbledore smiled, taking a seat on a winged armchair James had noticed the man favoured. They exchanged pleasantries for a while before Dumbledore cleared his throat. 

"So why did you ask to meet with us?" he asked.

"I'm afraid I have discovered something about young Harry." The man said solemnly. "I have reason to believe he's a Squib."

"WHAT?" James jumped to his feet. He couldn't believe this. The Potters were an ancient magical family. He couldn't think of a single squib in their entire line! Lily appeared to be equally shocked - she had pressed a hand to her mouth, and her eyes were full of tears.

"On Halloween, the destruction of Voldemort took up significant magical energy on Oliver's part, I believe. The only living sources of magic there were Harry and Neville Longbottom...they both have an absence of accidental magic that usually manifests by now. That surely can't be a coincidence." 

James went through every single incidence of accidental magic from the boys he could remember. Oliver had been levitating toys to him as young as 14 months, but Harry…James couldn’t recall ever seeing him perform magic.

"Are you completely sure?" asked Lily. Dumbledore nodded gravely. "I've cast spells on Harry and I cannot detect any magical energy." 

James' shoulders slumped, and he stared at the carpet, filled with grief. His son would be trapped in a world which he could never be a full part of. Squibs faced so much prejudice and he hated that Harry would be so burdened. ..

"James, Lily, I have a course of action I think is best suited to this situation." Dumbledore said. "You know how difficult it is for Squibs to grow up surrounded by magic. There's also the added threat of being the brother of the Boy Who Lived-Harry will be a weak target for any attacks." James shivered as he once again thought of Bellatrix Lestrange. Imagining his son, with no magic to protect him, in her clutches.

"I think the kindest thing to do for Harry is to give him up."

"Are you mad?!" James demanded. "We’d be abandoning him for not being a wizard. That’s awful!" Lily nodded fervently in agreement.

Dumbledore sighed. “I wouldn’t put it that way."

James looked at the man in disbelief. “It’s not because you don’t care for him. You’d be doing it for his own protection, after all.”

"I see." Lily said. She looked thoughtful.

"Lily, if I'm not mistaken you have a muggle sister?" Asked Dumbledore. Lily nodded. "Do you think she would consider taking him in?"

"We could always ask," replied Lily. "It was always the magic she had an issue with anyway. Harry is her nephew, I'm sure she'd do anything for her family."

"Lily, you can’t honestly be considering this!” James stared at her, dismayed. He had expected her to be the biggest protester.

But Lily hadn't been right since the attack. The fiery side of her that James had loved so much had been quenched - she didn't seem to feel much of anything, these days, even when she wasn't in the throes of a flashback.

If something like that were to happen to Harry, and James could have stopped it by sending him away, he didn't think he could live with himself.

"This is the right thing James." Dumbledore added softly. "Or Harry will experience great hardship in his life. You wouldn't want that, would you?" 

James thought of Argus Filch, the miserable Hogwarts caretaker. He never wanted his son to be that bitter and jaded, and if giving him up could prevent it, wasn’t it the right thing to do? It was Petunia, after all - she was Lily's sister! It wasn't like they were throwing Harry into an orphanage.

The darker, more selfish part of James’ mind also thought about the rest of his family. It had been so difficult trying to raise three young children and take care of Lily after the attack. Oliver’s new celebrity status had also been a massive responsibility to manage. Deep down, he thought maybe it would all be easier with one less child.

"I'll speak to Petunia about it." he agreed wearily.

Chapter Text

A few days later, the Potters found themselves in Little Whinging, Surrey to meet with the Dursleys. James looked around the identical landscape of Privet Drive with some disdain. All of the houses had perfectly cut lawns and all the houses were painted in some variety of dreary beige. It looked unbearably dull. 

He tugged at the itchy muggle jumper Lily had made him wear. Even though James remembered Petunia’s disdain for anything magical, he would much rather be wearing robes.

As they approached Number Four, James could faintly hear the sound of a child wailing inside. He recalled that the Dursley family had a son too, just about Harry and Oliver’s age. He winced in sympathy. Toddlers were difficult.

Lily took the first step forward and knocked on the door. A hassled-looking Petunia answered, with a red faced, overweight little boy clinging to her leg. She jolted slightly in shock at seeing them. While Lily and Petunia’s relationship was far less fraught than it had once been, it didn’t extend much past sending Christmas cards and the occasional superficial letter. James knew she must be surprised to see them on her doorstep. 

“Lily! James!” Petunia exclaimed. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” James couldn’t help but notice the nervous glance past him towards the neighbours houses.

“Sorry to come by like this, but we have a situation we need your help with,” Lily anxiously fiddled with a lock of her hair.

“Well, do come in and make yourselves comfortable! I’ll be back in a minute, Dudley’s overdue for his nap. Then, we can have a word.” 

As Petunia busied herself with Dudley, James and Lily settled in the living room, a room that looked equally as bland and colourless as the exterior of the house. He noticed Lily flop onto one of the sofas with a sigh of exhaustion and felt a pang of guilt. Stress always made her symptoms worse, and they’d both had a sleepless night. 

Petunia came back down the stairs and entered the living room. They all exchanged a few more pleasantries before an awkward silence descended. James decided to jump right in.

“So, the reason we’ve come today is Harry. We’ve done some tests and it turns out he’s a Squib.”

“He has no magical ability.” Lily explained, seeing Petunia’s confused expression.

“Especially because of Oliver, he’s in a lot of danger and he can’t protect himself without magic. Even without that, it’s really hard to be a Squib in a world full of magic.”

“I’d know about that,” Petunia cut in, with a slight edge to her voice. James could plainly see the bitterness on her face. He remembered afresh the fights Lily had had with her sister because of Petunia’s jealousy.

“Well, we were wondering…how would you feel about taking him in?” James felt another twist of guilt hearing the words out loud. Petunia looked completely shocked. 

“You would give up your own son?” She asked, scandalised. Lily nodded. “If you would be willing to take him in, yes. We just want him to be happy, and I don’t know if that can happen in the magical world.”

“We’d compensate you of course,” James added. He could see Petunia considering it carefully.

“Please, Tuney,” Lily begged. “You’re my sister, I wouldn’t trust anyone else with him. You’re our only option.” He almost hoped she would turn them down. He couldn’t imagine being apart from Harry, even though he knew it was for the best.

“I’m going to have to discuss this with Vernon of course, but I’d be willing to help you.” Petunia finally said, after a few tense minutes. James felt simultaneously relieved and devastated. At least this meant his son could have a happy and peaceful life, even though James felt heartbroken.

 “But if we’re going to take in the boy we’re going to need some conditions. We would have no contact with you. For his own good of course,” Petunia added hastily after seeing their faces. “The disruption would confuse him.”

“Of course,” Lily said. They continued to discuss the arrangement, but James felt completely numb. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening. Even though they’d been discussing it and arguing for days, he couldn’t imagine life without Harry.

It was agreed that if Vernon consented, Petunia would send them a letter and they would bring Harry around the following Monday. They left soon after, not wanting to leave the children with the house elves for too long.

The couple managed to get all the way out of Privet Drive before Lily started crying. James held her close, silent tears falling down his face. They stayed like that for a long time, not wanting to let go and face a future without their son.

The following week was a difficult one. James and Lily spoiled Harry, trying to suck up as much precious time with him as possible. Harry was thrilled with all the attention, not noticing when one parent would leave the room in tears. They didn’t tell anyone outside of Dumbledore that they were sending Harry away. James’ emotions were still so raw that a single protest could be all he needed to reverse his decision. 

Too soon, Monday arrived. Lily had packed all of Harry’s things into a small trunk, which James put in the back of their car. Apparating with small children was not recommended, and as the Dursleys didn’t have a Floo they needed to make their way via muggle transportation. 

He and Lily spent most of the drive in silence. James didn’t think he had any tears left to cry and instead stared listlessly at the passing scenery, listening to Harry’s babbling. Before too long, they had reached the bland landscape of Little Whinging and were parked outside of Number Four. They got out of the car, James carrying Harry, and knocked on the door.

Petunia answered with a bright smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Welcome, James, Lily.”

 “Harry, this is your Aunt Petunia.” James started, begging his voice not to break. They’d promised each other to not drag out the parting, as it would only make it harder on Harry. “You’re going to be staying with her for a while.” 

James put Harry down on the ground. Lily bent down to give him a hug. James did the same. Harry then toddled uncertainly into Privet Drive, over to his Aunt. 

“Thank you again, Petunia,” James said. 

“I promise I’ll take care of him,” She replied firmly. “I wish you two well.”

“Goodbye, Harry. We love you very much.” Lily said. Petunia nodded at them, then shut the door.

“Oh, James!” Lily choked.

Once again, James held her, but had no tears left to cry. All he could do was repeat to himself it’s going to be okay, this is for the best, to try and numb the ache inside of him.

He didn’t yet know how wrong he was. In fact it wouldn’t be until nearly eight years later, when the Longbottom family joyfully celebrated their son’s first sign of accidental magic, that the Potters would know how big of a mistake they had made.

Chapter Text

July 1990

"Out, boy!" Vernon thundered, banging on the door of Harry's cupboard. "We need our breakfast!" 

Harry quickly got up and walked into the kitchen, not wanting to face the wrath of his uncle. He winced as he put pressure on his ankle. He had wrenched it running away from Dudley the week before and it still didn't feel quite right.

He started frying bacon, passively listening to Petunia and Vernon talking at the table about Number Nine's new car.

"It's absolutely ridiculous Vernon! Orange of all colours, it makes the whole neighbourhood look bad!" Vernon grunted in acknowledgement. "Why, I'm of half a mind to-"

But Harry never found out what Petunia was planning as her tirade was interrupted by a shriek. He spun around to see Petunia pointing a trembling finger at the window, where a handsome screech owl was perched, a letter attached to its leg. Harry was fascinated. Why was an owl here during the day? Was it somehow delivering that letter.

"I'll get that for you, Aunt Petunia," Harry said, overcome with curiosity. He darted forward to take the letter from the owl. It hooted softly, rubbing its head against Harry's arm before flying away. The envelope looked very odd. It was made of a thick, brown material instead of paper and only had ‘The Dursleys’ written on it, with no address.

"Give that here, boy!" Petunia snapped, snatching the letter from Harry's hand. "Get back to work, the bacon is burning!"

"Sorry, Aunt Petunia." He said automatically, going back to the frying pan. Harry could hear whispers of conversation as they read the letter, like "Those freaks," and "the boy," which only intensified his curiosity. He served up the breakfast as quickly as possible, hoping he could see what was happening behind him. As soon as Harry turned around, however, Petunia quickly tucked the letter into her pocket. Harry noticed she had paled significantly.

"We need you to go out for the day," Petunia whispered faintly. Harry felt a rush of happiness - he was almost never allowed to leave his relatives house. He spent most of his time slaving away over chores to 'earn the roof put over his ungrateful head' as Vernon was so fond of saying.

"Are you stupid, boy? Out now!" shouted Vernon, one beefy finger pointed at the door. Harry quickly ran out, still not believing his luck, even though the mysterious letter seemed far more appealing than wandering around Little Whinging. He desperately wanted to know more.

I'll probably find out soon enough anyways, he thought wearily. His Uncle often took out his anger on Harry, slapping him around for anything from work troubles to bad traffic. The worst offence of all, however, was freakishness. Harry still shivered when he thought of Vernon's reaction to him ending up on the school roof. Even though Harry had sworn that he had no idea how it had happened, Vernon had been furious. Harry had ached for a week.

He didn't understand why these things happened to him. Harry hadn't tried to regrow his hair after Petunia had shaved it, it had just all been there when he woke up the next morning. He hadn't meant to turn his teacher's wig blue, it had just happened of its own accord. Harry sighed.

His thoughtful wanderings had somehow led him to the local park. After a quick glance around to check for Dudley, who was out with Piers, Harry went inside and perched on a swing. The burning July sun was beating down and the play equipment had heated up to scorching temperatures.

While he sat there, a little girl tripped near the slide and fell to the ground. She started crying, before being scooped up by a woman, presumably her mother. 

"There, there," she soothed, patting the sobbing girl on the back. Harry felt an ache in his chest.

Vernon often ranted about how his parents were worthless drunks who had dumped Harry on their doorstep before getting themselves killed, leaving Harry as a burden to his good, hardworking relatives.

Harry wished he had a mother, or that he could even remember having one. Petunia refused to talk about her sister. Harry had only learnt her name and his father's when he needed it for a family tree project in school - Lily and James. He would often imagine what they were like in the cupboard at night, where he felt particularly lonely.

Harry spent a couple of hours idly wandering around the park before he noticed Dudley and Piers coming up the road. He ducked into some bushes and hopped the fence where they couldn't see him, taking the long way home. Harry really wasn't in the mood for a confrontation with his cousin today.

He decided to check back in at Privet Drive, not wanting to push his luck and stay out too long in case it angered Vernon. He also really wanted to see if he could get any more information about the letter.

As he approached Number Four, Harry crouched down and peered up through the window. He saw Vernon and Petunia in the living room with another couple, looking very tense. Harry noticed Petunia’s lips were pressed together so tightly that they’d gone white.

One of the people was a tired-looking woman with ginger, grey streaked hair. Next to her sat a man, whose appearance shocked Harry so deeply that he jerked up in surprise, resulting in a nasty bump to his head. The man looked almost identical to Harry, with messy black hair and even the same round glasses.

Rubbing his painful head, Harry opened his eyes to see all four of them looking at him. He noticed Vernon’s face purpling with rage. Oops.

Petunia quickly rushed out to Harry and grabbed him by the arm so hard that it pinched. Harry winced as she brought him into the living room, calling out apologies to her guests. 

“I’m so sorry, we tried to keep him away today but he never listens,” Petunia had a very fixed smile that Harry knew to mean danger once prying eyes were away. “I knew you wanted to explain once we had it all sorted.”

The man let out a quiet chuckle. “No worries, Petunia, I know what little boys are like. Oliver’s a right rascal too, always up to mischief.”

As Harry got closer, he noticed the ginger woman’s eyes were brimming with tears. Eyes that Harry noticed were the same vivid green as his own. He felt the curiosity burning inside of him - why did these people look so much like him? Were they distant cousins?

The dark haired man cleared his throat. “Well, seeing as we’re all here, we might as well explain if that’s alright with you two?”

Vernon and Petunia nodded. Harry steadfastly tried to ignore the look his uncle was fixing him.

“My name is James. This is my wife, Lily." The woman smiled at him. Harry felt his blood run cold. Those names were far too familiar, but it couldn’t be…

"Harry…this might be quite the surprise, but we’re your parents.”

Chapter Text

Harry heard a curious ringing in his ears as his whole understanding of the world shifted. This couldn’t be true. His parents were dead, the Dursleys had told him as much for as long as he could remember.

“I thought you were dead,” Harry whispered. The man - his father? - let out a sad sigh. 

“We got the Dursleys to tell you this for your own protection. See...there are some people out there trying to kill our family. Dark wizards."

Harry looked at James like he was slightly unhinged. 

"There's no such thing as magic," he said reflexively. The Dursleys had spent years beating those ideas out of him.

"There is," James said. "Let me show you."

He got out a wand and waved it around, shooting a bouquet of flowers out of the end. Harry gasped with surprise as Petunia let out a shriek.

"I'll have none of that in my house, thank you very much!" Vernon shouted, putting an arm defensively around Petunia's shoulders. James, looking sheepish, put the wand back into his pocket. Harry was surprised at their reaction. The Dursleys normally went to any lengths to be polite and courteous to anyone outside of the household. Harry stared at the flowers, still lying on the coffee table, in fascination. 

“How did you do that?” he demanded. James smiled.

"Let me start from the beginning."

The explanations took a long, long time. Harry stood there silently while Lily and James took it in turns telling him about the secret Wizarding World, the Dark Wizard who had tried to kill his brother and even the fact that Harry had a brother. And a sister, for that matter. He hoped that they wouldn't be like Dudley.

Harry couldn't help feeling a surge of resentment that his parents had kept their other two children. Even though they claimed that they'd given Harry up for his own safety, it still felt like they'd thrown him away for not being magical.

Harry finally asked his biggest question. "Why are you here now?" He scratched the back of his head nervously. "It's been years."

"We only just found out you could do magic." James explained.

"But I've been doing freakish things for years,” He protested. James frowned, probably at Harry’s use of ‘freakish’. Oops. He was sure wizards probably didn’t like their magic being insulted.

“Another boy who we thought was a Squib because of the attack on Oliver recently displayed magic for the first time. When we heard, we instantly knew we must have made some kind of mistake and came right here to talk to your Aunt and Uncle.” James smiled at him, but Harry didn’t smile back. He thought they could have at least checked on him before now, but chose not to say anything.

“We’ve been talking to them, and it’s probably for the best that you come to live with us again,” Lily said. She looked slightly nervous. “We want to give you some time to get ready to leave, so we’ll be here tomorrow to pick you up, okay?”

Harry nodded. He couldn’t help but notice that no one had asked him if he actually wanted to leave his Aunt and Uncle, but since his parents couldn’t be much worse he didn’t mind all that much.

“Harry, could you go up to your room while we finish talking to your parents?” Petunia asked. She emphasised the word room as she always did whenever guests were over, which Harry knew to mean that he should go sit in Dudley’s second bedroom and not touch anything until he was fetched.

“Yes, Aunt Petunia,” he said obediently. He intentionally left the door to the living room open as he left to listen in from upstairs, but his aunt got up and shut it. She shot him an irritated look as he walked upstairs.

While Harry sat in the bedroom, staring at the shelves of broken toys around him, he tried to sort through his turbulent emotions. He couldn’t believe that he had a real family. Even though he was unhappy with his parents, they already seemed far kinder than the Dursleys.

His siblings, however…that Harry was more nervous about. He and Dudley had never gotten along, since his cousin was such a horrific bully. He tried imagining their names altogether. Oliver, Jasmine and Harry. He hoped they would like him.

The biggest surprise of all was magic. For some reason, he had never imagined that there might be other people that shared his freakishness, but today he had found out there was a whole world of them! Harry had been too scared to ask all of his questions in front of the Dursleys, who looked furious every time the m-word had left someone’s mouth, but he couldn’t even begin to imagine all of the possibilities. 

Harry was interrupted a while later by Vernon shouting for him to come back down. Harry went into the living room to find his parents gone. Vernon and Petunia were glaring at him, of course, but the usual energy behind it seemed to have gone, leaving his Aunt and Uncle rather deflated.

“Your parents will be here at 2 o’clock tomorrow to fetch you, boy,” Petunia told him. “We’ll give you one of Dudley’s old backpacks to put your things.”

“Yes, Aunt Petunia.”

“Oh, and boy?” Vernon added in a low voice. “We’ve warned them about your sort. If you dare tell them anything about the goings on here, they’ll not believe you.” He gave Harry a nasty grin, and he felt some of his happiness at escaping the Dursleys vanish.

Of course nothing will be different, he thought bitterly. Vernon and Petunia had always told his teachers at school about how terribly behaved Harry was, and had branded him as a liar. The one time he had tried to tell a teacher how awful the Dursleys were to him, nothing had been done and he’d been punished horribly. That day, Harry had vowed to never talk about his relatives to anyone ever again.

“What are you still standing here for? Out of my sight!” Vernon thundered. “I don’t want to see any of you until tomorrow. You’ve caused us enough trouble today.”

“Yes, Uncle Vernon,” Harry replied dully. As he shut himself into the cupboard, Harry reflected that he still felt just as lonely as he had that morning.

Chapter Text

Just before the clock struck two, Harry sat at the bottom of the stairs and stared at the door. He had a large black backpack that Dudley used to own full of all his worldly possessions: A few sets of oversized hand-me-downs, some beloved books, his tin soldiers and a ragged stuffed black dog that he couldn’t remember the origins of. 

A  little while after after two, Harry heard a car engine outside. A couple minutes later, the doorbell rang. Petunia rushed out of the living room to answer it before Harry could. They exchanged the usual pleasantries before Harry’s parents turned to him.

“Ready to go?” James asked. Harry smiled at him and nodded. He was thrilled to be leaving the Dursleys.

“Goodbye, Harry,” said Petunia. She came over and gave Harry an incredibly awkward hug. Harry didn’t think Petunia had ever voluntarily touched him before in his life. Harry guessed she was doing it to keep up appearances in front of his parents. Vernon only gave him a stiff nod.

“Goodbye,” he said politely. With that, he followed his parents out of the door, leaving Privet Drive behind him for good.

Harry sat in the back of the Potters’ car, thinking quietly. He still couldn’t believe that he had actually left the Dursleys; he’d almost convinced himself that his parents had just been an incredibly vivid dream.

“So, Harry,” James began. “Tell me a bit about yourself. What kind of things do you do for fun?”

The Dursleys never allowed me to have fun, Harry thought bitterly. He tried to think up an answer to not make the situation more awkward, appreciating his father’s attempts to break this ice. “Um. I like to go to the park, I guess. I like to read, too.”

“Oh, Jasmine’s a bookworm too!” Lily chimed in eagerly. Harry didn’t know if he would define himself as a bookworm exactly, but didn’t correct her. “You two will get along, I can already tell.”

“Our house actually has a library. I’ll show you around when we get there.” Harry smiled at the thought. He’d always loved libraries, but Dudley hated reading so the Dursleys had rarely visited them.

“Do you have a favourite book, Harry?” his father asked.

“I like Matilda.” replied Harry. He’d filched the book from Dudley’s second bedroom last year and read it by torchlight in his cupboard. He’d loved that the girl could do magic just like him, and he had dreamt of being whisked away from his awful relatives by a kindly teacher for weeks after reading it. Harry noticed that James looked slightly confused.

“It’s a muggle book,” Lily clarified. James nodded in understanding.

“You’ll have to excuse me if I ever get confused, Harry,” James said. “I was raised in the Wizarding World and I’ve never really understood muggle things.” Harry recalled the explanation of the extreme separation between the muggle and wizarding world that he had received yesterday. He had found his father’s confusion at basic household items like the television quite amusing. 

“I didn’t find out I was a witch until I was eleven, Harry, so if you get confused come to me.” Lily said. Harry smiled.

“Thanks, I will.”

The journey progressed quite peacefully, punctuated by Harry’s questions about magic and James’ about the muggle world, until they reached a large, white manor house surrounded by gently sloping hills. The car stopped on the side of the road.

“This is our house, Harry,” James said. “Welcome home.”

He got out of the car and stared at the building, mouth agape. It was far bigger than Number 4 Privet Drive, and stood imposingly at the end of a long gravel path. Despite its large stature, however, it still had an air of friendliness to it.

They entered the house where Harry found himself in a grand hallway. It featured crystal chandeliers and was lined with portraits. Harry almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed them moving. 

“Binksy!” James called. Harry heard a large crack and flinched when a small creature appeared in front of them. It was strange-looking, with pink, wrinkly flesh and long, pointed ears. It was dressed in a pillowcase with a small logo stamped in the bottom corner.

“Master James is calling Binksy?” It said in a squeaky voice.

“Please fetch Oliver and Jasmine. Tell them that their brother has arrived.”

“Yes, sir!” It replied. The creature turned its attention to Harry. “It is wonderful to be meeting you, young Master Harry.” With that, another crack echoed out and Binksy disappeared before Harry’s eyes.

“That’s a house elf, Harry.” Lily explained. He noticed James was chuckling at his shocked expression. “They’re sort of servants who work here. They do a lot of the cooking and cleaning.” Harry nodded in understanding. He wondered what other magical creatures existed that muggles didn’t know about. Were there centaurs? Unicorns, even?

Before long, he heard footsteps pounding down the stairs. He looked up to see a boy and a girl. The boy, who Harry assumed was Oliver, looked like a slightly taller, healthier version of Harry. He was relatively muscular and had tanned skin. Apart from these differences, it was almost like looking in a mirror.

The girl also looked a lot like Harry. She had long, black hair, tied back into two braids but had hazel eyes like James. She didn’t have any glasses, however.

The boy went up to Harry and stretched out his hand. Harry shook it. “Nice to meet you,” he said breezily. “I’m Oliver but you can call me Ollie.”

“I’m Harry.” 

“And I’m Jasmine,” the girl added. “It’s great to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” he responded, smiling at her. The conversation trailed off awkwardly, with none of them knowing what to say to each other. Harry thought that they seemed nice enough; at least they weren’t outwardly rude to him, like Dudley always was.

After a moment, James jumped in. “I’m going to take Harry to his room now. Can you two set the table for dinner?” Harry noticed Ollie groaned, while Jasmine just nodded politely. The two set off through another doorway which he assumed was the way to the dining room.

“I’m going to have a lie down before dinner,” Lily said. “Welcome again, Harry.” With that, his mother set off upstairs. Harry noticed her hands trembling slightly and wondered what that was about. He had seen them doing that when she was driving, too, but decided it would be impolite to ask. 

“Follow me, Harry,” James opened a door at the end of the hallways and gestured for Harry to come along. “I’ll quickly show you around the house, then we can go get you settled.”

Harry had already been impressed by the exterior of the manor, but the rooms inside were even grander. On the brief tour of the house, James showed him a laboratory, complete with a bubbling green potion, multiple lavishly furnished sitting rooms and even a ballroom. The library was just as splendid as his father had promised, lined with more books than Harry thought he could ever read and full of lots of comfy-looking armchairs and sofas. He stared into the room longingly as his father moved on, wishing he could spend more time in there.

They soon progressed upstairs, where Harry was shown where all the bedrooms were. He noticed that his parents and siblings all had rooms that were almost next door to each other, despite there being many rooms upstairs that James didn’t choose to show him. He guessed that these were unoccupied guest bedrooms, but decided to have a closer look later.

Eventually, James opened a door next to Oliver’s room. “Welcome to your room, Harry.”

Harry was blown away. The room was larger than Dudleys two bedrooms put together. It had a massive king-sized bed and a walk-in wardrobe, as well as large windows all across one of the walls that displayed the beautiful countryside surrounding the manor. He couldn’t help the massive grin that spread across his face when he saw the place. It was a huge upgrade from his spider-infested cupboard. 

“So, Harry, what colour would you like the walls to be?” James asked. Harry froze, unsure of what to say.

“I like them the way they are,” he said. “You don’t need to change them. I don’t want to be a bother.”

James laughed again. "Nonsense! It’s no trouble at all! Watch.”

James flicked his wand and the walls went from cream to orange to purple. “I’m a dab hand at Transfiguration. So, what colour?”

“Blue would be great, thanks.” he said, smiling shyly. With a wave of his wand, James turned the walls into a pretty shade of sky blue. He continued to conjure up items at Harry’s request, including a squishy leather armchair, a shaggy green rug, and a small desk. When he was done, James sat down on the edge of the bed.

“All done. Do you need any help unpacking?” Harry shook his head. As he started removing his belongings from the backpack, he hoped that James would leave the room but his father remained firmly planted on the bed.

Harry got his few battered books and placed them on the empty bookshelf, accompanied by his tin soldiers. He placed the small stuffed dog on the pillow of his bed and noticed James smiling at the sight of it.

“Your Godfather, Sirius, got you that when you were a tiny baby,” James told him, looking at the dog fondly. “He’ll be so happy to meet you.”

Harry tucked away this nugget of information to think over later. He couldn’t believe that just a day ago, the only people in his life had been his aunt, uncle and cousin.

He continued to unpack. Seeing as Harry didn’t have many things, it was a quick process. When reached the pile of hand-me-down clothes, however, he noticed his father frowning.

“Why are your clothes in that state?”

“The Dursleys don’t like buying lots of clothes,” Harry lied, his uncles dire warnings echoing in his ears. He really didn’t want James to find out how his relatives treated him, “They think it’s wasteful.”

“Oh.” James still looked confused, but slightly less concerned. “That’s quite sustainable of them.”

Harry’s shoulders sagged in relief. He was safe for now.

Before long, his possessions had all been packed away and it was time for dinner. Harry followed James back through the maze of corridors, trying to commit them to memory. He wanted to be able to navigate the house without a guide.

The dining room was just as impressive as the rest of the manor. Like the entrance hall, the room was lined by those peculiar moving portraits. Harry noticed one of them tracking him as he walked through the room. There was also a vast mahogany table that had far more chairs than he thought was really necessary. He noticed that they weren’t eating there, however, but at a smaller table underneath one of the windows. Lily, Ollie and Jasmine were already seated. 

Once Harry and James had sat down, plates filled with food appeared in front of the family. He looked hungrily at the dish; it was a roast dinner, complete with yorkshire puddings and thick gravy. Instead of digging in though, Harry waited and watched his parents. At the Dursleys, he was never allowed to eat any of the food they made. He would normally be given the scraps or nothing at all. So far, the Potter family seemed to work differently but it didn’t hurt to be wary. Eventually, he cautiously began, feeling relieved when a sharp reprimand wasn’t sent his way.

He quietly observed the family as they discussed their days. Ollie was going on about a new manoeuvre he had pulled off in a sport that Harry couldn’t catch the name of. Jasmine mentioned that she had been reading a new book about the dragons of the United Kingdom. Here, Harry excitedly interjected.

“Dragons are real?”

He had always loved dragons. Whenever they studied mythology at school, the stories featuring them were always his favourite.

“Yeah! There’s loads of different types too, native to different parts of the world.” The rest of the dinner passed quickly, with Jasmine telling Harry all she knew about dragons and him excitedly listening. At one point, he thought he saw Ollie shoot them a resentful look, but it was gone so quickly that Harry thought he had probably imagined it.

When they finished eating, the plates vanished as suddenly as they had appeared.

“Right,” said James. “I think tomorrow we need to make a trip into Diagon Alley to get Harry some more things.” Harry felt his cheeks warm slightly. Obviously his father hadn’t completely overlooked his lack of suitable clothes. 

“But Dad, you said I could go to the Weasleys’ tomorrow!” Ollie complained, crossing his arms in annoyance.

“You still can,” James soothed, “You can stay for lunch. We’ll pick you up when we’re finished.”

Ollie perked up again at this.

“How about you and your sister show Harry the Quidditch pitch before bed?” Lily suggested. 

“Sure!” Ollie jumped up and started walking out of the dining room. Harry followed, along with his sister. 

“Don’t be too long!” Lily called out as they left.

“So Harry, muggles don’t have Quidditch, do they?” Ollie asked.

Harry shook his head. “I’ve never heard of it before."

“It’s the best sport ever!” his brother enthused. “Let me tell you the rules.”

Ollie then launched into a long winded explanation of the sport. It seemed to have a plethora of strange rules- how could a sport have 700 different ways to foul someone? - but Harry listened with interest. Being able to fly sounded amazing.

The pitch sat at the back of the lawn, and was about the size of two tennis courts. 

“It’s not as big as an actual Quidditch pitch, but it’s pretty good for practising.” Ollie went over to a shabby little shed on the edge of the pitch and opened it. Inside were two broomsticks and a few red balls. 

“These are me and Dad’s brooms. Jasmine can’t get one until she’s nine.”

“My birthday is in October.” Jasmine added. “I can’t wait to learn to fly too!”

“Hey, maybe Mum and Dad will get you a broom for your birthday.” Harry remembered with a jolt of shock that his tenth birthday was less than a week away. The Dursleys had never celebrated it, and the only gifts he had gotten were things like Vernon's old socks, which was almost worse than not getting anything. He wondered what it would be like with the Potters.

The trio stayed at the Quidditch pitch for a bit longer before heading back inside. As they walked back to the house, Oliver and Jasmine continued to provide him with interesting snippets about the sport, but outside of that none of them knew what to say to each other. After all, how do you talk to a sibling you’ve just met?

Chapter Text

The next morning, Harry woke up to the sun streaming in through a gap in the curtains. He checked the clock with a grimace: it was 6:15. The Dursleys had always forced him to wake up early to do his chores, and it was a hard habit to break.

With a yawn and a ruffle of his hair, Harry got out of bed and wandered through the empty hallways of the manor in search of the dining room. He decided to look around in some of the rooms that his father hadn’t shown him last night. Most of them turned out to be empty bedrooms, but Harry found one room that was lined with jars full of creepy dead animals, and another that was full of gym equipment. He felt a slight twinge of resentment. The Dursleys had always complained about how expensive it was to have a fourth unwanted mouth to feed, but the Potters clearly had money. Maybe they could have given some of their extensive wealth to the Dursleys, so they'd have treated him better.

After a lot of wandering around and feeling lost, Harry finally managed to find the dining room again. To his surprise, Jasmine was also awake and eating toast at the table. Her face lit up when she saw him. 

“Harry! Come and sit down!” she said between mouthfuls. Harry obliged. 

“Binksy!” Jasmine called. The house elf popped up in front of the table, making Harry jump slightly. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to Binksy teleporting around freely. “Can you make Harry some breakfast?”

“Of course!” Binksy beamed at Harry. “What would the young Master be liking for his breakfast?”

“Um…toast please? With jam?”

“Binksy will have it ready shortly!” He bowed at the two of them before vanishing away.

“Why do wizards use house-elves instead of people as servants?” Harry asked.

“House-elves’ entire purpose is to serve wizarding families. Most old manors like this one will have a few who are bound to the family and do all of the cooking and cleaning so the house stays in order.” Harry frowned. That sounded a lot like what he’d had to do at the Dursleys.

“So they’re like slaves? Isn’t forcing them to work for you kind of wrong?”

He noticed Jasmine’s brow furrow thoughtfully. “I guess? You can free them, but most of them get really upset if they don’t have a family to serve. It’s pretty weird.” 

A plate of toast popped up in front of Harry. The conversation trailed off as he ate, deep in thought about house-elves. He hoped that there was a book on them somewhere so he could find out more.

“So Harry, are you excited about Diagon Alley?”

“I’m not really sure what to expect,” he admitted. He had been too scared to ask last night in front of the whole family in case they thought he was stupid. Harry didn’t think Jasmine would be mean about his lack of wizarding knowledge, though.

“Oh, it’s the best!” She grinned. “We don’t get to go there much ‘cause people swarm Ollie to try and get photos, but it has so many cool stores! Maybe Dad will let me get some new books from Flourish and Blotts.” A dreamy look crossed her face. 

“What other stores do they have?” 

Jasmine began listing a whole host of wizarding shops, selling all sorts of odd magical things from Potions ingredients to flying broomsticks. Harry soaked in every detail eagerly - he couldn’t wait to see it all for himself.

After a while, a sleepy-looking James wandered in. His hair was dishevelled from sleep and was sticking up in even more directions than it had the day before.

“Hi, guys.” He yawned dramatically. Harry could instantly tell his Dad was not a morning person.

“We’ll be leaving in about half an hour so we can beat the crowds there. I don’t want to deal with the press.”

Harry resolved to get Jasmine to explain the extent of Ollie’s stardom. He knew his brother had defeated that Dark Lord, but it seemed ridiculous that something his brother had done as a baby meant he was that famous.

“Harry, since you haven’t gotten any wizarding clothes yet, I’ve left one of Ollie’s robes on your bed.” Harry didn’t understand why he needed to wear certain clothes to visit the wizarding world, but chose not to say anything. “You two go up and change, then meet me back down here.”

“Is Mum coming today?” asked Jasmine.

“She’s not feeling well enough to make it." Harry saw his sister's shoulders slump in disappointment. He hoped that James would explain what was going on with his mother, but the man didn’t expand on the subject. Harry added Lily’s mysterious issue to his mental list of questions to ask later.

Harry and Jasmine both made their way upstairs to get changed. This time, he felt more confident navigating the maze of doors and managed to find his bedroom without much trouble. 

A set of black robes were laid out at the end of his bed. They were slightly too big for Harry, but still fit him far better than Dudley’s hand-me-downs ever had. He looked at himself in the mirror, marvelling at how different he looked.

“You should really sort that hair out, darling,” Harry jumped as the mirror actually spoke. Of course wizards would have magical sentient mirrors. He ran his fingers through his messy locks, trying in vain to make them lie flat, before giving up and running out of the room. 

He met up with the rest of the family again downstairs. They were standing in front of a very large hearth, where a fire was crackling merrily. Harry thought it was rather odd to have a fire going in the middle of July.

“Harry, before we go, I just have to set out a few ground rules.” James said. “Once we get into Diagon Alley, don’t go out of the main area. I don’t want you wandering off.” He thought that was simple enough to obey. Harry was sure that a street full of magic shops would be enough to entertain him for a lifetime, let alone a day.

“Also, we only told the press yesterday about you coming back to live with us. People might ask some awkward questions, so try not to draw attention to yourself, okay?”

He felt a twinge of hurt. He must still be ashamed of me, Harry thought sadly. It was just like the Dursleys. His parents wanted to just pretend like he didn’t exist so they could go back to their original dynamic without Harry messing it up.

“Okay, Dad,” he said sadly.

James went over to the shelf above the fireplace and picked up a pot full of silvery powder.

“You don’t know what the Floo Network is, do you?” James asked. Harry shook his head. “It’s basically this network of fireplaces that people can travel through using this powder. You throw some into the fire, say the name of the place you want to go and step in. It’ll take you wherever you say you want to go.”

Harry thought this sounded terrifying. Stepping into fire? How was that supposed to be safe, even with magic?

Noticing Harry’s nervous look, James got Jasmine to go first. She took a handful of the silver powder and threw it into the fireplace. Upon contact with it, the flames turned green. Jasmine stepped in and did not catch on fire, to Harry’s relief.

“Diagon Alley!” She shouted, before vanishing in a vortex of green fire.

“You go next, Harry.” His father held out the pot of Floo powder. Harry took a handful and threw it into the fire. He stepped tentatively into the green flames, feeling relieved when they didn’t burn. 

“Diagon Alley!” He shouted. He shut his eyes as he whirled a network of fireplaces, which made him feel slightly sick. After what felt like an eternity, he was spat out and fell flat on his face. Jasmine, who had been waiting off to the side, offered him a hand. Harry felt his cheeks redden with embarrassment.

“Don’t worry about falling over.” Jasmine reassured him. “Most witches and wizards take ages to figure out how to land on their feet.”

She brushed off his shoulders, making Harry notice that he was covered in soot. Moments later, the fireplace roared again, and James stepped out gracefully. He came over to Harry and Jasmine, getting out his wand.

“Scourgify.” Harry watched the soot disappear from his face and clothes in wonder. Magic was amazing. “Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry.”

Harry looked around properly for the first time. He noticed that he was in a run-down, gloomy little bar. It seemed to be mostly deserted, apart from a stooping barman cleaning a class and a few witches and wizards who were sat around drinking. 

“Morning Tom!” James called out to the barman. Tom gave them a toothless grin and waved back. James continued through a doorway at the back of the bar, which was a small, stone area with a large brick wall at the back.

“To get into Diagon Alley, you need to tap this brick with a wand.” James demonstrated, causing the brick wall to shapeshift into an archway. Harry watched with wonder as it unveiled the street behind. It was full of colourful stores with all sorts of magical items displayed in the windows. He wanted to go into every single one.

“Oh, Dad, can we please go to Flourish and Blotts first?” Jasmine begged.

“Not until we’ve finished the rest of our shopping!” James chuckled. “I know what you’re like. If we let you into a bookstore you’ll never leave. Let's go get Harry’s robes first.”

James led them through the winding street to a shop called Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. It was run by a squat woman wearing ornate robes that Harry could tell were stylish despite his meagre knowledge of wizarding fashion.

“James!” She bustled over, followed closely by a floating tape measure. “What will you be needing this morning?”

“A full set of robes for Harry, please,” Madam Malkin’s eyebrows climbed up her forehead at the mention of Harry’s name but she didn’t comment, instead ordering him onto a stool.

He proceeded to spend an uncomfortable ten minutes being poked and prodded before she went into the back and came out with an armful of robes. James tried asking Harry what styles he preferred but quickly stopped after noticing the bewildered look on his face. He bought all sorts of robes which he paid for using peculiar-looking coins.

“That’s wizarding money,” Jasmine explained. “We use Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. There are 17 Sickles in a Galleon and 29 Knuts in a Sickle.”

What kind of ridiculous system is that? Harry thought incredulously. It seemed like a mathematical nightmare.

James finished paying and they left the store.

“We’ll get you some new muggle clothes on another day, Harry.” James informed him. “I’ll need your help though, I don’t really understand muggle money...”

“That’s no problem.” Harry actually felt quite excited to be of assistance. He felt completely out of his depth and useless in the wizarding world and it would be nice to be somewhere more familiar.

They made visits to a few more stores. Harry was particularly enthralled by the Apothecary Slug and Jiggers which was full of strange potions ingredients like unicorn horns, and thoroughly enjoyed the visit to the joke shop, Gambol and Japes, which was full of strange items like wet-start fireworks. Most of the shopkeepers had a similar reaction to Madam Malkin when they saw Harry, where they would stare at him intently but say nothing. The few people that did try to speak to him were quickly shut down by a stern look from James. 

After a while, James announced that he had some ‘secret shopping’ to do and left him and Jasmine outside of Flourish and Blotts. Jasmine was immediately greeted by a shop assistant. The two quickly started chatting about a new release, and Harry quietly snuck off. He wanted to find a book on the wizarding world so he didn’t need to constantly bombard his family with questions. He eventually settled on a book entitled A Brief Introduction to Magical Britain and flipped it open.

He’d gotten to Chapter 2 - The Statute of Secrecy -when he was interrupted by Jasmine. Harry smiled in amusement when he saw the massive stack of books she was carrying.

“Hey Harry! What are you reading?” He flipped the book over to show her the cover.

“Nice! That’s the book they recommend to muggleborns when they start Hogwarts.” She set the pile of books down with a grunt. “What else have you found?”

“I haven’t really looked yet,” he admitted. “Do you think they have books on house-elves?”

“Of course! That’ll be in the Magizoology section.” She pointed to a nearby shelf of books, where Harry went. He scanned the titles, but only managed to find a book on sentient magical beings. He had just flicked through to the index to see if there was a chapter on house-elves when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Harry jumped, almost dropping the book.

“Anything interesting?” James asked. He was carrying lots of shopping bags with many different store logos on.

“A book on magical creatures. I’m trying to learn more about house-elves.”

“That sounds interesting!” James lent over his shoulder to get a closer look. “Bring it over to the counter and I’ll pay for it and that other book.” 

Harry suddenly felt very wrong-footed. After spending all that money on a whole new wardrobe for him, Harry hadn’t been expecting his father to buy him any books, let alone two.

“You don’t have to, I know today must have been expensive-”

James cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Nonsense, it’s only two books. Lets go pay.”

Defeated, Harry followed his father to the checkout and got his books. As they were finished with shopping, James decided to take them to Florean Fortescue’s, an ice cream parlour that served the most interesting and delicious-sounding flavours that he’d ever heard of. James ordered sundaes for the three of them, and they all sat outside together in the warm summer sunshine.

“So Harry…how are you finding things?” his father began.

“Great! The wizarding world is just wicked,” Harry enthused between mouthfuls of ice cream.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” James smiled at him. “I know it must be quite hard to leave your aunt and uncle so suddenly, though. If you ever want to meet up with them, just know that you’re free to.”

“No!” Harry felt his happiness instantly drain away at the prospect of seeing the Dursleys again. “I don’t think they would want to see me anyway,” he added a little less forcefully.

James sighed.“ Harry, I know you and your relatives didn’t always get along,” understatement of the century, he thought bitterly, “But they did their best. You lived with them for nearly eight years, and you should be grateful to them for taking you in.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The Dursleys had hated Harry for as long as he could remember! He had spent all of his life being called a burdensome freak that they wished had never been born. There was no love lost between them; Harry was perfectly happy to leave that part of his life behind him for good.

 He suddenly remembered Vernon’s words a few days before. We’ve warned them about your sort. It was just like every other adult he’d ever met. The Dursleys had warned all of his teachers that Harry was a bully and a liar, and no one had ever thought to look past their fibs and see him for who he really was. Clearly his parents were just the same. 

Harry tried to push his hurt down, furious at himself for allowing himself to get his hopes up. Things will never be different, he thought miserably, so stop hoping. You’ll only get let down.

“Harry?” He was sharply brought back to reality. James was staring at him intensely.

“I understand.” He said through gritted teeth, hoping the conversation would end. To his relief, James turned his attention back to the ice cream in front of him. Harry tried to do the same, but it tasted like cardboard in his mouth. Another thing the Dursleys were ruining for him, just like how they ruined everything nice Harry had.

Chapter Text

After their conversation in Diagon Alley, things became awkward between Harry and his parents, particularly James. To avoid the tension, Harry spent most of his time in his room reading, or exploring the house further to find places to avoid everyone. His parents had tried to act like everything was fine, but Harry had withdrawn into himself, only giving monosyllabic answers at dinner and never starting up a conversation. He refused to let himself get drawn back into that feeling of happiness and freedom. It wasn’t worth the pain. 

As the week progressed, he noticed that his parents were a lot less present than they had been for his first few days at Potter Manor. James was often at work; he was an Auror, a job title that Harry had learnt was just a fancy name for magical police. Lily was also absent quite frequently, often taking Ollie with her for various charity events. 

“It’s because he’s the Boy-Who-Lived,” Jasmine had told him one afternoon, when they had once again been the only ones home. “He does a lot of things, like opening hospital wards or meeting important international wizards. Between that and Dad working, it’s usually just me and Binksy.” Harry didn’t miss the lonely look that crossed her face. He knew that Binksy didn’t show himself often, only popping into view if he was summoned. It must have been lonely.

Jasmine was one of the only people in the family who Harry was making an effort to get along with. He spent most days feeling increasingly angrier at his parents for abandoning him and had no desire to talk to them unless he had to. Ollie was barely around, and even when he was Harry rarely saw him. Sometimes he thought his twin was avoiding him, which suited Harry just fine. He didn't particularly want to see Ollie either.

On one quiet morning, Harry was exploring the Manor when he found a discarded newspaper in one of the living rooms. He noticed more of the moving photos on the front cover and picked it up, curious. He started when he realised a picture of his family sat underneath the headline.

POTTER FAMILY BRING BACK SQUIB SON!

Nearly eight years ago, the Potter family cast out Harry Potter, Squib twin of the Boy-Who-Lived, Oliver Potter, and sent him to live with muggles. Much of the Wizarding community were shocked that a famously Light family would give up their child for not being magical, completely contradicting their pro-Muggle stance.

“We just thought it would be the best thing for him.” James Potter told this reporter after that fateful day. “He wouldn’t have been able to protect himself without magic.” Some may have wondered if Potter’s motives were more insidious than sheer compassion, however. Many Pureblood families are notorious for casting out non-magical relatives. Is it possible that Potter was ashamed of a Squib muddying their line?

In a shocking turn of events, however, the Potters revealed that their son is in fact a wizard!

“We have recently discovered that our other son, Harry, is not a Squib. He will be coming to live with us once more, and will be going to study at Hogwarts when he is of age.” Potter announced in a surprise press conference this morning. Many witches and wizards are in uproar that such a huge error could have occurred.

“This sort of mistake really shows what kind of family the Potters are.” Lucius Malfoy commented in this morning’s Wizengamot meeting. Indeed, the Potters’ true prejudices may have been unveiled. If their son has such a weak magical core that he had no detectable magic, is he really fit to go to Hogwarts? Or are the Potters so corrupt that they have used their power to enter him into a school of magic where he does not belong?

Harry threw the paper to the ground, his blood boiling. So they did give me up just for being a Squib! His parents had told him that they had given him up because without magic he was in danger of being attacked, but of course that was a lie. They were obviously ashamed of him because they thought he wasn’t magical. He had read about the blood supremacy debates in the wizarding world in his book, and the hatred Squibs received from Purebloods had come up often.

A fierce urge to prove himself filled Harry up. He wanted to show his parents how wrong they were. He wanted to show the whole wizarding world, including that horrid reporter...

Nearby, one of the glasses shattered, spilling water all over the floor. Harry sighed, exasperated, and took a few deep breaths. Sometimes when he’d gotten too angry at the Dursleys, glass would shatter and Harry would end up in even more trouble than before. 

He bent down to try and pick up the glass with his hands but was stopped by some kind of invisible barrier. Binksy popped up and vanished the glass with a click of his fingers.

“Master Harry must not pick up broken glass!” Binksy squeaked, sounding surprisingly stern. “It’s sharp!”

“Sorry, Binksy.” 

Harry had always been forced to pick up the shards of broken items with his bare hands at the Dursleys. One time Vernon, furious that Harry had dropped an expensive bowl, had even actually pushed him into the shattered remains. Harry still had the scars on his palms. Binksy, however, simply shook his head at Harry and popped away.

Watching the elf’s simple acts of magic suddenly gave Harry an idea. He knew that he would be able to officially learn magic next year, when he went to Hogwarts, but wasn’t there a way to start now? Sometimes, when he was particularly scared or angry, he could almost feel the energy snapping inside of him before something happened. Maybe he could try and harness it.

He picked up a small ornament off the shelf, and focused on it as hard as he could. He tried to focus on how he’d felt at the Dursley, how angry he had been all the time, and how that rage had grown inside of him until it felt like a ball of fire was sitting in his chest. That was normally when something had exploded, but no matter how hard he tried the ornament remained intact. Harry put it into his pocket and decided to try again later.

I’ll practice, he vowed. Then I can show them all how powerful I really am.

He decided to make a trip down to the library and look around for any helpful books. Harry had discovered that most of the books in the library were so old and advanced that they were nearly impossible to read, but it didn’t hurt to try. He pulled out any books that looked relevant or even interesting. He had just picked up one that seemed to be about wandless healing magic when a letter floated to the ground from between the pages. It seemed to be quite old. Harry picked it up and started reading. 

Dear James, 

I’m writing to inform you that Lily should be well enough to be discharged tomorrow morning. We’ve managed to deal with the worst of the shaking, but the tremors in her hands seem to be permanent. There aren’t many cases of Crutiatus victims who were cursed so many times but survived, so this is beyond St. Mungo’s expertise. You may wish to seek out an expert to see if any further progress can be made.

Likewise, her amnesia of the night of the attack remains, but perhaps this is for the best. Remembering such vicious torture is likely to be highly traumatic, and she’s already dealing with enough psychologically. She’ll still need to come into St. Mungo’s regularly for counselling even if she can't remember what happened, though.

Despite all of this, it’s still early days and Lily may be able to make a full recovery. I wish you and your family the best in these difficult circumstances.

Yours sincerely,

Healer Paul Jabberby

Torture. Harry kept reading the word over and over. His mother had been tortured. That was why her hands trembled, why she spent all that time ‘resting’. She had been tortured.

And no one told me. Harry felt selfish for even thinking that. It wasn't about him at all. It was clearly something that affected the family, though, and no one had bothered to say anything.

Why didn’t anyone tell me?

Harry heard footsteps thudding against the wooden library floor. He looked up from the letter and saw Ollie, carrying a stack of books.

“Hi Harry!” His brother smiled. “We just got back from the Ministry. I’m shelving these for Mum.” 

“Yeah, about Mum.” Harry started. Just looking at his brother made his anger bubble up. “When were you lot planning to tell me she’d been tortured?"

He saw the smile fall from Ollie’s face. Harry felt a small twinge of guilt underneath all the anger. He knew deep down that this wasn’t Ollie's fault, but he couldn’t stop himself. 

“No one ever tells me anything! I came to live here and you all barely stayed around for a day before carrying on with your normal lives and pretending like I don’t exist! So why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why should we have told you?” his brother shouted back. “It’s not like you’re a part of this family anyway!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Ollie’s eyes widened. “No Harry, I didn’t mean that-”

“Yes, you did.” Harry cut him off. He felt sick. “None of you want me. That’s why they got rid of me in the first place.”

“No, Harry, I’m sorry!”

“Just shut up!" he screamed, and started running. He heard something shatter behind him, but didn’t stop moving. You’re not a part of this family anyway. You’re not a part of this family anyway.

Much to Harry’s disgust, tears were streaming down his face. He stopped running to viciously scrub at his face with his t-shirt. When he looked up, he was surrounded by the trees of the small woods at the edge of the Potter property. Harry slumped against one of the trunks and put his head between his knees. You let them hurt you again. You’re pathetic.

As hard as he tried, though, he couldn’t stop the searing pain of Ollie’s words.

After sitting motionless under the tree for quite some time, Harry heard twigs snapping. He looked up to see Lily walking towards him. He felt guilty once again when he noticed how weary she looked. The words vicious torture rang in his head.

She sat down next to him.

“Ollie told me you found that letter.” his mother said quietly. “I’m sorry you had to find out that way.”

Harry didn’t respond. At least it seemed Ollie hadn’t told her about the rest of the argument.

“We should have told you sooner. If you have any questions now, about any of it, you can ask.”

“What’s a Cruciatus?” Lily flinched slightly. Harry felt immediately guilty - he’d known he probably shouldn’t have asked.

“It’s a curse that’s only purpose is to cause pain. Using it can get a wizard life in prison.”

“Oh.” Harry wondered what kind of horrible person would have even invented such a thing. 

The two sat there silently, listening to the leaves rustle in the summer breeze. He wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Are you ready to come back inside?” Lily eventually asked. “It’s getting late.”

“Okay.” They both got up and started walking back. 

“I’m sorry.” Harry wasn’t really sure what he was sorry about-the fight with Ollie, what she’d gone through, or all of it. Lily just ruffled his hair.

Chapter Text

When Harry woke up the next morning, his eyes were still puffy and swollen. For a moment, he wondered why until he remembered the events of the previous day. He felt a surge of embarrassment; Harry didn’t think that he’d ever cried so much in his life. Whenever the Dursleys had brought him to tears, they’d always hit him more and say I’ll give you something to cry about or boys don’t cry. Harry had quickly learnt to squash his feelings.

He got up, stomach rumbling. He had skipped dinner the previous night to avoid his family, particularly Ollie. The fact his brother had seen him acting like such a whiny baby was so embarrassing. It made him want the ground to swallow him up. Hopefully he'd be able to avoid the awkwardness at breakfast, too.

When Harry reached the dining room, however, his family were all sitting around the table eating, even Ollie who tended to sleep in late. He must have woken up later than usual. 

Jasmine stood up and ran at him, enveloping him in a hug that knocked the wind out of him. She was surprisingly strong for someone so small.

“Happy birthday, Harry!” she beamed at him. Harry tried to smile, masking his shock. He had completely forgotten that it was his birthday today. In the Dursley household, it wasn’t exactly a big event, so it had slipped his mind.

“Happy birthday, my boy.” James added warmly. “Come have some breakfast, we bought doughnuts.”

“It’s a Potter family birthday tradition.” Lily chimed in. Harry sat down and picked out a jam doughnut. He savoured the delicious gooey centre and tried to ignore the small pang of loneliness. It was the small things, like not knowing a family custom, that made him really feel like he wasn't part of the family.

 He noticed his twin sitting quietly in the corner, looking a bit glum.

“Happy birthday, Ollie.” Harry said, trying to extend an olive branch to his brother. Even though what he had said the previous night still felt like a cut to Harry’s heart, he just wanted them to pretend like the fight had never happened. It was so embarrassing. Besides, he was grateful that his brother hadn’t told their parents about anything other than him finding the letter. He didn’t want them to talk about why they didn’t want him again, it would make it hurt even more. 

“Yeah you too.” Ollie replied, still looking slightly down. Harry wondered why; it was his birthday after all.

“It must be weird for you two to share a birthday after all this time.” James commented. “You must have had the day all to yourself before, Harry!”

Harry didn’t tell his father that he’d never had a proper birthday before. He had spent the last one locked in his cupboard for breaking one of Dudley’s toys. Harry hadn’t even known what day his birthday was until a teacher had asked and found it suspicious that Harry didn’t know the date. He almost wished he’d never found out. It made the day far harder to bear when the Dursleys refused to acknowledge it.

Instead of telling James any of this, however, he just put on his best smile.

“Yeah it’s weird.”

“It’s weird for me too.” muttered Ollie. Harry suddenly had a flash of insight into Ollie’s bad mood. He was jealous!

After all, the pampered Boy-Who-Lived has probably never had to share anything before, he thought resentfully. He doesn’t know that he’s lucky to even have a celebration.

“It won’t be too different from usual,” Lily soothed. “All your friends and everyone are still coming round.”

Harry felt a flash of panic. He hadn’t realised he’d be meeting new people today. What if he embarrassed himself again with his lack of wizarding knowledge?

“Harry, is there anything you’d like for the party?” Lily asked. “We weren’t really sure who to invite. You can’t have any muggle friends from Little Whinging around because of the Statute of Secrecy, but we could do something with them on a different day?”

“I don’t have any muggle friends.” Everyone at school had been too scared to be friends with Harry because of Dudley. He noticed his parents exchanging a knowing look at his response. Vernon probably poisoned their minds about that, too, he thought miserably. Maybe they thought he had bullied the other children and that’s why he didn’t have any friends. It was what all of his teachers had been told.

“Well, maybe you’ll like some of Ollie’s friends.” James said brightly. “You’ll introduce Harry, won’t you?”

“Yeah, sure.” Ollie muttered, looking even more irritated and miserable. Oh, suck it up, he thought. I don’t want to steal your stupid friends. 

Lily, perhaps noticing the awkwardness between the two boys, sent them off to their rooms to get ready, telling them everyone would be there in a couple of hours.

“Then you can open all your presents!” James wiggled his eyebrows enticingly. Harry felt a bit dizzy at the prospect of actual gifts. He resolved to try and be nice to his parents today. Even if he was annoyed with them for everything they had done, they were still a mile better than the Dursleys. He also still felt bad about what had happened to his mum, and thought she, at least, deserved some civility.

“Hey Jasmine,” Harry whispered to his sister once Ollie was out of earshot, “Would you mind filling me in on all the people coming? I don’t want to embarrass myself.”

“Oh yeah, no problem! I’ll come to your room when we’ve gotten ready and tell you about everyone.” Harry felt a surge of gratitude towards his sister. He didn’t know how he'd manage in the wizarding world without her helping him out. 

Once they were all ready, the Potters sat in the dining room to greet the guests. Harry was once again impressed by the capability of magic; in the short time it had taken him to get dressed, the room had been completely transformed. It was decorated with balloons and bunting, and the bigger table had been laid for the first time since Harry had arrived at the Potters. The smaller table they normally ate at had disappeared somewhere. There were also two large banners, one which read Happy Birthday Oliver! and another saying Happy Birthday Harry!

The fireplace suddenly lit up with green flames, and a stern looking woman stepped out. She was wearing an odd hat topped with a stuffed vulture. The woman was followed by a dark haired boy who stumbled as he stepped out of the fireplace. The woman tutted at him, looking disappointed.

"Those are the Longbottoms," Jasmine whispered as Lily and James went over to greet the guests. Harry recalled what she had told him earlier in his room. 

"Neville is about the same age as you," she had said, "and he lives with his grandmother, Mrs Longbottom. His parents were the ones who sacrificed themselves to save Ollie."

Jasmine ran over and gave the boy one of her bone-crushing hugs. 

"Neville!" she exclaimed, releasing him. "It's so nice to see you!" 

Neville laughed. "You too, Jasmine."

Harry went over and shook Neville's hand. 

"I'm Harry," he said. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." Harry noticed that the boy seemed to be quite shy. He also saw Neville shoot Ollie a nervous glance. He wanted to know what that was about - why did Neville seem to be particularly scared of him?

"Hey Ollie."

"Hi, Nev." his brother replied, picking at his nails. He didn't even bother to look up at Neville, which Harry thought was rather rude.

The fireplace burnt green once more, and a tired-looking man with a scarred face stepped out. 

"Wonderful to see you, Remus," James greeted him warmly. Remus Lupin. Harry remembered Jasmine speaking very highly of the man. He was her godfather, and one of James' close friends.

Remus gave Jasmine a hug before coming over to Harry. 

"It's wonderful to meet you, Harry," Remus gave him a hug. 

"You too, sir." Harry responded politely. The man laughed.

"Don't bother with calling me sir. I'm Remus to you." Harry smiled at him.

"Okay, Remus."

He started to feel a bit overwhelmed as more and more people came through. Some of them were James’ Auror friends whose names he couldn’t keep straight, and others were people closer to Harry’s age. There was a very pompous boy who introduced himself as Ernie Macmillan(Jasmine had told Harry that Ollie didn’t particularly like the boy, who was only invited to these things out of social obligation, and he could see why) as well as two twin girls, Padma and Parvati Patil. They all gathered around Ollie, and began chatting about something he'd never heard of. Harry kept off to the side, feeling unusually shy around all these new people.

At one point, a stream of redheads made their way out of the fireplace. Harry didn’t need Jasmine’s help to let him know these were the infamous Weasleys, who Ollie would often play Quidditch with.

The two oldest Weasley boys made their way over to Harry.

“Hello Harry,” they chorused. 

“I’m Fred.”

“And I’m George.”

“We’ve been told by darling Ollie that you’re his twin brother.” Harry nodded. The almost unnatural synchrony of the twins was slightly overwhelming.

“Just to let you know, being twins gives you lots of pranking potential.” George (was it George?) winked at Harry.

“If you’re looking for any tips, just ask. From Hogwarts’ two biggest emerging pranksters.” 

Harry didn’t think he’d be getting up to that kind of thing with Ollie any time soon. Even if you didn’t count the massive scar on his forehead, Harry still looked like a smaller, paler version of his brother. Besides, their relationship was almost non-existent. 

“What’s Hogwarts like?” he asked, trying to change the subject. His parents had only briefly touched on the school a few times and Jasmine didn’t know as much as he wanted to know, either.

“Oh let us tell you, Harry.” The twins began to regale him with tales of their Hogwarts exploits, including one incident where they’d dyed the caretaker's cat bright pink. Even though it wasn’t exactly the information he’d been seeking, he still enjoyed hearing their stories. Harry liked these two; maybe he’d be able to get a few prank ideas from them after all to use on Ollie.

Their conversation was interrupted by one final late arrival in the Floo. It was another man, who had chin-length black hair and grey eyes. Harry could see a tattoo peeking out of his robes. He was accompanied by a small girl who looked strikingly similar to him. Based on Jasmine’s earlier description, he assumed this must be Sirius Black, Harry’s godfather.

After greeting the throng of adults, Sirius made his way over to Harry. 

“Oh, Harry, it’s so wonderful to see you again.” he noticed Sirius’ eyes seemed a bit teary. “I’m your godfather. This probably isn’t the right time to talk properly, but do you want to get lunch at some point soon? I’d love to get to know you better.”

“I’d like that.” Harry smiled at him. Unlike most of the adults at the party, who had greeted Harry out of courtesy before moving on to Ollie, Sirius seemed to be actually interested in him. It felt nice.

“Alright everyone,” Lily called over the chatter. “Time to do presents!”

Harry and Ollie were ushered over to a table that was stacked with gifts. While his twin’s pile did seem to be significantly bigger, Harry was thrilled to have gotten anything at all.

The majority of his presents from the party guests seemed to be sweets. Mrs Weasley had baked him a tin of fudge, but most of the others had brought him wizarding candy that sounded strange and exciting, like chocolate frogs that actually jumped, and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans.

“They’re actually every flavour.” Jasmine told him. “I got fish eyes once. Who even decided to create that?”

His parents had gotten him an abundance of books, most of which he’d never heard of before. A lot of them seemed to be magical children's stories, which looked interesting. Harry wondered how different they’d be to the muggle classics. He almost jumped with excitement when he unwrapped a broomstick. It looked sleek and polished, with shiny twigs and a dark wooden handle that had Comet 260 engraved into it.

“It’s a great broom for learning Quidditch,” James commented. “I can teach you this summer.”

“That would be great!” Harry beamed at him.

His favourite gift of all, though, had to be Jasmine’s. She had gotten him a book about the different dragons of Europe, complete with moving illustrations. While the other gifts had been great, such a thoughtful present had left him feeling really touched. He gave her a hug. 

"I'm so glad to have met you," Harry whispered.

"Me too." she smiled up at him. “You’re a great brother.”

They had a wonderful birthday dinner, courtesy of Binksy's cooking. Harry didn't think he'd eaten so much food in his life. He was sat next to Neville, and the shy boy began to open up a bit to Harry about his love of plants. He knew a little about them because the Dursleys used to have him tend the garden, but he had never heard of all of the magical plants Neville seemed to own. Some of the descriptions left Harry shivering with fear - he hoped to never encounter a Venomous Tentacula unprepared.

On his other side was the youngest Weasley, a girl named Ginny, who was chatting animatedly to Jasmine. They seemed to be quite good friends. Further along, Ollie was talking to Ron Weasley who Harry hadn’t met properly yet. He and Ollie had disappeared off into a corner early on, deeply involved in an argument about Quidditch. Harry also noticed that Sirius was sending dark looks across the table to where his parents were sitting. He wondered what that was about; weren’t they supposed to be best friends?

When everyone had finished eating, Lily and James brought in two large cakes, both decked out with ten candles. Everyone sang happy birthday, and when Harry blew out the candles, each one flew over the table and burst into pretty blue fireworks. Ollie’s cake did the same, except his fireworks were red. Magic is so cool! He thought, delighted.

Harry somehow made room to eat a slice of the cake, which tasted heavenly. He whispered a quiet thanks to Binksy, hoping the elf could hear him. 

The younger party attendees then made their way out to the Quidditch pitch, where they started a match. They didn’t have quite enough players, as Ginny, Jasmine and Adhara were deemed too young, Harry was untrained, and Neville didn’t know how to play, but they still made it work with reduced teams. The non-players watched the game in awe as they did all sorts of tricks and spins.

“I hope I’ll be able to fly like that someday,” Harry breathed after watching Ernie do a sharp dive to avoid a bludger. 

“You’ll definitely be able to.” Jasmine assured him. “Flying is in the Potter blood. The only reason Dad hasn’t had me on a proper broom since before I could walk is because Mum shoots him down.”

“Why don’t you just sneak out and borrow their brooms like I do?” Ginny asked. “Oh, and Harry, if you tell anyone that I do that I will end you.” She shot him a surprisingly terrifying glare.

“I wouldn’t, don’t worry.” Harry laughed, even though he wasn’t entirely sure she was joking.

“I did do that once, but Dad knew I’d touched his broom somehow.” Jasmine sighed. “I haven’t tried again since.”

“You can have a go on mine, once I learn how to fly,” Harry promised. She leant over and gave him another hug.

While the others got caught up in a conversation about some wizard called Lockhart, James came over to Harry and sat down next to him. 

“Good birthday?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Harry smiled at his father. “The best.”

Even though he had vowed to stay angry at his parents, right now he was feeling that anger slip away. This had been the best birthday of his life after all. Even though James and Lily had hurt him, maybe they weren’t completely  bad...

He just hoped that their kindness would last.

Chapter Text

To Harry’s surprise, James followed through on his promise to teach him how to fly. His father had a day off the weekend after Harry’s birthday which he set aside to teach him, although he also took Ollie out to the pitch, much to Harry's dismay. Things between him and his brother were still incredibly awkward.

Once they got to the pitch, Ollie quickly flew off on his own. He started throwing the quaffle and trying to catch it before it hit the ground. Meanwhile, James and Harry stayed on the ground so Harry could learn the basics. His father laid both of their broomsticks down.

“Alright, Harry,” he began. “To start off, stand next to your broomstick and shout ‘up’. Like this.” James walked over to the broom. 

“Up!” It jumped up into his father’s hand. “Now you try.”

“Up!” Harry shouted. The broom shot into his hand instantly. 

“Amazing! Most people don’t get their broom to obey them so quickly. It took Ollie five tries before he got it.” Ollie, who had been flying nearby and overheard, scowled at them. Harry sent him a nasty grin in return.

James started showing Harry how to adjust his grip and sit on the broom properly. He hadn’t realised how important it was to hold onto the broom a certain way. 

“Now on the count of three, kick off the ground, hard.” James instructed once they were done. Harry felt nervous. What if the broom somehow didn’t work and he didn’t move?

“One, two, three!” Harry pushed off, hard, and felt his feet leave the floor. It actually worked! He was flying! 

“Nice job, Harry!” James shouted, before mounting his own broom and hovering next to Harry. Harry did a small circle around his father, relishing the feeling of the wind blowing through his hair.

“Oi, Harry!” Ollie called. “Heads up!” He threw the quaffle right at Harry’s head. Reflexively, he reached up and grabbed it, wobbling slightly as his hands left the broom handle. 

“Oliver! Do not do that!” James shouted. “You could have knocked him off!”

“Sorry,” Ollie muttered, not looking particularly apologetic. Harry threw the quaffle back to him. His brother flew off to the other end of the pitch and started throwing it through the three hoops.

“That was quite a good catch, Harry.” James said. “Maybe you’ll turn out to be a chaser like I am! Between you, me and Ollie, we can have a whole team that way.”

James started drilling him in flying patterns, to get him more used to the broom. Harry didn’t think he’d ever felt so alive. Back at his primary school, he had never been particularly good at sports, especially since most of them seemed to involve Dudley throwing things at him. In the sky, however, Harry was in his element.

All too soon, the sun started to dip in the sky and Lily appeared, calling them in for dinner. Harry walked back, happily exhausted.

“Since Harry can fly now, can I finally have the Weasleys over to play Quidditch?” Ollie asked their father. “We can’t use the bludgers in their orchard.”

“Sure,” James replied, ruffling Ollie’s hair. “You can teach Harry how to play, too.”

“I guess,” Ollie muttered. He didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic.

The next day, the whole gang of Weasley siblings were invited over. In addition to the four who had been at Harry’s birthday, one of the older brothers, Charlie, was also coming over to even up the teams.

“He’s a Hogwarts Quidditch legend,” Ollie enthused to him as they waited for the Weasleys to arrive. The only time his brother dropped his sour attitude was when Quidditch was the topic of conversation. “He’s the captain of the Gryffindor team.”

Almost as if they had summoned him, Charlie Weasley stepped through the Floo. 

“Charlie!” Ollie shouted excitedly. “It’s so good to see you!”

“You too, Ollie,” Charlie replied with a laugh. Harry thought he seemed like a very laid-back person. Charlie turned to him.

“You must be Harry. Nice to meet you.” They shook hands. He noticed Charlie observing him with a thoughtful frown.

“You’ve got a Seeker’s build. Nice. I’ll teach you some of my tricks, if you’d like? Gryffindor’s going to need a new Seeker since I’m leaving next year.” Charlie looked somewhat wistful at the prospect.

“That would be great,” Harry felt a surge of excitement. A talented Quidditch player actually saw something in him! He saw Ollie scowling out of the corner of his eye.

“You can’t play until you’re a second year, anyway,” he muttered. Harry realised his brother was once again jealous of him.

When the rest of the Weasleys had arrived, they all made their way over to the Quidditch pitch. Ginny and Jasmine were watching together from the sidelines, giggling about something.

As Harry was mounting his broom, he heard Ron whisper loudly, “Can he even fly? You said he was basically a Squib.” he felt a surge of annoyance. He was not a Squib. Instead of giving them the satisfaction of replying, Harry kicked off aggressively and did a quick lap of the pitch. Could a Squib do that? He thought, smirking at the shocked look on Weasley’s face.

As they still didn’t have enough players for a proper match, the Weasleys introduced Harry to a bunch of spin-off games that involved the different balls. 

They started out by playing Chasers, where they were split into two teams. One person was a Keeper, the other two were Chasers, and the goal was to beat the other team to fifty points. Harry and Ron were both delegated to opposite sides of the court to be Keepers, which was a letdown to Harry. He would have preferred to be in the action of the game instead of guarding the goalposts. He also found it difficult to anticipate which hoops the chasers were aiming for, so the other team beat him easily. Ollie, who had been one of the opposing players, sent Harry a smug smirk after he failed to block the fifth ball. He was so frustrated he wanted to throw the broom. He couldn’t let his pigheaded brother show him up like this!

The next game was more of a violent free-for-all. It didn’t seem to have any rules and involved Fred and George hitting bludgers at people, who had to desperately swerve and duck to avoid them. As the twins were training to be Beaters on the Quidditch team next year, it was a highly difficult task. Harry had a couple of near misses with bludgers that whistled so close to his head that they ruffled his hair, and one nasty hit to the forearm that he was sure would bruise. Despite this, the game was incredibly fun, even when it was cut short by his mother. She shut it down after one of the twins accidentally smacked a bludger straight at Ginny and Jasmine, almost hitting them.

“Alright guys,” Charlie said, gathering all of them in a circle in the sky. “Now it’s time for a seek-off.” He grinned, holding up a small, winged ball that Harry recognised as the golden snitch. 

“The rules are simple. Whoever catches this first is the winner.”

“But some of you have way better brooms!” Ron complained. Harry did think he had a point; the boy’s Shooting Star was almost comically slow.

“If you’re a good enough seeker, Ron, you can make any broom work.” Charlie said solemnly. “If any of you beat me I’ll give you a galleon.” With that, Charlie released the snitch, which quickly darted out of sight. 

Naturally, Charlie ended up winning the first two rounds of the seek-off, although Harry gave him a run for his money in the second one, spotting the Snitch just seconds after the Gryffindor Captain did. 

“Great job, Harry!” Charlie gave him a pat on the back. Harry could see Ollie watching with a dark expression. It did feel good to be better than his brother at something, especially when he felt so lost in the magical world.

In the final round, Harry scanned the Quidditch pitch with renewed determination. He desperately wanted to prove himself to Charlie again. If he showed up Ollie in the process, well it was really a win-win.

After about twenty minutes of searching, just when he was starting to lose hope of ever finding the thing, he saw a glint of gold at the base of one of the goal hoops. After furtively scanning the pitch to check where Charlie was, Harry dived. He felt the wind rushing in his ears and the shouts of the other players trying to catch him, but he knew he could make it there first. His fingertips touched the cool metal and Harry swerved out of the dive moments before crashing into the grass. He raised his arm in victory.

“Nice one, Harry!” The twins called in unison. Charlie flew over to him.

“I guess I owe you this.” He ruefully reached into his pocket and pulled out a Galleon. “Well played, Potter.” 

“You too!” Harry grinned at him. He saw Ollie muttering to Ron, looking angrier than ever. He thought he caught the word ‘Squib’ being muttered again, but even their jealousy couldn’t ruin Harry’s mood. He had beaten a Quidditch Captain!

All of the players soon retired from the pitch, sweating from the August heat. Ollie made the excellent suggestion that they should go for a swim in the Potters’ pool to cool off. Harry hadn’t spent a lot of time at this part of the house, as he couldn’t swim. The Dursleys had always refused him lessons, saying it was a waste of money. Maybe Mum and Dad will teach me, Harry thought happily, sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet dipped into the water. He watched in contentment as Charlie, Fred and George raced each other. Ollie and Ron were muttering in the corner, but Harry ignored them in favour of watching Jasmine and Ginny try to make the biggest splash dive-bombing into the water.

“Go again and I’ll judge who’s the best!” he called over to the girls. 

“Thanks Harry!” his sister shouted back. Her and Ginny quickly climbed out and raced to the end of the pool to compete.

“Oi, Harry!” A voice behind him shouted. Before he even had a chance to turn his head, a pair of hands shoved him off of the edge of the pool and into the watery depths. Harry felt his lungs constrict with panic as his clothes started dragging him down. He flailed his arms frantically, trying desperately to get him to the surface, but he remained stuck underwater. I’m going to die down here. I’m going to drown.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed tightly at the collar of his robes and dragged him to the surface. He gasped as his head hit the cool air, coughing and spluttering from all the water he’d inhaled. The world was blurry; he must have lost his glasses in the pool. They were quickly shoved onto his face, bringing into focus the concerned face of one of the twins. 

“Harry! Are you alright?” he said urgently. Harry nodded, still unable to speak as he coughed up water. The twin dragged him over to the pool ladder so Harry could climb out. As he went up the steps, he was suddenly aware of the peals of laughter echoing through the air. He saw Ollie and Ron standing at the edge of the pool, doubled over and cackling. Harry felt something inside of him snap. This was the final straw. Never before had he hated his brother so intensely.

“You think it’s funny to try and kill me?” Harry demanded coldly, his voice still raspy from the chlorine. The boys’ laughter died off. 

“For your information, I can’t bloody swim!”

“Harry, it was just a joke-” Ollie giggled nervously. This destroyed the last dregs of Harry’s self-control. He was still laughing at him!

“I hate you, I hate you!” A red mist descended over his field of vision. The electricity was crackling inside him again, he was burning alive. He wanted Ollie to feel the pain he had felt all these years instead of laughing away like everything was fine.

The electricity exploded out of him, and Harry suddenly heard a sickening crack. His brother was slumped against a nearby tree which he had been hurled into. By me. Harry felt sick. Ollie was pale, his eyes were closed.

Charlie ran over to the boy, shaking his shoulders, but Ollie remained unconscious. Harry’s knees gave out. He felt like he was going to vomit. Charlie was shouting something, Harry could see his lips moving, but no sound was coming out. All he could hear was the ringing, and Vernon shouting freak, freak freak.

Lily was running out of the house, red-grey hair streaming out behind her. She knelt over Ollie, waving her wand in circles over his head. Harry saw her hands shaking furiously. I did that. This is all my fault, they’re going to send me away again. 

No one will ever want you, freak. Vernon again. It was always Vernon, sitting in the darkest recesses of his mind. They were going to send him back to Vernon, back to that spider infested cupboard, no one was ever going to let him out again-

Ollie’s eyes opened. Lily pulled him close to her. Harry noticed dark red blood staining his black hair. He was whispering something to her and crying. I did that, I did that I did that-

“Harry James Potter!” Lily’s screech finally cut off the ringing in Harry’s ears. His normally calm mother was spitting with rage. She pointed a finger towards the house. 

“You go to your room right this instant! I will deal with you later!” Harry scurried away, hoping to be out of her sight before she finished patching up Ollie and started hitting him. Maybe he could find some place to hide in his room where she wouldn’t be able to get him. The one benefit of his cupboard was that it was too small for Vernon to reach inside.

As he left, he noticed the Weasleys all watching the tableau with wide eyes. Harry thought he saw a sympathetic look on the twins, but wasn’t sure why they’d feel that way. He’d nearly killed someone.

I nearly killed him. He retched into a flower pot on his way upstairs. Harry still felt shaky, weak and thoroughly exhausted. I’m a monster. A freak among freaks.

He collapsed onto his bed as soon as he entered the room, legs unable to hold him up for any longer. Despite how awfully guilty he was feeling, the exhausted feeling overtook him and he blacked out on the pillow.

Chapter Text

Harry woke up to someone gently shaking his shoulder. His head was pounding and he felt incredibly sick. He sat up, groaning and flinched when he saw his mother was sitting on the bed next to him.

"You're in big trouble, young man."

Harry leapt off the bed as quickly as possible and curled himself in the corner.

"Please don't hurt me!" he cried. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to!"

Lily looked puzzled. 

"Why would I hurt you?" she asked. Harry sat there, barely daring to breathe.

"You're in big trouble, but I'm not going to hurt you." Lily said softly. "Magic is very hard to control when you’re young, you know."

"Oh." Harry didn't quite believe her. Her angry face when she’d dealt with him at the pool seemed pretty violent to him. Luckily for him, Lily chose to move past his outburst.

"Even so, what were you thinking? Attacking your brother unprovoked like that! It's a miracle you didn’t kill Ollie! You can't let your emotions get away with you like that, it's dangerous."

“It wasn’t unprovoked.” Harry bit out. Lily looked slightly puzzled. “He shoved me into the pool!”

“I understand that might have been frustrating,” Harry could tell his mother was trying to stay calm. “But why does a prank merit such a violent outburst?”

Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “It wasn’t just a prank! I can’t swim, he was drowning me!” His mother looked shocked. Of course Ollie didn’t tell her that part. Harry added being a liar onto his mental list of Ollie’s problems.

“That does change the context a little bit,” she admitted sheepishly. “But did your brother know that you couldn’t swim?”

Harry thought for a moment. He hadn’t explicitly told anyone that he didn’t know how to swim, but he’d thought that it was obvious since he was sitting on the side. Ollie’s probably too stupid to put two and two together, though, he thought resentfully.

“I didn’t tell him.” Harry muttered. His mother looked disappointed.

“We may be wizards, but we’re not mind readers, you know,” she joked. Harry stared at her, stone-faced. She let out a cough.

“Well. I will be having words with your brother, then. This does not excuse your behaviour, though.” 

Here we go, Harry thought miserably. Time for the beating. He pushed down his raging emotions and prepared to get it over with.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” she demanded.

“I’m sorry.” he really was sorry. Even though Ollie had almost drowned him, Harry couldn’t believe he was capable of being so violent. It made him feel like his cousin.

“I’ll be expecting you to apologise to your brother as well,” she said sternly. “You’re grounded for the next five days. No books, no flying, no leaving this room. You will either think about how to keep your temper in check or help Binksy with the chores.”

Harry could scarcely believe his luck. That was it? At the Dursleys he would have been beaten black and blue for what he had done!

"I'll call you down for dinner later, where you will apologise to your brother." After giving him one last disappointed look, Lily left the room.

 Harry sighed and stared at the ceiling. He wished there was a bathroom in his room; his head was pounding awfully and he desperately wanted a drink of water. He didn't dare to leave, though, in case his mother’s lenience ran out.

As he sat in the corner, stewing, he thought more about the outburst of magic he'd had. Once again he had felt the feeling of lightning crackling underneath his fingers before the magic had exploded out of him. He knew that if he could replicate that sensation he could make something happen.

Harry got the small ceramic bird he’d nicked from the living room and held it in his hands. The few times before when he’d tried to focus on his anger to make it break, nothing had happened. He’d barely felt the hot feeling in his chest, let alone the crackling power.

I need to learn to control it so it doesn’t happen again. Harry stared at the bird with renewed determination, trying as hard as he could to be angry. He thought about his stupid family and the awful Dursleys and everything they had done to him. No matter how hard he tried, though, all he could feel was guilt over what he’d done to Ollie. Even though he didn’t like his brother, he didn’t deserve that. His mum had been very successful at making him feel disappointed in himself.

He spent a very long time staring at that bird before he was called down to dinner. Harry felt a fresh wave of guilt when he arrived in the dining room and saw a white bandage wrapped around Ollie’s head. That guilty feeling did help him to make a convincing apology, though. His brother didn’t say sorry back until Lily pointedly cleared her throat, wringing a muttered apology out of the boy. It’s better than nothing, Harry supposed.

Harry kept his eyes on the food the entire time, trying to ignore the tension in the room. Outside of the clinking of cutlery and the occasional grunts of complaint from Ollie about his head hurting, the room was dead silent. At one point, he made eye contact with Jasmine. He had been scared to look at her the whole evening; he was worried she would hate him for attacking her brother. To his relief, though, she sent him a sympathetic look and flashed him a smile. At least someone in the family didn’t think he was a monster. 

Once everyone had finished eating, James cleared his throat. 

“Jasmine, Ollie, can you go upstairs please? Your mother and I want to speak to Harry alone.” 

Harry felt his heart jump into his throat. What did they want now? Lily had promised him that being grounded was his punishment! Was his father going to inflict something separate? Images of Vernon in a rage started flashing through his brain.

“Harry…is everything okay?” Lily asked hesitantly once his siblings had left the room. He stiffened in shock-that wasn’t what he’d been expecting at all. Harry tried to shove his uncle out of his mind so he could concentrate.

“Everything is fine,” he muttered. The answer was so practised that it practically slipped off his tongue. James raised a sceptical eyebrow.

“We’re just worried about you Harry. Why did you think Mum wanted to hit you earlier?” Harry felt the panic rising up in him. This wasn’t good - questions never were. That had been one of the first principles the Dursleys had beaten into him. Harry had really hoped his parents would ignore what he’d said earlier, but of course things wouldn’t be that simple.

“I’m not sure,” Harry desperately hoped they would believe him. “I thought it might be something wizards do. I don’t know you very well, after all.”

He noticed a flicker of hurt on his parents' faces when he said that. It’s your fault I don’t know you, he thought bitterly. Suck it up.

“Harry, I can promise your mother and I will never lay a hand on you,” his father soothed, “No matter how much trouble you’re in. Has anyone else ever hit you, though?”

“No,” he muttered. It wasn’t like he could tell the truth, anyway. Uncle Vernon had always made that crystal clear.

“You can go back upstairs, then.” Harry’s shoulders sagged in relief at those words. He was in the clear! They hadn’t figured it out! “But if there ever is a problem, you can always come to your mother or me.”

Harry knew that was just another empty promise, but nodded anyway before leaving the room. When he closed the door behind him, however, he didn’t go straight upstairs. Instead, Harry pressed an ear to the door to see what his parents would say.

He could only catch snippets, like “something wrong with him” and “speak to Petunia” but it was enough to let Harry know that he hadn’t smoothed things over as well as he’d thought. If his parents did speak to the Dursleys, who knew what lies they would tell them? Things would definitely become a lot harder for him.

Resigned to the whole situation, Harry shuffled back up to his room, planning on having an early night. His head was still sore from earlier and he wanted to try and sleep it off. Instead of finding an empty room, however, he walked in and saw Jasmine sitting on his bed, holding a book. He jumped in surprise.

“I brought you this,” she handed Harry the book. It was his battered copy of Matilda he’d brought from the Dursleys. “Dad took all the books out of your room, but I took this back. I know how hard it is to be stuck alone doing nothing.”

“Thanks,” he said gratefully.

“Just to let you in on a little secret,” Jasmine said, impishly grinning. “Dad’s a bit of a softie when it comes to punishment. He’ll probably go easy on you and let you out a bit early when Mum’s not around.”

“Good to know.” Harry didn’t think he’d be able to skip out on any punishment for damaging the precious Boy-Who-Lived, but it was still nice of her to tell him.

“I’m gonna go now in case Mum and Dad check in here. I’ll try and sneak back and keep you company soon.” Jasmine got up and started to leave, but stopped when she got to the doorway.

“What did they want to talk about with you, anyway?” she asked. Harry could see the curiosity written all over her face.

“Oh nothing really. Just how much trouble I’m in.” he lied. Luckily, Jasmine didn’t seem to question his response.

“Okay. See you soon!” Harry thumbed through the copy of Matilda with a smile as she left. It was a nice thing to do. He knelt on the floor and pushed the book under his bed so his parents wouldn’t see-he didn’t want this source of entertainment to be taken from him.

Exhausted, he flopped backwards onto the bed. Even though it was barely past seven, he was far too tired to keep his eyes open.

"Harry! Wake up!" James was banging on the door. Harry awoke with a groan, rubbing his eyes. He wondered why he felt so exhausted - could it be from the accidental magic?

His father gave up on the knocking and walked in, smiling when he saw Harry.

"I'm releasing you from your imprisonment to get breakfast with your godfather." James announced, winking at Harry. He didn’t react.

"Why are you letting me? I thought I was being punished." Harry remembered Jasmine's words about his father being a bit soft but couldn't believe he was out of trouble this quickly.

"We understand that this transition must be hard for you and that's why you're having some...issues. Maybe it will help to talk to someone?" James looked at him sympathetically, which irritated Harry. If there was one thing he hated, it was pity.

James, after not getting a response, ploughed on.

"Anyway, you're going. Be down in ten minutes and wear Muggle clothes." James shut the door, not waiting for a response. Harry reflected that his father was very good at holding conversations with himself.

As he got dressed, Harry speculated on what his godfather would be like. Sirius had seemed very friendly at his birthday, but they hadn't had much time to talk so the man was still practically a stranger. His parents wanted him to talk to Sirius, though. Maybe they were trying to get more information after their conversation last night. I'll keep my guard up, he thought firmly. He didn’t want Sirius to squeeze anything out of him.

When he came downstairs, Sirius was waiting for him by the door. Today he was wearing a leather jacket and jeans instead of robes.

“Harry!” Sirius went over and gave him a hug.

“It’s nice to see you.” he smiled at his godfather. 

“Are you ready to go to Hornford? There’s a nice little bakery where we can get breakfast.” Harry had only been to Hornford once to buy regular clothes with his parents. It had been an amusing trip, since James was so incompetent with anything muggle.

“That sounds great!”

“Let's go outside of the wards, then, so we can Apparate down there.” Sirius bent down and started whispering. “Between you and me, I wanted to take you there on my motorbike, but your mum shot me down.” He rolled his eyes at Harry, who couldn’t stop himself smiling again.

They walked until they reached the end of the gravel path and stood at the edge of the road outside of the Potter property. Sirius held out an arm to Harry.

“Hold onto my arm,” he instructed. Harry complied nervously.

“Just wondering…what are you going to do?”

“Right, sorry. I forgot you’re muggle-raised.” He shrugged sheepishly. “I think muggles call it teleporting? We’re doing that.”

“Oh, okay.”

Without giving Harry any time to worry about what might happen, Sirius twisted around. Harry felt like he was being squeezed through an uncomfortably tight tube and felt panic set in since he couldn’t breathe properly. Luckily, it was over almost as soon as it began and they appeared with a loud crack in a cobbled side alley. Sirius furtively glanced around to make sure they hadn’t been seen.

“That was so cool! When am I going to be able to do that?” Harry thought that the ability to teleport anywhere was the most useful thing he’s seen yet.

“Not until you’re seventeen, unfortunately,” Sirius said with a laugh. “Ready to go eat some breakfast?”

Sirius took him into a cosy-looking bakery called Godfrey’s. It had all sorts of sweet treats displayed in the glass cases, and the smell of baking bread made Harry’s mouth water. Sirius decided on a croissant and a coffee while Harry got a danish. They sat together in the small seating area of the bakery, eating in companionable silence.

“So, Harry,” Sirius began after they had both made decent headway into their pastries, “How are things?”

Harry shrugged. “Dunno.”

“I suppose that was a bit too broad,” Sirius laughed. “What I meant is are you alright after yesterday?”

Harry felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment. He had really hoped that his parents wouldn't tell anyone about his outburst. The Weasleys seeing it was bad enough.

“I feel really angry,” he admitted. “But guilty, too. I wasn’t trying to do that, it just sort of…happened.” 

That wasn’t entirely the truth. When his magic had exploded out of him, he had truly wanted to hurt Ollie, but he didn’t want Sirius to think he was a complete monster.

“Accidental magic is completely normal.” Sirius assured him. “Sure it was quite a violent outburst, but that happens to young witches and wizards all the time. One time, I dropped a massive textbook on my brother’s head.”

“Really?” Harry felt slightly comforted to know that. From the way his mother had reacted, he had thought something was seriously wrong with him.

“Really.” Sirius laughed. “And honestly, you had a reason. I only did it because Reggie took my toy broomstick, but James told me Ollie nearly drowned you!”

“Yeah he did.” Harry shot a dark look at his danish. 

“I’m sorry he did that,” Sirius said sympathetically. “It was really nasty of him. It’s not an excuse at all, but I don’t think he knows how to cope with sharing your parents' attention with a new brother.”

“He’s had a sister all his life, though, so he should be used to it,” Harry muttered resentfully. “I’m the one who’s had to come into this family and get used to them.”

“Yeah, that must be really difficult. I can’t imagine going through what you are now.” Sirius paused, taking another bite of his croissant. “How are you finding your family, though?”

There it is. Harry had known his godfather was just here to spy for Lily and James. And stupidly enough, Harry had let him right to the information he wanted.

“It’s fine. I’m fine.” Harry muttered sullenly. Even though he’d known all along that his godfather wasn’t here for him, it still annoyed him to be manipulated.

“Really.” Sirius raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think that’s true. Honestly, if you were fine with all of this, that would be more worrying.”

Harry sat there in stony silence. Sirius sighed.

“I’m not going to go to your parents with what you tell me, you know,” he said. “I’m actually quite annoyed with them myself. You’re my number one priority here, so you can talk to me about anything.”

Harry thought that one over. He did remember the looks Sirius had been giving his parents at the birthday party-there definitely was some tension between them. Maybe he was telling the truth.

“Why are you angry with them?” If Harry was going to give Sirius information, he wanted some back, too. It was only fair.

“Because they gave you up.” A dark look crossed Sirius’ face. “I didn’t speak to them for two years after they did it. They didn’t even give me the chance to say goodbye to you before whisking you off to the muggle world.”

Harry was surprised to hear that. He hadn’t realised he was so important to the man.

“I am a bit annoyed, yeah.” Harry finally admitted. “I can’t believe they gave me up for being a Squib.”

“If it helps at all, they did think they were doing the right thing.” Sirius reached under the table and squeezed Harry’s leg. “I think it was a bloody stupid decision, but it wasn’t just because of the prejudice against Squibs. They wanted to keep you safe.”

“Couldn’t they have done some magic or something to keep the bad wizards out?” Harry demanded. “I swear there’s a spell for everything.”

Sirius sighed. “The dark wizards can do magic too, unfortunately. Nothing is ever fully safe.” He stared out of the window with a haunted look.

“Your parents told you about what some bad wizards did to your mum, right?” Sirius asked hesitantly. Harry nodded.

“They didn’t give me a lot of detail, though. I felt bad about asking, it seemed to upset Mum.” 

“If you want to know, I’ll tell you the whole story.” Sirius sipped his coffee. He looked incredibly solemn. “It’s quite difficult to hear, but it might help you understand why they did what they did.”

Harry couldn’t see how the two were linked, but nodded anyway. He wanted to know. 

“A few months after your brother defeated You-Know-Who, some of his followers came after your parents. They thought your mum and dad knew what had happened to their leader.” Sirius was clenching the coffee cup so tightly Harry thought it would shatter. “When Lily and James told them they didn’t know anything, the Death Eaters didn’t believe them. They started cursing your mother to try and make James tell them. We think it was because she was a muggleborn, too.”

“Remus Lupin, our other friend, saved your parents lives. If he hadn’t popped over to ask them something, who knows what would have happened to them...” Sirius shuddered. Harry stayed silent, trying to process his godfather’s words. Despite his less than ideal upbringing, it was hard for him to believe that there were so many horrible people in the world.

“It really shook them up, obviously.” Sirius sighed. “Then, a few months later, Dumbledore is knocking on the door telling them you’re a Squib. They were still recovering from the attack, so can you see why they thought they couldn’t protect you?”

Harry did see Sirius’ point. The whole situation sounded horrible. 

“They’re still not around, though,” Harry muttered resentfully. “Dad’s always working and Mum’s always out doing charity work with Ollie.”

“Oh, I’m not saying you shouldn’t still be annoyed with them.” Sirius said quickly. “I was furious for years, still am. You are allowed to be as angry as you want. They need to do better.” Sirius reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

“Just know I'm always here for you, no matter what.” Sirius smiled at him. “How would you like to do this weekly? I’d love to get to know you better.”

“That would be nice.” It would also be nice to get out of the house more. While the huge mansion had been great at first, being cooped up there most days was starting to get old.

“Well, I should probably return you home soon.” Sirius said, finishing up the last of his breakfast. “Ready to go back?”

“Yeah…” Harry sighed. He was not looking forward to spending the foreseeable future staring at the four walls of his room. They walked back to the alley where Sirius had apparated them. He held out an arm to Harry, who gripped it tightly, prepared this time. He was squeezed through the tube again and they popped up outside of Potter Manor.

“See you next week, kiddo.” Sirius gave him a nod before apparating away once more. When Harry walked into the house, he found James in the entranceway.

“Ah, Harry!” his father smiled. “Did you have a nice time with Sirius?”

“Yep.”

“Was it helpful talking to him?”

“Yeah.” James looked a little disappointed at his short answers, but Harry didn’t particularly care. As Sirius had pointed out, he had every reason to be annoyed with his parents.

“Well, back off to your room.” James sighed. Harry obliged, scampering up the stairs to avoid a further conversation.

He flopped onto his chair, and stared outside, wishing he could be out there. It was a beautiful day, without a cloud in sight. Almost as if the universe was taunting him, Ollie flew by his window, chasing after a quaffle.

“You have got to be joking!” Harry shouted. Of course perfect, wonderful Ollie would never be punished for almost killing him, while Harry was left to rot in his room for something completely out of his control!

The anger was building up again. Realising this could be his opportunity, Harry reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the ceramic bird, glaring at it. He focused on his anger, and started to feel the energy inside of him. It was more of a gentle humming rather than the crackling lightning he’d experienced before, but it was still there. He tried to harness it, directing all of the power into the item in his hands.

He felt a brief sensation of electricity crackle through his fingertips, and a crack appeared down the side of the bird. It wasn’t big enough to even break the ornament in two, but Harry had made that happen! He was so excited that the rest of his anger dissipated. He didn’t care what was going on with the rest of the Potters - he could do wandless magic!

Chapter Text

Harry spent the remainder of his punishment practising his magic on the bird. After he’d done it for the first time, summoning the power became a lot easier, especially since all he had to do was think about how unfairly he was being treated and another crack would appear. By the end of the five days the bird was thoroughly shattered.

Even once Harry was allowed out of his room, there still wasn’t a lot for him to do. His parents were even busier than usual-James was after a serial killer who was attacking muggles, which caused his hours at the Auror office to be extended, while Lily had an important doctors appointment in France. She decided to take Ollie with her, as there was an important piece of legislation the French Ministry were pushing through that they wanted to show support for. His mother tried to explain it, but the politics went right over Harry’s head, like they usually did.

While it was exciting to be almost completely unsupervised for a whole weekend, the lack of company did mean Harry and Jasmine were getting increasingly restless. Classically, late August was greeted by a constant drizzle that kept him and his sister locked inside the house. Even Jasmine, who could be entertained by books for days, was going stir-crazy. Sirius did visit them one morning and played a game of monopoly, but even that was only a brief reprieve from the boredom.

Finally, they had one afternoon where the rain died out, so Harry and his sister decided to seize the opportunity and go outside. Jasmine, who had been begging him to take her flying for ages, finally wore Harry down enough to get a reluctant yes.

“Won’t Binksy tell on us, though?” he asked. Harry really didn’t want to be grounded again.

“He won't,” she assured him. “I got caught last time and asked him if he told. Apparently he only has to rat if Mum and Dad ask.”

“But if you don’t know how Dad found out before then how will you stop it happening this time?”

“Trust me, I just know.” she winked. “Come on Harry, please?” She looked up at him, batting her hazel eyes. He sighed.

“Fine.”

“Thank you!” Jasmine actually jumped with excitement and ran over to the broom shed. Harry was still a bit nervous about getting caught, but didn’t see any other issues. After all, he was there to supervise Jasmine and make sure she didn’t do anything stupid, and it would be fun. Harry got his broom out of the shed and grabbed Ollie’s for Jasmine. He handed it to her, trying to recall what his father had taught him, but was interrupted by Jasmine kicking off into the sky. She was better than Harry had expected, and was lazily gliding along like an expert. He quickly mounted the broom and hovered next to her, though, just in case.

“This is great!” she shouted, flying a circle around him. She grinned mischievously. “Hey Harry, I have an idea!”

Oh Merlin. This didn’t sound promising.  

“Follow me!” she started flying closer to the ground, towards the trees at the edge of the property. Harry’s sense of impending doom intensified.

“These trees will be a perfect obstacle course!” Jasmine announced. 

“But Jazz, you can’t fly!” Harry protested. “You told me you’d only been out here on a broom once!”

“Ah, but Harry, you spent five days locked in your room, leaving me with nothing to do.” Jasmine gave him a sheepish look. “I may have taken your broom out for a spin. Multiple times.”

Harry groaned. “You are the worst!"

“I know!” She laughed. “But at least I know for certain we won’t get caught?”

“I guess.” Harry grumbled.

“Anyway! Obstacle course! Whoever gets to the stream first wins.” 

“Are you sure we won’t get seen?” he asked, worried. Harry hadn’t been that far into the woods yet and wasn’t sure if it was a place muggles went regularly.

“Nah. These woods have a couple of magical creatures in so they put muggle repelling charms on them. We’re perfectly safe.”

“I still don’t know…”

“Oh, come on, Harry!” she cut in impatiently. “Don’t be boring!”

Harry tried to push down his nerves and steel himself. He knew he’d probably be held responsible if something went wrong, but at least Jasmine would still like him. His parents would never like him no matter what he did, so what was the point in trying to make them happy?

“Fine. Let's go.” Harry pointed his broom towards the woods resolutely. If he was going to be involved with this, he was going to win.

“Ok. Three, two, one, go!” Jasmine shot off with surprising speed. Harry forced his broom to go faster, tensing slightly as he entered the densely packed woodland. Navigating the woods involved a lot more concentration than flying on the pitch, since he had to think about weaving in and out of the trees as well as keeping pace with Jasmine. She was surprisingly good at this, but Harry still didn’t take his eyes off of her, trying to make sure she was okay. He was so focused on his sister that he didn’t notice the large tree standing directly in his path until the very last second. Harry swerved, narrowly avoiding cracking open his skull on the trunk. However, the sudden movement combined with the wind was too much for him to handle. He lost his balance and fell off the broom, barely managing to grab the handle. He heard Jasmine shriek, but she was too far away to help. He was slipping.

In a way, it was lucky they were in the woods and not on the pitch as it meant they were closer to the ground. If he’d been at a greater height, Harry wasn’t sure what would have happened to him. Even so, the fall was a long one, and he landed directly onto his wrist, which cracked audibly.

Harry started screaming in agony. It felt like there were a million red-hot splinters inside his arm. Jasmine dismounted her broom and started frantically pulling his body off the broken limb. It was bent at an unnatural angle that made Harry sick to look at. 

“Oh Merlin, your arm!” Jasmine looked slightly queasy herself. “Harry, we need to get you back to the house!”

Harry couldn’t get up on his own, though, too overwhelmed by the pain. Despite his small stature, Jasmine was even tinier and couldn’t help him up on her own.

“Binksy!” she shouted, now crying too. The house elf popped up in the woods, and yelped when he saw Harry.

“Master Harry has been hurt!” he squeaked, running over to them as quickly as his tiny legs could move.

“Binksy, Apparate us back and get Mum!” Jasmine ordered. The house elf grabbed both of them and Harry felt the squeezing sensation he had when Sirius had taken him to Hornford, which made the stabbing pain in his arm a thousand times worse. They appeared in the living room of the Manor, Harry groaning from the fresh pain.

After Harry had been laid on the sofa, Binksy popped away. He returned in about a minute, with a frantic-looking Lily and confused Ollie in tow.

“Ollie! Go get a calming draught and a pain reliever from my store!” she ordered. His brother ran out of the room, not talking back for once.

“It’s okay, Harry, I can fix your arm,” his mother soothed, stroking his hair while she got out her wand. She started muttering spells. A small piece of parchment appeared from thin air, complete with a quill that started scribbling away. Lily read it, frowning.

“Compound fracture,” she muttered. “Episkey!”

It took a couple of attempts for it to work-his mothers hands were particularly bad that day-but eventually something happened. Harry’s arm felt hot, then cold, before the stabbing pain started ebbing away.

Ollie re-entered the room, carrying two bottles containing strangely coloured liquids. His mother poured the blue one, which tasted bitter and lemony, down Harry’s throat. He was suddenly enveloped in a blanket of calm. His emotions felt very far away, like they were trapped in a cloud of mist. He was barely aware of what was going on when a second bottle was pressed against his lips, taking away the remaining pain in his arm.

Lily stayed by his side, still stroking his hair. “I was supposed to be a Healer, you know,” she confided, “Like a magical doctor. I had to quit training when my hands weren’t getting better, but I still know all the spells.” 

She left his side, going up to the white-faced Jasmine to question her about what happened. Her face was streaked with tears and she was trembling. Harry thought she might require a calming draught herself.

His mother sighed when she heard the whole story. “We have a Quidditch pitch for a reason, you know,” she scolded. “That wasn’t safe at all, especially for you, Jasmine. You know you’re not allowed to fly until your birthday.”

“Sorry Mum.” Lily gave the crying girl a hug.

“Now, the two of you have had quite the shock so I think you’ve been punished enough.” Lily said. “But I don’t want you two flying around unsupervised until you’ve both had some more training, okay?”

They both nodded. Harry was relieved that he wouldn’t be stuck in his room all day again - he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle it a second time. Lily tapped his arm and muttered a spell that made bandages wrap tightly around the limb.

“Your arm should be fully healed, but it’s best to keep it still for a day or so,” she explained. His mother plucked the floating piece of parchment out of the air and gave it a quick scan. She squinted at it, frowning.

“Harry, how did you break your wrist before?” she asked. Uh oh. That parchment must show all of Harry’s injuries to his arm, not just the ones he’d gotten today. 

“I fell off the swings at the park,” he lied. That one had actually been his uncle throwing him around. The Dursleys had been too scared to take him to the hospital in case too many questions had been asked, but they hadn’t laid a hand on him until the bruising went down. It had been a rare period of peace for him.

“And the two fingers you broke?” Alarm bells started going off in Harry’s head as he saw the suspicion on her face.

“Dudley accidentally shut my hand in the door.” That story was true, except for the part about it being an accident. Dudley had slammed it as hard as he could on Harry’s fingers. He had always found the most convincing lies were the ones that were close to the truth, though.

“You’re pretty accident-prone, aren’t you!” she laughed. Harry relaxed. He was safe.

“How about you and your sister go upstairs to read for a bit?” Lily suggested. “I’ll send Binksy up with a warm drink.” 

“Alright,” Harry said. He took Jasmine’s hand and started leading her out. As they left, Harry glanced back at his mother. She was staring into the distance, a troubled look on her face. She looked even more tired and worn than usual.

Harry led Jasmine up to his room and sat her down on the bed, thinking of ways to cheer her up. It was unnerving to see his bubbly sister so withdrawn. He spotted the book on dragons on his shelf and picked it up, hoping that would work. Harry opened it to the page on the Austrian Broadwing, which was a beautiful dragon with deep purple scales. Harry personally thought it wasn’t a very good colour for a dragon to survive in the wild, but it would hopefully make Jasmine happy, since her favourite colour was purple.

“Look at those scales!” he said, trying to distract her. She ignored him, staring into her lap miserably.

“I’m sorry I made you go flying in the woods.” she said quietly.

“Don’t be. I’m all better now, see?” Harry flexed his hand, ignoring the small prickle of pain as he did so. “And I have to admit, it was kind of fun.”

He saw a small smile appear on her face, but it quickly turned into a frown.

“Harry…was it really an accident when your cousin shut the door on your hand?” she asked, looking at him with wide eyes. Harry almost said yes, but for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to lie to her. Most of the time, the secret of the Dursleys was something he could push to the dark corners of his mind and ignore, but right now, looking into the innocent eyes of his sister, it was like an albatross around his neck. 

“No.” It felt good to admit it, even though it was terrifying to have it out in the open. “Dudley is a real piece of work.”

Jasmine said nothing, and just hugged him tightly.

“Please don’t tell anyone?” he whispered. 

“I won’t," she promised.

Binksy popped up, carrying two marshmallow-heaped mugs of hot chocolate. Even though it was August, it had been freezing outside and the warm drinks really helped to expel the last of the cold from Harry’s body. He put an arm around Jasmine, watching the illustrated Broadwing breathe a plume of fire. He wished he could stay like this forever.

Chapter Text

After the flying incident, Harry’s parents, particularly his mother, were home a lot more. He would often catch Lily watching him and frowning, like he was a puzzle she couldn’t quite solve. He had a gut feeling that she knew something wasn’t right about his relationship with the Dursleys, and decided to keep his guard up. 

He also wasn’t exactly thrilled by his mothers presence since it meant Ollie was around more, and his brother liked to spend his time antagonising Harry. He played lots of pranks on him, like setting off dungbombs in Harry’s room or putting itching powder in his sheets. Harry didn’t bother telling his parents, since it would probably just make it worse. His father loved practical jokes, and loved to talk about all the pranks he’d done to Slytherins in his Hogwarts days, so he’d probably just encourage Ollie.

His only reprieves from Ollie’s antics were the weekly outings with Sirius. They had expanded outside of breakfast to day trips to areas near Sirius’ house in London. Harry’s favourite was the visit to the Tower of London. Sirius had spent the tour of the building telling Harry all about the wizarding links to the royal family, which were fascinating and surprising. He supposed the Queen would know about magic, but the fact that she had her own advisor who informed her about magical politics was still strange.

Even without the trips Sirius took him on, Harry still had a far more active social calendar than he had earlier on in the summer. Now that the uproar around him re-joining the family had settled, the Potters were back to attending evening parties. Harry found these tedious-they meant spending an evening stuck in stuffy dress robes pretending to be interested in what adults were saying to him. 

The only upside of the parties was that he got to spend time with people his own age again. The Weasleys hadn’t visited since Harry’s outburst, and he had a suspicion that Ollie was keeping them away out of jealousy. While the Weasley family didn’t generally attend the galas, he did get to speak to Neville more, and liked the boy more and more each time. Harry felt quite bad for him; he had grown up in the shadow of his parents' legacy and it was quite the standard to live up to. Neville’s family had also thought he was a Squib, and they often spoke about how difficult it was to deal with that label.

His parents did seem to feel quite bad about dragging Harry and his siblings to all these events, which meant they were generally rewarded with a fun outing the following day. Harry suspected this was Ollie’s doing, since his twin hated the parties with a passion. People would constantly crowd up to him and he couldn’t catch a moment alone. Sometimes, Harry would see Ollie’s exhausted face and feel bad for him-it must be difficult to be so revered for something you couldn’t remember doing.

One day, they went to the beach, leading to an awkward realisation when Harry’s parents were reminded he couldn’t swim. James did offer to teach him but Harry refused. The memory of the pool incident was far too vivid for him to choose to enter anything deeper than a puddle. Another time, they visited the zoo, where Harry could have sworn he heard a snake speak to him. All in all, the trips made the tedious parties worth the hassle.

Before long, August turned into September and Lily was taking them into Hornford to buy their school uniforms. This surprised Harry-if there were separate wizarding secondary schools, then why not primary schools as well?

“It’s because you don’t technically need a magical education until about eleven, when your magical core is strong enough to learn spells,” his mother explained when he asked. “Most Purebloods hire a private tutor until the child is old enough to go to Hogwarts, but some witches and wizards send their children to muggle primary schools so you can understand both worlds. I don’t want you guys to end up like your father!” She laughed.

Harry was nervous about starting at a new school. His old one in Little Whinging hadn’t exactly been a fun place to be because of his cousin’s bullying and Petunia’s lies. Harry couldn’t remember ever having friends there. He hoped this would be different, even though there were quite a few parallels between Ollie and Dudley that made him worry history would repeat itself.

Harry anxiously pushed around his cereal in his bowl on the morning of the first day while Lily gave them a speech about keeping the magical world a secret. According to Jasmine, she did this every year. Harry tried to tune her out.

“Isn’t everyone gonna think it’s weird when I have an identical twin pop up in my class, though?” Ollie asked, breaking Harry out of his trance. He hadn’t thought about that.

“We’ve come up with a cover story for that,” Lily explained. “Harry, we’re saying you’ve been at a special boarding school that had to close.” Harry almost wished that was true; it would have been a lot nicer than staying with the Dursleys.

Once they were done eating, his father made Harry and his siblings line up at the front door so he could take a photo of them. Apparently, he did this at the start of every school year.

“I like to see how much you grow across the years,” he explained. “I’ll have to get your old photos from Vernon and Petunia, Harry!” James laughed awkwardly, like he always did whenever Harry’s former life was mentioned. He felt an ache in his chest-the Dursleys had taken pictures of Dudley, but never him. If you looked through their photo albums, you wouldn’t know Harry existed.

They all got into the car, ready to drive into Hornford. According to his mother, driving was better for maintaining their cover as Apparating everywhere would be suspicious.

The Potters arrived at the school a little earlier than everyone else so his parents could introduce Harry to the teacher. Jasmine and Ollie were left in the playground with a few other children while he was taken up to a friendly-looking young woman who was standing at the gates. 

“Harry, this is your teacher Miss Jeffords,” Lily said. The lady smiled at him.

“It’s great to meet you, Harry. Welcome to the school.” She shook his hand. “If you have any difficulties with settling in, you can always come to me. Why don’t you say goodbye to your parents and go play in the playground for a bit?”

“Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad.” Harry said obligingly. He wasn’t too fussed about leaving them behind. His mothers concerned looks were starting to get old, and it would be nice to escape them for a few hours. 

“Bye Harry.” his father squeezed his shoulder. Harry was grateful they didn’t hug him-that would have been very embarrassing on his first day. He went off into the playground, feeling slightly nervous. He wanted to go up to Jasmine, but she was busily chatting to a blonde-haired girl and he didn’t want to interrupt. Instead, he sat on a bench near Ollie and a group of other boys who were playing tag. Harry decided not to join in; Ollie always got into a strop whenever Harry interacted with any of his friends. Maybe, if Harry left his muggle friends alone, Ollie would leave him alone in school.

“You alright?” Harry jumped. A boy had sat down on the bench next to him without Harry noticing. He  had shaggy brown hair and a scruffy, oversized uniform, but looked friendly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you and Ollie related? You look loads like him.”

“Yeah, we’re twins.”

“How come he’s never mentioned you?” Harry realised with a slight panic that his parents didn’t anticipate this issue. He had been a hushed up family secret until this year, and that would definitely be suspicious.

“Oh, um, I went to boarding school so I didn’t see him a lot. I think he was a bit jealous so he didn’t mention it here, I guess?” Harry crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping the boy wouldn’t ask anything else. 

“Why are you here now, then?” he asked. Harry felt a wave of relief that the lie worked.

“The school shut. Um, they ran out of money I think.” Harry said.

“Huh. Well, nice to meet you. I’m Dan.”

“I’m Harry. Are you in Miss Jeffords’ class?” It would be nice for him to have a familiar face outside of Ollie.

“Yep.” Their conversation was cut off by the shrill sound of a whistle. It was time to go in. Harry followed Dan inside, his heart pounding nervously. 

The classroom was a large, warm room lined with big windows. It was filled with desks crammed together into tables. Each desk had a small piece of paper with a name written on it.

“Sit at the desk that has your name on, please!” Miss Jeffords called over the chatter. Harry complied, realising with dismay that his brother was sat opposite him. Harry was partnered with a boy named Alfie, who seemed very posh and proper.

“You’re Harry, right?” Alfie asked. “Ollie’s brother?”

“Yeah.”

“You guys look so similar, it’s weird!” It was true-even though Harry had looked like a sickly version of his brother at the start of the summer, by the end he had put some weight on and their resemblance was far stronger. There had even been a couple of occasions at the galas they had attended where people mixed them up. Ollie was still a bit taller than him, though, which annoyed Harry to no end.

“We’re twins, Alfie, of course we look similar.” Ollie rolled his eyes. The boy next to him, who had introduced himself as Mike, laughed. Harry had seen him with Ollie earlier and assumed they were friends.

“I’ve got a scar on my forehead, so you can tell us apart that way.” Harry lifted his fringe so the boys could see it better. 

“That’s so cool!” Alfie said, goggling at Harry’s forehead.

“How’d you get it?” Mike asked. Harry wasn’t entirely sure if he was allowed to say. According to his parents, he’d gotten it from the explosion the night Voldemort had attacked, but telling them that felt like it violated the Statute of Secrecy.

“I got it in a car crash as a baby.” Harry said instead. It was the story the Dursleys had always told him, so he figured he might as well recycle it.

“Cool!” Mike said. Harry noticed Ollie scowling. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes; couldn't he even talk to the other boys at school? Before his brother said anything, though, the conversation was cut off by Miss Jeffords.

“It’s so nice to see you, Year 6! Did you all have a good summer?” she was met with grunts and nods.

“Now, we have a new student, Harry Potter, with us this year. I hope you’ll all make him feel welcome.” The class started whispering when they heard his surname, but stopped when Miss Jeffords pressed a finger to her lips.

“Quiet everyone, please! You can all talk about it at break, right now it's lesson time. Now, today we’re going to be starting with maths…”

About an hour later, the bell rang and the class were released onto the playground, where they immediately mobbed Harry.

“You’re Ollie’s brother?”

“You guys look so similar!”

“Why are you going here now?”

“You’ve never mentioned him, Ollie!” 

Harry stood there frozen, overwhelmed by all the questions.

“Leave him alone, guys!” Ollie called over the clamour. Most of the students stopped gawking at him. From what Harry had seen so far, his brother was very popular with the class and carried quite a bit of power.

“His boarding school shut, he goes here now. That’s all.”

“Why did you not go to boarding school, too?” One girl asked.

“It was a specialist boarding school. For ballet.” Ollie sent him a mischievous grin. Prat. Harry couldn’t go against that if they wanted to maintain the lies. The other students looked at him with a bit of disdain, now.

“Who wants to play bulldog?” Ollie shouted, changing the subject. They all started cheering and ran to the other side of the playground. Harry stayed behind, not in the mood to deal with his idiot brother. Ballet, really!

“Gonna do a dance for me, Harry?” Dan asked, laughing. 

“Shut up.” Harry grumbled, although he was secretly happy Dan was back.

“I have something way cooler than bulldog.” Dan told him. “Come with me.” Harry followed the boy to the side of the playground where there was a thick clump of bushes and trees. They were quite densely packed but Dan pulled some branches aside, revealing a gap that was small enough for them to squeeze through. Harry found himself in a small clearing, blanketed with pine needles and screened from the sun by a canopy of branches.

“Welcome to my hideout.” he grinned. 

“This is amazing!” Harry said, looking around in wonder. He wished he’d had a place like this at his old primary school to hide from Dudley.

“This is top secret, so don’t go telling anyone.” Dan frowned. “Especially your brother. He doesn’t really like me.”

“Well, he doesn’t really like me either so your secret’s safe with me.” Harry went to the edge of the clearing, which was barricaded by the tall iron fence that lined the playground. When he peered through the tree branches, he could see the cars driving along the road next to the school. Surprisingly, the bars here were bent apart enough that Harry thought he could fit through them and walk out onto the pavement beyond.

“The teachers don’t know about that,” Dan said. “I sneak out there at lunch sometimes.”

“Nice!” That sounded so cool and rebellious to Harry. He'd never even considered sneaking out of school before!

“I’ll take you out one lunch if you want?” Dan asked. Harry could see the hope written all over his face, and suddenly realised how similar the other boy was to him. His oversized uniform was reminiscent of Harry’s when he’d been stuck wearing Dudley’s hand-me-downs, and so far Dan seemed to be just as lonely and friendless as Harry was.

“That would be amazing.” Harry said with a smile. Dan’s face lit up.

The rest of the day passed surprisingly quickly. Ollie was a lot less aggressive towards him when they were in class since Miss Jeffords didn’t tolerate his antics like their parents did. It was also nice to be able to learn without a teacher thinking he was a cheat. 

He spent lunchtime with Dan again, who challenged him to climb as high as possible up a tree at the side of the clearing. Harry, who was relatively nimble, managed to get quite high, but not as far as Dan, who seemed to know the thing like the back of his hand. He resolved to beat Dan’s height by the end of the year. After all, he had magic to help him, even if his friend couldn't know that.

By the end of the day, Harry was glowing as he walked out of the school gates, where Lily was waiting. His father was probably at work.

“How was the first day, Harry?” she asked, smiling at him and his siblings.

“It was great!” he replied. “I made a friend.”

“Oh that’s wonderful, darling.” Lily said, ruffling his hair. “How about you, Jasmine, Ollie?”

Jasmine began telling their mother about her new teacher, who she apparently didn’t like very much, and Ollie regaled her with the rousing tale of his Bulldog victory. Harry smiled to himself as they drove back. The day had been better than he had ever imagined. He actually had a friend!

Chapter Text

As September progressed, Ollie started to lose interest in tormenting Harry, to his relief. He supposed it helped that he rarely spoke to anyone outside of Dan in school, avoiding his brother’s friends like the plague. Ollie had made it crystal clear that they were off-limits and Harry knew that he could stop the endless stream of pranking if he played by Ollie’s rules. Ignoring the occasional Dungbomb left under his bed, Harry’s life was therefore rather peaceful.

Just because Ollie was calming down didn’t mean Harry wasn’t going to retaliate, though. The pranks had gone on for too long and he had finally come up with the perfect revenge. He went down to the woods one day and gathered a jar full of bugs, which he then released into Ollie’s bed. Harry smirked to himself as his brother's screeches echoed down the hall; it was magnificent.

Sometimes, though, he wished he could have a closer relationship with Ollie. Harry and Jasmine were the best of friends, and he loved having a little sister to talk to and play with. On the other hand, he and Ollie barely spoke. After everything that had happened in the summer, Harry wasn’t quite sure how their relationship could be fixed. Ollie had an unpleasant vicious streak and held grudges, and still brought up the time Harry had thrown him into a tree. Harry wasn’t exactly enamoured with his brother, either, so the two were still practically strangers.

He also felt a bit bad about the impact that he had on Jasmine’s relationship with Ollie. According to her, they had never been exactly close, but ever since Harry had entered the picture they barely spent time together. He thought it must be lonely to be the third wheel, especially when one of the siblings was your twin.

Harry had been worried that once school started Sirius wouldn’t be able to spend time with him anymore, but his godfather still made time at least once a week for him. Their outings were often at restaurants, since Harry had let it slip that he hadn’t tried a lot of foods before. Since the Dursleys had only given him leftovers, he hadn’t had the opportunity to try a lot of things, but he didn’t tell Sirius that. 

 He knew Sirius had picked up that the Dursleys were not the nicest people, but Harry hadn’t revealed the extent of their treatment to him in case he told Lily and James. Whenever he did open up, though, Sirius was always a great listener and Harry always felt a lot better after their conversations. His godfather never prodded him for extra information, either, which Harry was grateful for.

As September morphed into October, Harry was surprised to notice his test scores in school going up. Harry used to intentionally lower these at the Dursleys, since they would punish him for getting better grades than Dudley, but without that limitation it turned out he was reasonably smart.

Ollie, who preferred to spend school talking to his friends and messing about, got increasingly more frustrated as Harry did better than him. After a couple comments of “why aren’t you trying as hard as your brother” from his parents, Harry found himself on the receiving end of a week-long prank crusade, which was incredibly frustrating. He’d only just gotten Ollie to leave him alone, and his parents were undoing all of his hard work.

School also became a lot more exciting when Dan finally took him out of school bounds through the gap in the fence one lunchtime. He’d been out multiple times without Harry, who was left behind to check for teachers, but his moment had finally come.

“I know I can trust you now,” Dan said solemnly. The boys took off their jumpers with the school logo on so they wouldn’t be recognised as easily, but they still had to be cautious. Two small children wandering around in the middle of the school day was naturally suspicious. Adrenaline ran through Harry, a sensation he’d only felt before when he’d pulled off a dangerous stunt on his broom.

Dan took him to a nearby park, which was deserted apart from a gang of teenagers sitting on the swings smoking. Their blazers showed the logo of the nearby secondary school. Harry followed nervously as his friend walked over to the group. The teens were very intimidating and he wasn’t sure what Dan would want with them.

“Hey Dan!” A girl with purple streaks in her hair hopped off the swings to greet them. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Harry,” Dan introduced. “I wanted you guys to meet so I can show you he's trustworthy.”

“Really.” The girl frowned. “Why have I never seen you before?”

“I used to go to boarding school.” Harry explained.

“His parents are mean like that.” Dan added. As the two had grown closer, Harry had started to open up about his family situation, although he’d replaced the Dursleys with a horribly strict boarding school. It had been somewhat comforting to know that Dan didn’t have the greatest family either. His dad wasn’t around and his mum had a drinking problem, so his older brother Liam mostly took care of him.

The girl grinned. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Harry.” she said. “I’m Katie.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” Harry smiled shyly.

“He might want to get involved.” Dan said, raising his eyebrows at Katie. Harry wasn’t sure what he meant but nodded anyway.

“We’ll have to see about that.” She said, narrowing her eyes at Harry. He shrank back a little. Even though she seemed friendly, the girl was still intimidating. “Bring him out here some more, I’ll think about it.” Dan beamed at her.

“Remember Dan, I need you to deliver some stuff to Martin tonight. Bring the money round tomorrow morning, okay?” She sent Harry a furtive glance, as if she didn’t trust him. He didn’t think she had anything to worry about; most of what she’d just said had sounded like gibberish to him. Katie reached into her bag and pulled out two Mars bars. 

“Take these for the road.” she said, handing the chocolate to Harry and Dan. “You kids have a good day.”

“Thanks!” Dan beamed at her. Harry tried to hide his scowl; he hated being called a kid.

“You two go back to school, now.” Katie said. “Any problems with the drop-off, you know where to find me.”

Harry and Dan walked back, feasting on the chocolate. 

“So what was that about?” Harry asked curiously. The trip had definitely not been what he expected.

“I do stuff for them sometimes to make a bit of money,” Dan mumbled. “Thought you might want to as well. I get lonely sometimes, I’m way younger than the other kids that do it. I thought maybe you’d like to join us?”

“I guess I would?” Harry was still confused. “But you haven’t told me what it is that you’re doing.”

“I can’t until Katie says it’s okay.” Dan took another bite of the Mars bar. “But you could help them out, ‘specially since you’re going to boarding school again next year. Just come with me some more so they can see what you’re like, and I’ll explain eventually.”

“Okay.” Harry shivered in the autumn breeze, wishing he had his jumper on. 

Even though Dan was acting strangely, there was still something alluring about those teens. They seemed so cool, and Harry thought it might be fun to get involved with whatever they were doing. He hoped they would like him.

The passage of October meant that Jasmine was increasingly excited about her birthday, which was on Halloween. She was turning nine, which meant she would be receiving a broomstick. Harry had actually seen his father wrapping it one evening and felt a flutter of excitement for his sister. As far as he knew, she hadn’t been able to sneak out and fly since he had broken his arm.

Harry thought long and hard about what to get her himself. He knew that she’d probably like books, but Jasmine read so much that he wasn’t sure what to buy. It often seemed like she’d read every book in existence. As Harry mulled the issue over one evening, he was struck by a sudden flash of inspiration. He could get her muggle books! His sister didn’t read them as often, so he was less likely to get her something she already owned.

The next day, Sirius was taking him out to London so Harry got his godfather to take them to a bookstore to buy Jasmine’s birthday present. He decided on the Lord of the Rings trilogy; his sister often commented on how interesting it was to see what muggles thought magic was like in fantasy novels, so she’d hopefully enjoy them. He wrapped the books himself that evening, smiling to himself.

On her birthday, Jasmine woke Harry up by jumping up and down on his bed.

“Wake up Harry!” She shouted into his ear. He groaned, rubbing his eyes.

“Happy birthday.” he smiled sleepily at her. 

She dragged him downstairs, where Lily was already awake and busy. Since Halloween was also the day that Voldemort had been killed by Ollie, the Potters held a celebratory ball in the evening to commemorate his defeat. Jasmine was therefore having her birthday party at a nearby theme park so that the house could be prepared.

“Happy birthday, honey,” Lily hugged Jasmine. “Have some breakfast. Your father will be down soon, and you can open your gifts then.”

Harry thought that James really ought to hurry; Jasmine seemed like she might pop from excitement if she was made to wait much longer. He grabbed himself a doughnut and smiled to himself as his sister excitedly chattered to him about their plans. He loved seeing her so happy.

James finally came downstairs, and Jasmine rushed over to the present pile. She was glowing with happiness the entire time, and actually jumped up and down with excitement when she unwrapped the broomstick.

“No flying into the forest with that, now,” James laughed. She good-naturedly rolled her eyes at him.

To Harry’s relief, Jasmine was thrilled with the books he had gotten her.

“These look so cool, Harry! Thank you so much!” She gave him a bone-crushing hug.

Just after Jasmine finished unwrapping everything, Ginny arrived through the Floo. His sister had elected to take her to the theme park, as well as her muggle friend Jen who they would be picking up separately. 

Harry smiled at Ginny awkwardly. He hadn’t seen her since the pool incident.

“Nice to see you again, Harry.” she smiled, and luckily didn’t mention what had happened.

Ollie, who was also going, finally showed up. He grabbed a doughnut and slouched at the table while Lily gave them a speech about not violating the Statute of Secrecy in front of Jen. Harry noted this seemed to be mostly aimed at Ginny. Even though Arthur Weasley worked with muggles, the family were still incredibly ignorant about muggle culture. The Weasley siblings didn’t even attend school, which made their lack of knowledge even more obvious. 

They said goodbye to James, who had offered to stay home and arrange the ball, and got into the car to pick up Jen. She was a shy, blonde-haired girl who Harry often saw Jasmine hanging out with in school. Jen seemed to be a bit nervous around Ginny at first, but gradually relaxed as the car ride went on.

The theme park was a sprawling complex that was full of rides and food stalls. Harry, who had never been to a theme park before, was slightly overwhelmed by all the sounds and smells surrounding him. He made sure to stick closely to the group since he wasn’t sure where to go first. On the first ride, he thought he was going to faint, but once it began Harry really enjoyed it. The sensation of being on a rollercoaster reminded him of flying, which was always a good thing.

After a particularly vicious bumper car ride where Ollie hit Harry’s car so hard he thought he had whiplash, Lily announced it was time for lunch. She took them to a nearby Italian restaurant where Harry got a massive pepperoni pizza. He was so stuffed by the end that he didn’t know if he could eat anything more, but he managed to make some room for some of Jasmine’s birthday cake. It was a delicious dessert, and the chocolate cake practically melted on Harry’s tongue.

They managed a few more rides before Lily announced it was time to go home. On the drive back, Ginny had a brief slip where she asked some suspicious questions about electricity, but Harry managed to smooth it over by quickly changing the subject. Other than that, they managed to maintain their cover. He noticed his mother visibly relax when they dropped Jen off, though.

Once they got home, Ginny was swiftly sent off and their mother busied herself with the ball preparations. Jasmine stared after their mother, looking a bit deflated. Harry felt quite bad for her; it must be disappointing to only get half of your birthday. He wondered if there was anything else that could be done so that Jasmine would get to celebrate for more of the day. Suddenly, Harry was struck with an idea.

“Hey, Jazz, have you ever been trick-or-treating before?” he asked. Harry had noticed quite a few houses with Halloween decorations up when they had been driving through Hornford, but there were none at Potter Manor.

“No, we’ve always been too busy because of the ball,” she replied. “Why?”

“No reason.” The cogs were turning in Harry’s brain. “I’ll be back in a second.” He walked off before Jasmine could ask him any questions.

Harry wandered through the house until he found James, who was casting cleaning spells on the living room. If his plan was going to work, he needed his lenient father on his side.

“Hey, Dad?” Harry asked. James paused and turned to him.

“What is it?” he asked, smiling at Harry.

“Well, as you know it’s Jasmine’s birthday today,” Harry said, “but because of the ball, her celebration gets cut off in the afternoon.”

“Yeah, it’s a right shame, that,” James replied, running his fingers through his hair. It was already sticking up in about ten different directions; his father fiddled with it whenever he was stressed. “Don’t tell your mother but I hate these bloody events.” Harry smirked. He had noticed that James hated dealing with the press, and his father rarely joined Ollie and Lily when they partook in charity events.

“Well, Jasmine and I hate them too, so I was wondering if I could possibly take her out trick-or-treating for a bit? Since it’s her birthday, of course.” James frowned.

“Harry, I really don’t know…”

“We’ll be back by eight!” Harry added, seeing his fathers hesitation. “And since most of the guests will be arriving around then, we won’t be missed. Please? It would make her so happy.” He did his best impersonation of Jasmine’s pleading eyes, and saw James’ expression soften. The man sighed.

“Alright then,” he agreed. “But you’d better be back by eight, okay?”

“Thank you, Dad!” Harry ran from the room before his father could change his mind.

“And let me know when you and your sister leave!” James called out.

 He made his way back to Jasmine, fizzing with excitement. He felt his heart warm when he saw her already reading the Hobbit.

“You’ll never guess what I’ve just done,” he said, grinning.

“What is it?” Jasmine asked, looking confused.

“We’re going trick-or-treating tonight!”

“Seriously?” Her eyes lit up with happiness. “How did you get permission?”

“I convinced Dad to let us go, as long as we’re back for eight.” Jasmine jumped at him, knocking the air out of Harry as she hugged him.

“You’re amazing!” he smiled. He loved when Jasmine was this happy. “But we don’t have costumes. What are we dressing up as?”

Harry thought for a moment. “Actually, I think I have the perfect idea…”

A few hours later, Jasmine and Harry stood at the bottom of the staircase dressed in their most ornate robes. They both were wearing hats that had been pilfered from Lily and James’ wardrobes to complete the look. After all, what Halloween costume could be better than dressing as a witch and wizard?

Harry went into one of the cupboards and pulled out a broomstick. Unlike his Comet 260, this was just a regular broom that Binksy sometimes used for cleaning. 

“Here,” Harry said, handing it to his sister. “This completes the look.” Jasmine grabbed it and started chasing Harry with it, swinging it like a sword. Harry let her stab him with it, then pretended to die dramatically. They both fell to the floor laughing.

“Dad!” he yelled, after they had calmed down. A haggard-looking James stumbled out of the dining room. 

“Oh, you two look great!” he said enthusiastically. “Are you off?”

“Yeah.” he grinned at his father.

“Remember, be back at eight!”

Even though it was still light outside when Harry and Jasmine left the house, the sun was setting by the time they started seeing other houses. Harry really wished sometimes that they lived a little closer. Walking twenty minutes into the town was a hassle.

“We should get bikes,” he grumbled to Jasmine.

“I don't know how to ride one,” she confessed.

“Neither, but we could learn together?”

“That would be nice.” she smiled at him as they walked up to the first house. It was covered in fake cobwebs and had a massive, fake spider covering one of the windows.

“Now, we yell trick or treat when the person opens the door, okay?” Harry said. He wasn’t sure how much she knew about the process. Harry didn’t know that much about trick-or-treating himself, having never been, but he’d heard other children at the door of Privet Drive from his cupboard and could mostly guess. He rang the doorbell, which opened to a sweet-looking old lady.

“Trick or treat!” they yelled.

“Oh don’t you too just look wonderful!” She held out a bowl full of sweets. Harry and Jasmine both took a couple and stuffed them into their pockets. “Are you two a witch and a wizard?”

“Yep!” Jasmine beamed. Harry tried to hide his smile-he loved the irony of their costumes.

“Thank you for the sweets, have a good evening!” Harry said.

“That was great!” Jasmine enthused after the lady shut the door. 

“Well there’s more where that came from.” Harry squeezed her shoulder and smiled.

By the end of their time out, Harry and Jasmine's pockets were full to the bursting. They started eating the sweets on the walk home, trading the ones they didn’t like. 

They got back to the house a few minutes before eight. The two quickly stowed their sweets and accessories(the benefit of wearing robes as a costume was that they didn’t need to change for the ball) before making their way into the dining room. There were already a few witches and wizards milling about and chatting. Harry saw Ollie stuck in a conversation with a short, squeaky-voiced wizard. His brother glowered at Harry as they walked in. He realised his father must have told the boy about his and Jasmine’s trip out. Harry had intentionally ensured Ollie couldn’t come since he didn’t want his brother being hostile to him, and he felt a small flicker of guilt. 

He sighed and settled himself into a quiet corner of the dining room, preparing for a long and boring night. Since today was the day Neville’s parents had been killed, his friend wouldn’t be attending, so Harry didn’t really have anyone his age that he could talk to. Tonight would be even more tedious than usual.

Jasmine settled down next to him, still glowing. “Thank you so much again for today!” She gave him a quick hug. “You’re the best brother ever!” Harry smiled at her.

“It was my pleasure.”

Chapter Text

After he and Jasmine had gone out trick-or-treating, Ollie’s pranks had returned with a vengeance, as well as a vicious streak Harry hadn’t witnessed in Ollie before. At first he had felt a bit guilty about not inviting Ollie out for Halloween, but those feelings faded quickly in the face of the torment Harry was experiencing. Once they were late to school because Ollie had stuffed all of Harry’s uniform into the toilet, while another time he couldn’t go to sleep because all of Harry’s things had been thrown into a puddle of mud.

Harry’s parents did start punishing Ollie for it, but he could tell their hearts weren’t in it. The worst consequences his brother got were not being allowed to fly or being sent to his room for the evening. If anything, punishing him only made the bullying worse. Harry felt himself falling deeper and deeper into despair. His worst nightmare was coming true- he lived with another Dudley.

“I just don’t get why he hates me so much.” Harry confided miserably to Sirius one day. His godfather sighed.

“Jealousy is a powerful thing, Harry.” Sirius said. “And Ollie is nothing if not jealous.”

Harry tried everything to make Ollie stop but his brother was determined to make his life a living hell. Instead of just rolling over and taking it, however, Harry decided to stop holding out an olive branch. If Ollie was going to do whatever he wanted, then so would Harry. For months he had avoided the other children in his class so Ollie wouldn’t get jealous, which he stopped doing. After all, what was the point of being lonely if his brother just kept treating him horribly? He took part in all of the games at lunchtime, and actually did quite well. Years of Harry Hunting had made him quick and nimble. He even managed to get Dan invited to their games which thrilled him to no end. This obviously infuriated Ollie, who was decidedly rougher with Harry than the other boys. He would take any opportunity to shove or kick Harry to stop him winning. A few scraped knees was nothing he couldn’t handle, though. It was worth it to see his brother feeling just as miserable as Harry.

His only refuge from the war with Ollie were the lunchtimes he’d go to the park with Dan. He spoke more to the other two boys Katie spent time with, Tom and Alex, and the three teens spent a lot of time questioning Harry to see if he could be trusted with whatever their secret was. Harry, who was forced to lie so the Wizarding World would be kept a secret, had to think quickly to make sure his stories all matched up. Despite the risk, the lying was almost exhilarating for him. He enjoyed the challenge of thinking on his feet.

December began with a light dusting of snow that covered the hills around Potter Manor, turning the area into an icy wonderland. Jasmine, whose favourite season was winter, immediately dragged Harry out into the drifts after school. They got into a vicious snowball fight where neither sibling could be declared a winner, before trekking back inside, exhausted but happy.

As they came back in, chatting animatedly, Harry saw his mother standing off to the side. She was clearly preoccupied with something.

“Harry? A quick word?” she said, beckoning him over with one finger.

“Sure,” he replied, going over to his mother. Jasmine ran off upstairs.

“So, Harry…” Lily began hesitantly. She appeared to be very preoccupied with something. He wondered what was making her so nervous. “I just wanted to let you know we’ll be inviting some extra people over for Christmas.”

“Really? Who?” Harry hoped it would be Sirius. Spending Christmas with his godfather would be wicked.

“The Dursleys.” It was like someone had thrown a bucket of icy water over Harry’s head. All of his happiness from the snowball fight vanished, a pit of dread taking its place in his stomach/ No. They couldn’t. He thought he’d left his horrid relatives behind forever. Even though James had brought it up in Diagon Alley before, he’d never actually invited them over…

“You can’t!” Harry shouted. Lily winced, and took a deep breath. 

“Harry, I would like to see my sister at Christmas. If you have a problem with that, I need to know why.”

“They hate me!” Harry felt like he was drowning in anger, and tried to focus on his breathing as the magic built up inside of him. He would not lose control right now.

“They do not hate you, don’t be ridiculous!” Lily said. “I can tell you all didn’t have the best relationship, but they did take you in. Meanwhile, all I’ve ever seen you do is speak ill of them!” She crossed her arms. “I didn’t want to believe Petunia when she told me how badly behaved you could be, but all you’ve done is prove her right.”

“Why don’t you ever believe me?” Harry asked, tears brimming in his eyes. He noticed the glass cracking in the door next to him and tried to reign his magic in again.

“What am I supposed to be believing? If there’s something wrong, tell me!” she shouted. But Harry couldn’t tell her. What was the point, if no one ever listened? His Year 3 teacher Mrs Robinson hadn’t believed him. The people who did the welfare check didn’t believe him. Why would his parents?

Harry stayed silent. Lily took a deep breath. “Well, I guess they’re coming. And you’d better sort out that attitude of yours before they do.”

“I hate you!” he screamed. The doors finally shattered and Harry ran, crying freely now. Every time he thought his parents were getting better they just let him down. He just wished he was at Hogwarts already so he could just wash his hands of this awful family.

The Dursleys are coming here. Harry bit his lip anxiously, tasting the coppery tang of blood. Once they were there, who would stop the Potters from giving him up again? They’d given Harry up once before, hadn’t they, so what was stopping them from doing it again? They clearly hated him for making their lives more difficult. If he wasn’t here, they wouldn’t have to deal with Ollie’s viciousness or Harry’s magical outbursts. 

He looked up and saw that the running had taken him to his room. Harry wrenched open the door, desperately trying to calm his raging emotions, but stopped short when he saw inside.

All his books were ruined.

Some of them had been ripped up, the pages scattered across his floor like confetti. Others had been soaked in water, leaving the ink blurred and illegible. Harry saw the ripped up face of the Broadwing, staring at him from his pillow.

All the glass in the room shattered.

Harry fell to his knees amongst the wreckage, screaming and crying. He hated his life. Everyone he knew hated him, even his own family. What kind of person was hated by his own family? There must be something seriously wrong with him.

Harry laid on the floor, crying and crying until he ran out of tears. He lifted himself up, a plan forming in his head. If his family hated him so much, he would just leave. He got a chair and propped it under the doorknob. The door was locked, but with magic you could never be certain.

Harry packed his school bag with a spare set of clothes and some food he’d stashed in his drawers and ran through his plan. He would leave through the gap in the fence at the start of lunchtime at school tomorrow. Since his parents would be working, no one would know he was gone for three and a half hours. They didn’t have a phone in the house because magic interfered with the technology, so no one would be able to contact them until they came to pick up his siblings. He could get on a train somewhere…London, maybe? Harry didn’t know what he’d do once he got there, but he didn’t care. It was something different, and anything would be better than his awful life.

He put his backpack at the base of his bed right as someone knocked on the door. It was James, telling him dinner was ready. Harry really didn’t want to go, but he knew he had to in case his family got suspicious. 

His resolve to act normal dissolved as soon as he entered the dining room. Ollie was already sitting there, a smug look on his face. He’d just ruined Harry’s most prized possessions and had the audacity to smile! That magical energy started building up inside him again, and Harry knew he had to get his anger under control before the ceiling caved in on Ollie or something.

“Go fuck yourself.” he spat. Everyone turned to him in shock.

“Harry James Potter!” Lily shouted. “I am absolutely sick of your behaviour today! Bed, now!”

Harry stormed out, slamming the door so hard it rattled in its frame. He reflected that his mother was lucky that was all he’d done. He was in a particularly destructive mood today, and could have done something much worse than swearing at his brother. As he stomped along, Harry focused his magic and shattered a couple of picture frames. How did they like having their things destroyed?

When Harry entered his room, the sight of the wreckage felt like a fresh punch to the gut. This was really the cruellest thing Ollie could have done to him. He tried to harness some of the magical energy to fix the windows, but he’d always found it easier to destroy things instead of putting them back together. Harry let out a hollow laugh; it was a sick metaphor for him, indeed. He really did ruin everything

He shoved the chair under his door again and turned the lights off, trying to hide the wreckage as possible from his parents’ sight. He’d just be blamed for the magical outburst, as usual, while darling Ollie would probably be praised for putting his freak brother in his place. His only source of comfort was that he would be leaving for good tomorrow. 

He lay in bed, shivering as the wind blew through his shattered windows. He refused to ask his parents to fix them. Harry tried as hard as possible to sleep, but it was a long time coming.

The next morning, Harry felt like his brain was surrounded by a fog He felt very distant from everything and could only think about the steps of his plan. He robotically washed and dressed and was even able to tune his mothers grating rant about respect out as he worked through a bowl of cornflakes. All of the magical energy that had been fizzling in his fingertips last night had vanished. He knew he was getting out and that was enough to calm the anger.

That morning at school had to be one of the longest waits of his life. Harry had bigger things to worry about than grammar and geography. He desperately watched the seconds inch by until the bell finally rang at lunch. He walked to his and Dan’s hideout, where he’d stored his backpack earlier, rifling through it to check he had everything he needed.

“What’s this about?” Dan asked, worried. “Why is your bag here?”

“I’m running away.” Harry said flatly.

“But Harry!” Dan protested, looking horrified. “That’s so unsafe, are you su-”

“I am leaving!” Harry shouted. Dan shrank away slightly, and he felt a surge of guilt; his friend hadn’t done anything to deserve Harry’s anger. That should be reserved for his family. Harry wished he could explain it all but there wasn’t time. The clock was ticking, and he had to leave as quickly as possible to lessen the chances of him being caught.

“There’s no time to explain, but could you please cover for me?” Harry begged. “You’re my best mate, I need you. You know I wouldn’t ask unless it was really important.”

“I’ll do it.” Dan promised without a moment of hesitation. Harry felt a rush of gratitude towards his friend. He felt bad about leaving him behind, but pushed his feelings down. He had to do this. 

“Take my coat, will you?” Dan shrugged off his coat, which fit snugly over Harry’s. “It’s freezing.” He gave his friend a quick hug.

“Thank you so much. I won’t forget this.” After one last look back, he squeezed through the gap in the fence and into the world beyond.

Making his way through the streets was far worse alone than it was with Dan. Harry cringed away from every car headlight and scrambled into the bushes whenever he saw another person walking along ahead of him. The journey left his nerves frayed, and he was relieved to finally make it to the train station.

As he walked in, Harry realised he didn’t have any money. He couldn’t pack any, since all of his pocket money wasn’t muggle currency. Harry froze in place, not sure how to proceed. He hadn’t really thought this far ahead. His eyes raked the room, looking for a way through to the platform. Luckily for him, the man selling tickets got distracted by a co-worker, and Harry seized the opportunity to sneak through the turnstiles. Miraculously, he wasn’t noticed, and he made it through.

Now to catch a train. Harry looked at the board and saw there was one headed for Liverpool Street, due at 12:27. That was four minutes away. He hid in a toilet stall until a minute before it was due so a nosy adult wouldn’t see him and ask tricky questions. He hopped into a carriage at the far end of the train, which was almost completely empty. He breathed a sigh of relief when they pulled away from the station. He was one step closer to getting away. 

Harry pulled his hood over his head to try and hide himself and stared at the passing countryside. He could hardly believe this was happening. He’d dreamt for years of running away when he was at the Dursleys, but he’d never been able to pluck up the courage to actually do it.

After about an hour of watching the changing landscape, a uniformed man started walking through the carriages and asking people for their tickets. Oh, Merlin! Harry didn’t have a ticket. He felt his throat tighten in fear as the ticket inspector got closer and closer to him. What had he been thinking, not practising his magic before leaving? He was going to get caught! Anxiety choked the air out of his lungs. It felt like a hummingbird was trapped in his rib cage. You can’t see me, you can’t see me, you can’t see me…

The ticket inspector's eyes slid right over Harry and he continued to walk through the carriage. Harry slumped against the window, relieved. He’d really thought that had been the end.

It took the rest of the train journey for Harry to calm himself down, but by the time he reached Liverpool Street, he was prepared for the next leg of his journey. He decided to hop on the Tube and see where he ended up. Harry didn’t exactly have a destination and travelling around aimlessly would throw anyone following him off his trail. He chose to sit next to a tired-looking woman who could pass for his mother. Hopefully the other passengers on the train would be less suspicious of an unattended child that way.

As he sat on the Tube, thinking, Harry realised staying on the train for now was probably his best bet. It had started snowing again earlier, so he should stay indoors where it was warm. He glanced at the tired woman’s watch and saw that it was almost half two. Harry knew that his absence would have been noticed by now.

Harry pulled Jane Eyre out of his backpack, which he’d borrowed from the library to read since all his books were destroyed. He felt a twinge of hurt in his heart as he remembered the ruins of his books. Even though he was scared for what his future held, at least he knew Ollie wasn’t in it.

He sat back and read, although he was frequently interrupted by the need to get on and off of trains. Every time the adult he sat next to got off Harry had to follow them in order to avoid suspicion.

Eventually, though, the hours of hopping on and off trains and the stress of the day took its toll on Harry. The words of Jane Eyre started blurring before his eyes and the bumping of the train lulled him to sleep.

Harry was rudely awoken by a hand shaking his shoulder. He flinched back, staring up at a tall, concerned-looking businessman.

“Are you alright, son?” he asked. “You’ve been sitting there asleep for a while now. Don’t want you to miss your stop!”

Harry felt a jolt of panic. The woman he’d sat next to must have gotten off and he’d been noticed. He tried to play it off with a laugh while frantically thinking up a lie.

“Oh yeah, I fell asleep. I had a long day at school today.” The man still looked sceptical. Not good enough. Harry tried to improve the lie. “I’m going up to see my dad. Um, he and my mum are divorced.”

“Oh, I see,” the man still looked quite worried. “Aren’t you a bit young to be travelling alone?”

“Nah, I’m twelve. Just small for my age.” Harry lied. The train pulled in, and Harry decided to seize the opportunity. “This is my stop actually. Thanks for waking me, bye!” He hopped off the train and walked out briskly. He really wanted to break into a run, but that would be even more suspicious.

Harry slipped behind a large group of people as he left the station so he could make it through the turnstiles without a ticket. He shivered as the cold night air hit him, but he knew going back inside wasn’t an option. There was a large possibility that he hadn’t persuaded the man and he would be reported.

I’ll figure something out. He vowed, trying to push down his fear. He was alone, in an unfamiliar city, at night. But it was better than being sent back. Anything was better than that. Besides, Harry had magic.

As he walked through the streets, he noticed quite a few run down, abandoned houses. He was suddenly struck by an idea. I can break in! He would use his magic to smash a window or something and camp out in one of the empty rooms.

After finding a suitably empty house, he focused his magic on cracking the glass. Once Harry finished, he cleared the jagged edges off the frame and crawled in, being careful not to fall into the broken pieces of glass that had fallen inside. He went upstairs and curled up in the one room with a carpet, trying to control his shivering. The unheated house was freezing, even with his two coats.

I can make this work, Harry tried to convince himself. Going back home wasn’t an option, so he would have to just cope. He’d been looking after himself for years, and he could do it again. It will all be okay.

Chapter Text

Five days later

Harry collapsed onto a park bench, exhausted. His stomach was growling- the sandwich he’d stolen from a supermarket earlier had barely touched his hunger. Harry had thought he would be used to going without food after living with the Dursleys but it had been nearly six months since he’d gone this long without regular meals. His body had adapted to a more comfortable way of life and was screaming at him in protest.

He was shivering, despite the two coats he had on. The December cold had a way of chilling you to your very bones, no matter how many layers you wore. Harry’s head and throat hurt and his feet were sore. Someone had stolen his shoes last night while he was sleeping and he’d had to walk around in his socks. 

Harry was quite sure he was going to die on this bench, but he didn’t particularly care.  He was so cold and ill and the future wasn’t looking too bright for him. Wandering around the freezing streets when he could barely use wandless magic wasn’t exactly a formula for success.

He looked around and realised he was in a park near Sirius’ house. Harry briefly considered finding his godfather and asking for help, but he was too tired. Instead, he thought about his fond memories with Sirius in this park. It was nice to remember the afternoons playing fetch with Padfoot, Sirius’ animagus form.

“Maybe I’ll teach you to be an animagus someday,” Sirius had told him. That day would never come, but it was nice to think about. He slumped onto his side and shut his eyes, trying to remember those happier times. It was almost like he could hear his godfather calling to him… Harry …

“Harry!” No, that was definitely a person. Harry’s eyes shot open and he looked around for who was calling his name. It was Sirius, running from across the park to his bench. Part of Harry wanted to stay here but the wilder, primal part knew that Sirius would send him back to the Potters and everything would be worse than before.

He jumped into action, heaving himself from the bench. He had to leave his backpack behind but Harry knew it was necessary. It would only slow him down and he needed to be fast. Years of Harry Hunting had trained him for this moment. As the sharp pavement cut into his feet, he scanned his surroundings for somewhere to hide… there. A small copse of trees. Harry would run into there and try to lose Sirius.

If there was one thing Harry could do, it was sprint. But he was so weak, so tired…the pavement was hurting his feet so badly…

His godfather was also not an unfit man, and had the advantage of longer legs. Before long, he managed to catch up to Harry and wrapped his arms around him tightly, pinning Harry to the man’s chest.

“Let me go!” he screamed, trying to kick him and get free. Sirius held onto him tightly, ignoring his flailing legs and the staring muggle passerbys.

“Harry, stop fighting!” he shouted, grunting as Harry’s foot hit his shin.

“Oh forget it,” Sirius muttered. “Stupefy!”

Harry woke up feeling incredibly ill. He was burning up, and he couldn’t breathe properly. He sat up with a hacking cough, flinching when he saw Sirius sitting on a chair next to him.

“No, no, no…” he muttered, remembering everything. He frantically looked around and realised he was in a bed in Sirius’ spare room. That was better than being at home, but panic still seized him. Sirius was going to send him back.

“Harry, I need you to drink these.” Ignoring Harry’s weak protests, Sirius gently took his chin and started pouring potions down his throat. Once he finished, Harry did feel a little better although he was still on high alert.

“I think we need to talk.” Sirius said, giving him a stern look. It was odd to see his usually lighthearted godfather so serious.

“There’s nothing to talk about!” Harry rasped, before being taken over by another coughing fit.

“Harry, why did you run away?” his godfather asked in his softest voice. Harry tried to think of lies but he was too sick to care. He was tired of running and if he couldn’t tell Sirius, who else did he have?

“They hate me,” he said bluntly. Sirius looked surprised.

“Your parents?” he asked. “Why do you say that?”

“Because they never wanted me.” Harry said miserably, fiddling with his hands. “They sent me away and I thought they would again because I’m such a freak.” There was Vernon again. His Uncle’s voice had been particularly loud these last few days.

A dark look crossed Sirius’ face.

“Do your parents ever hurt you?” he asked in a dangerous voice.

“No,” Harry replied quickly. “I just don’t think they like me very much? They never spend time with me on my own. They only talk to me when Jasmine and Ollie are around.”

Sirius frowned, sitting back and tugging on his hair. 

“Harry, I can tell someone’s hurt you.” his godfather said, giving him a searching look. “I know because my parents weren’t very nice to me.” 

“Really?” Harry asked, shocked. Sirius nodded grimly.

“We’re similar in that way. I ran away, too, except I was sixteen.” Sirius stared off into the distance, clearly lost in memories. Harry didn’t want to interrupt him.

“Harry, if that’s been happening to you too, I need to know.” Sirius said, staring intensely into Harry’s eyes. “You can tell me, I promise.”

I could tell him. He’d already told Jasmine a little before. If Sirius had gone through something similar, then how bad could telling him be? Harry couldn’t take the secrets anymore. He’d worked so hard at hiding them all these years but no matter how hard he tried to ignore it, his past never left him

“The Dursleys would hurt me.” Harry said in a hoarse whisper. Sirius took his hand and squeezed it.

“Would you like to tell me more?” the man asked him softly.

 So Harry told Sirius everything. He told him about the cupboard, the endless chores, the beatings, and the general hatred he experienced. It was like a floodgate had been opened, and everything just spilled out of him. Once Harry was done, it felt like a weight had been lifted. It was all out there. He didn’t have to carry this alone anymore.

He looked up and saw a murderous expression on Sirius’ face. Harry was worried the man was going to hit him, so he shrank back slightly. Noticing this, Sirius took a deep breath and visibly tried to calm himself.

“Harry, I’m so sorry…” he seemed to be at a loss for words.

“And Mum and Dad just left me there.” Harry said bitterly. “They got rid of me for being a Squib and they left me with those people and never checked on me. And now that I’m here all they do is fawn over Ollie and ignore me.”

Sirius reached over and hugged Harry tightly. He pressed his face into the man’s shirt, finally letting out the tears he’d been bottling up. He wished that he had parents who loved him. He wished that his relatives hadn’t been so cruel. He cried and cried, mourning the life he’d never had.

The two stayed for a very long time before Harry pulled away, furiously wiping his eyes. Sirius, who was a bit teary-eyed himself, summoned a bowl of soup for him. It whizzed into the room, spilling a couple of droplets on the carpet. Sirius tapped the bowl with his wand and muttered a warming spell before giving it to Harry.

“Eat,” he said. “We have a lot to discuss, I see.” Harry sipped the soup, soothing his growling stomach. It felt so nice to finally have a warm meal.

“First of all, I want you to know that you did not deserve what happened to you at your relatives.” Sirius said. Harry tried to believe him but the words fell on deaf ears. He was a freak, after all. There had to have been something wrong with him for the Dursleys to treat him the way that they did.

“They are bad people. No one has any right to abuse a child, and your parents are also to blame for what happened to you there.” Sirius paused for a second, looking conflicted.

“Also, Harry, I need to tell your parents some of what you’ve told me today.”

“No!” Harry shouted. His whole system flooded with panic. His parents would think he was lying and send him back if they knew! He felt the magic explode out of him again, shattering the glass in the window and the soup bowl. 

“Sorry,” he whimpered. Harry was terrified. What if Sirius punished him for his outburst?

“Evanesco.” His Godfather vanished the remains of the soup, which had stained the duvet, before casting a quick reparo on the window and bowl. Harry relaxed a little when Sirius didn’t comment on the accidental magic.

“They won’t believe me.” Harry said. “I’ve tried to tell them before and they never listened.”

“I promise you they will believe it coming from me.” Sirius said soothingly. “And I won’t give them any details, that’s all your private business. I’ll just tell them you’ve been abused.” Harry’s gut clenched at that word. Abused. 

“Why do I have to stay with them?” Harry asked despairingly. “They left me. They weren’t even around once they took me away from those people.”

“I was thinking…” Sirius began hesitantly, “Would you like to stay here for a bit? Your parents might need some time to sort themselves out and I think it’ll be easier on you if you’re away from them while they do that. Only if you want to, of course.” The man added on quickly. Harry’s heart soared; Sirius wanted him! Even though he wasn’t Sirius’ responsibility, the man still wanted Harry to stay with him! He didn’t have to go back to his parents, who clearly didn’t want him. Even though Sirius had made it sound like a temporary arrangement, he was too elated to care. Maybe if he stayed at Sirius’ long enough his parents would just let him stay there permanently?

“Would you really let me?” It almost sounded too good to be true, and Harry didn’t want to get his hopes up prematurely.

“I’d love to have you.” Sirius clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m going to have some stern words with your parents either way. They’ve failed you, and they’ve failed your brother and sister, too.” Harry scoffed at that- how on earth did Sirius think his parents had neglected Ollie? Jasmine, sure, she was always forgotten, but his brother was constantly fawned over…

Harry realised with a start that that was the problem. Just like Dudley, his brother had been spoiled. The fame and the limelight had gone to his head, and Lily and James had just let that happen. 

“They may not act like it but your parents do care about you, Harry,” Sirius added softly. “Even though they’re doing an awful job. They’ve been worried sick about you these last few days.” Harry squirmed, feeling guilty.. He hadn’t realised his family would be so worried, he’d thought that they wouldn’t care if he vanished. He hadn’t even thought about Sirius, who had dark circles under his eyes and looked exhausted. He mustn’t have slept in days.

“Also, if they’d known how awful your aunt and uncle were they would have removed you in a heartbeat, Squib or not.” Sirius added. He cast a dark look at the floor. “And they would have murdered them while they were at it. I want to kill them myself.”

“Please don’t?” Harry added with a weak laugh. He genuinely couldn’t tell whether Sirius was joking or not. The laugh quickly turned into a cough, earning him a concerned look from his godfather.

“You really need to rest.” The man decided. “I’ll have a word with your mum and dad in a bit.”

“Please don’t make me see them yet,” Harry begged. “I just can’t talk to them.”

“I promise you I won’t make you until you’re ready.” Sirius said. “Now you get some sleep, okay? We can talk more when you’re feeling better.”

Harry snuggled down under the sheets and shut his eyes. His godfather tucked the sheets around him tightly before leaving the room. Being in a proper bed was like heaven, and Harry dropped off almost instantly.

After an indeterminable amount of time, Harry was rudely awoken by the sound of raised voices. He quietly slid out of bed and snuck to his bedroom door to try and eavesdrop, but there was no need. The arguing was so loud that he couldn’t have blocked them out if he wanted to.

“-failed him, James!” Sirius shouted. Harry winced- he’d never heard his godfather raise his voice before. Sirius must be furious.

“I couldn’t have known!” James yelled back. “If I had, I would have taken him away from them in a heartbeat!”

“I told you! I said it was a terrible idea but you insisted on leaving him with those awful people, but you didn’t listen to me!”

“And I have regretted it every day since!” James shouted. “And I want to murder them for laying a hand on my son!” His father’s voice cracked slightly.

“It’s not good enough, Potter.” Sirius spat. “You’ve failed him, just like you’ve failed your other children.”

“I’m sorry!” Harry heard his father start to cry. It felt wrong to hear it; Harry had never seen his father cry before.

“I’m not the one you should be apologising to.” Sirius said coolly. 

“Then let me see him.” James said eagerly. “Please. I just want to make it right.” Sirius laughed, but it was hollow.

“It’s your fault your son doesn’t want to see you. An apology isn’t good enough. Do. Better.” 

“I don’t know how, Sirius,” he said between sobs. “I’m a terrible father, I know, but I just can’t stop making mistakes! I trusted the wrong man and two people died because of me. I couldn’t protect my wife and I left my son with monsters. I still can’t treat him right now that he’s here!” Harry pondered that new information. Two people had died because of his father? What was that about?

“You need to figure it out, James.” Sirius’ voice had softened slightly. “If you can’t, then you’re not fit to be a father.” 

There was a long silence, broken by the occasional sniffle. 

“You’ll take good care of him?” James asked. He was so quiet that Harry had to press his ear to the door to hear.

“Always.” 

“I’ll do better.” He vowed. “I want to be a better father, a better man. I’ll go speak to Lily now.”

There was another long silence before the Floo roared. Harry cautiously opened his door and went downstairs to find Sirius. The man was in the kitchen, busying himself by making tea. He looked up at the sound of Harry’s footsteps, face drawn and haunted-looking.

“I’m assuming you heard all of that?” Sirius asked ruefully.

Harry just ran over and hugged Sirius. The man squeezed him back tightly.

“So, do you have any questions about what you heard?” he asked. 

“Who was the wrong man that they trusted?” Harry asked. A dark look crossed Sirius’ face and Harry flinched slightly. He looked even angrier than he had when Harry had told him about the Dursleys.

“Your parents haven’t told you about the rat?” Sirius asked through gritted teeth. Harry shook his head nervously. Sirius sighed.

“As you know, your father, Remus and I were close friends in school.” Harry nodded. He knew this part of the story. “Well there was a fourth man we were friends with. Peter Pettigrew.” He spat the name like it was poison. 

“When we found out Voldemort was after your family, your parents decided to use the Fidelius Charm to go into hiding.” Sirius explained. “It’s a spell where a secret, such as the location of your old house, is magically concealed inside of a person. It’s impossible to find unless the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge the information.” A look of shame crossed his face.

“I was originally supposed to be the Secret Keeper, but I switched with Peter,” he whispered. “Since I was such good friends with your father we thought it would be too obvious if it was me. We didn’t know that Peter was a traitor. He told Voldemort the first chance he got and he came to Godric’s Hollow.”

Harry remembered his parents talking about Godric’s Hollow. They’d described it as a small cottage where they had lived after leaving Hogwarts before it was destroyed by the Killing Curse. Apparently they’d agree to leave the wrecked house as a memorial to Alice and Frank Longbottom. 

“Did he choose the day so that the Longbottoms would be there?” Harry asked. Sirius shook his head.

“There was no way he could have known. The only reason your parents weren’t home was because your sister was born.”

They sat in silence for a while as Harry reflected on that. If the Longbottoms hadn’t been there, maybe Ollie wouldn’t have survived the Killing Curse and Voldemort might have moved onto him next. His parents had explained that a kind of blood magic that was evoked by Alice’s sacrifice was what saved Ollie but Harry hadn’t really understood it. Would it have worked with his mother, too?

“Anyways, Peter is dead.” Sirius muttered. “He got sentenced to life in Azkaban for what he did. The Dementors drove him mad and he died about three years ago.”

“Good.” Harry was surprised to hear himself saying it, but it was true. Neville was becoming a close friend, and the man that had contributed to their deaths deserved whatever happened to him.

“Any more questions?” Sirius asked.

“What did he mean he couldn’t protect Mum?”

“From the people that tortured her.”

“Oh.” That was all that needed to be said on that topic. Even though Harry had a difficult relationship with his mother in particular, the thought of people torturing her still made him feel sick.

“How is that his fault?” Harry asked.

“He blames himself, the idiot,” Sirius sighed, running his hands through his hair. “And he blames himself for the Longbottoms dying. I do, too.”

“But it’s not your fault!” Harry said. “Peter is the one who sold them out to Voldemort and those Death Eaters were the ones who tortured Mum.”

“Very true, but it’s hard for us to believe that sometimes.” Sirius gave him an empty smile, then took his hand.

“Harry.” He began. “I just want to say again that I am here for you through all of this. You can stay here as long as you need to, okay?”

“Thank you.” Harry tried to push down the part of himself that was scared Sirius would hate him like the Dursleys did if they lied together. It was nice that the man was on Harry’s side, for now at least.

“What if they don’t sort themselves out, though?” he whispered. It was his deepest fear. All he really wanted was for his family to be happy and to love him but he wasn’t sure it would ever happen.

“Then you’ll stay with me. I’m pretty sure they’re going to try harder now, though.” Sirius said. “You couldn’t see your father’s face from upstairs.” Harry felt unsure. He had trusted his parents before and they’d let him down over and over. He wasn’t sure he had it in him to try again.

“Even if you do choose to go back there, I’ll come around all the time, okay?” Sirius assured him. “I won’t ever let it get that bad again. I’ll whisk you away at a moment's notice.”

“Thanks.” Harry smiled at him. Sirius gave him a searching look, then frowned.

“I shouldn’t be keeping you up. You’re ill.”

“No, I feel better,” Harry protested. It was true-he really did. The potions and a warm bed had done wonders for his health.

“Back to bed with you, young man!” Sirius ordered. “I’ll bring you up some potions again.”

“Alright.” Harry rolled his eyes jokingly, then headed upstairs. It was quite nice, he reflected, to have someone take care of him.

Chapter Text

Living with Sirius was very different to living with the Potters. For one thing, the house was much smaller- Sirius lived in a three bedroom terraced house, which was much smaller than Potter Manor. Harry preferred the cosiness of it, though, since his parents’ mansion could feel a bit cold and unwelcoming. There were no house elves or moving portraits in this house, and it could pass as a muggle household easily if you didn’t count the moving photographs on the mantelpiece.

It was also somehow much noisier living with Sirius. Since Potter Manor was so large, it was easy to hide away in a silent corner, and Harry had often gone hours without seeing or hearing anyone else in the family. Here, though, you could hear every clashing pan in the kitchen and every floorboard creak no matter where you were in the house.

Sirius also was a music lover. While Harry’s parents would occasionally put on the Wizarding Wireless, they weren’t anywhere near as obsessed with music as his godfather was. Sirius had an entire shelf dedicated to his vinyl collection, and had even enchanted a record player to work in areas of high magic. Harry often heard Bowie or the Weird Sisters drifting through the halls, usually accompanied by Sirius’ mediocre singing.

“I’ve never understood wizards who refuse to listen to muggle music, Harry,” Sirius had informed him one evening. “They’re missing out on so much!”

A few days after he arrived at Sirius’ house, Harry was called into the living room. His godfather was standing in front of a stack of objects Harry couldn’t quite make out and was grinning like a madman.

“I’ve got something for you!” Sirius wiggled his eyebrows before stepping aside. Harry gasped-it was his books! He rushed over and searched through them. Every single copy that Ollie had ruined the previous week was still there, as good as new. 

“How did you get these?” he asked, staring in disbelief at the roaring Broadwing illustration in his dragon book. Even the magic was intact. “I thought they were ruined!”

“Nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a little magic!” Sirius said, grinning from ear to ear. “We managed to get all of them patched up with a little work.” We. Harry’s parents must have been involved. He felt a strange ache in his chest that he tried to ignore.

“Also, your parents wanted me to tell you that Ollie is being punished for ruining your things.” Sirius added. “Harshly.” Harry felt a grim sense of satisfaction. It was good that his parents were punishing Ollie, but that didn't make up for the hell he’d been through after running away. 

“Do you mind if I go up and read?” Harry asked. “I’ve missed my books.”

“Sure! I’ll come up and transfigure some shelves for you to put them on.” Harry couldn't help the smile on his face.

A few hours later, Harry was reading A History of Magic(He loved the violent Goblin Wars) when he was distracted by the sounds of raised voices. He wondered for a second if it was his parents, but one of the voices was female and distinctly Welsh. Curious, Harry quietly opened his door and snuck out to the top of the stairs, where he’d learnt you could overhear most of the things happening in the house. 

“My bike is not a deathtrap! I have spells on it that prevent accidents.” That was Sirius. Even though Harry couldn’t see his face, he assumed the man was scowling.

“You’re just saying that to put me off.” the woman scoffed. “You always do this, going on about your magic…” Sirius groaned loudly, drowning out her rant.

“They do that a lot.” Harry jumped at the voice behind him. For a second he thought it was Jasmine, but upon closer inspection he realised it was Sirius’ daughter, Adhara. Harry didn’t know her too well, but she and Jasmine occasionally spent time together and he knew she was about a year younger than his sister. Since Adhara only spent the weekend with Sirius, Harry hadn’t seen her since he’d started living here.

“It must be annoying to deal with,” Harry sympathised. His parents occasionally bickered, but nothing on this scale.

“It’s okay. I’m used to it.” She sighed. “They’ve been divorced for as long as I can remember.” They stood in silence for a moment as the arguing escalated.

“Want to come into my room?” Adhara asked abruptly. “I hate listening to them fight.”

“Sure!” Harry followed her into her room, which was across the hall from the one he’d been staying in. The walls were painted lilac and her bed was covered with stuffed animals, some of which were moving. Harry looked up in awe at her ceiling, which had been intricately painted with constellations.

“That one is the Canis Major.” Adhara pointed to the pattern of stars directly above her bed. “It’s the constellation me and Dad get our names from.”

“Cool!” Harry had always wished he had a cool wizarding name like Sirius. Plain old ‘Harry’ seemed quite boring in comparison.

“Do you know the rest of the constellations?” Harry asked. Adhara nodded and started telling him about the different stars and their positions in the night sky. Harry, who hadn’t read very much about Astronomy yet, listened intently until Adhara was cut off by Sirius. He came into the room looking irritated.

“Hello, you two!” he said, with slightly forced cheeriness. “Have a good week, Addie?”

“Yeah!” she nodded. “I made you a Christmas card in school.”

“Oh, how lovely! Thank you!” Sirius bent down and gave her a hug. “You’ll have to tell me more over dinner. Does takeaway sound good to you two?”

“Anything’s better than your crap cooking,” Adhara rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Sirius, who gave her a gentle shove. 

“I’ll pop up to the fish and chips shop, then. Don’t burn the house down while I’m away!” Sirius left, shutting the door behind him.

“So,” Adhara flopped onto the bed, “Dad said you’re staying here for a while?”

“Yeah.” Harry felt his cheeks flush slightly. He hoped Adhara was okay with it. He didn’t want another situation like the one with Ollie on his hands. “Is that okay?”

“Obviously!” She smiled at Harry. “It gets so boring around here sometimes.” Harry couldn’t imagine Sirius ever being boring, but nodded anyway. At least she didn’t seem upset with him for being there.

Since Adhara had to unpack, Harry left her to it and sat in his room, watching the cars drive by. She reminded him so much of Jasmine that it made his heart ache. Maybe if he asked Sirius his sister could come over without Lily and James? He still didn’t feel ready to see his parents but he missed Jasmine more than anything.

That night, Sirius and Harry were sitting in the living room together after Adhara had been sent to bed. Sirius was humming along to Suffragette City while Harry read his book, trying to pluck up the courage to ask him about Jasmine. What if there wasn’t a way to invite her over without his parents coming too? The thought of seeing them filled Harry with dread.

“Hey, Sirius?” he began nervously.

“What’s up?”

“Do you think there’s any way Jasmine could come over here?” He crossed his fingers behind his back.

“Oh yeah, sure!” Sirius replied.  “No parents, I’m guessing?”

“Is that possible?”

“Of course!” Harry felt his heart soar. He could finally see his sister! “How about we go and see the Christmas lights in Oxford Street with her?”

“That would be amazing!” The Dursleys had taken Dudley one year, but Harry hadn’t been allowed to come, of course. He’d spent the evening at Mrs Figg’s house being stared down by a cat.

“And Mum and Dad definitely won’t come?” He was still worried they’d try and keep Jasmine from him to punish Harry for not talking to them.

“I promise you that you won’t have to talk to them until you’re ready.” Sirius squeezed his shoulder. 

“I wish you were my dad sometimes,” Harry said softly. Sirius laughed slightly, but it was hollow.

“I don’t think you do.” Harry looked at him in confusion, and Sirius sighed. “You saw me with Claire earlier. I know I shouldn’t fight like that in front of Addie but I just can’t help myself sometimes.” Harry stayed silent, hoping his godfather would continue. He very rarely spoke about his marriage, and all Harry knew was that it had been brief and messy.

“Did I ever tell you I was in Azkaban for a bit?” Harry’s eyes widened in shock. What could Sirius have done to end up there? “They wrongly accused me of being a Death Eater.” The haunted look that Harry sometimes noticed on his godfather’s face had returned in full force. Harry hated when his godfather was like that; it was like Sirius was in another world where Harry couldn’t reach him. “I was innocent, of course, but I was arrested right after Voldemort was defeated and the legal system was a mess. It took them months to get to my case and release me.”

“That sounds awful,” Harry breathed. Sirius nodded.

“Dementors are terrible beings, you know. They take quite the toll on a wizard and his magic.” Sirius started picking at the hem of his robes nervously. “Once I got released, I was in pieces. Then I met Claire, and well…” He gestured vaguely at the living room. “My point is, Harry, nobody's a perfect parent. Especially not me.”

“At least you try though.” Harry said softly, staring at his hands. He couldn’t bear to look at the broken look on Sirius’ face for another second. The words my parents didn’t were hanging unspoken between them. His godfather didn’t respond, he just put a comforting arm around Harry. 

The next day, Sirius was back to his usual cheery self. It was as if their conversation the previous night hadn’t happened. He was almost trying to fill the room with noise; he spent breakfast exuberantly telling them about an infestation of Doxies he’d exterminated from someone's house. As interesting as his story was, Harry was too distracted by his worries about Christmas. Was he going to spend it with Sirius, or would he be forced to see his family? Did Sirius even want him here?

“Harry?” He jerked his head up. Sirius was looking at him, confused. “You were on another planet there!” Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Sorry about that.”

“No worries!” Sirius laughed. “Anyways, I was saying that Jasmine is going to come over tonight.” Harry’s face broke into a grin. It had all worked out!

“That’s great!” he said eagerly. “Thanks for sorting all of it out.”

“I was happy to.” Sirius smiled warmly.

Harry could barely contain his excitement that day. He was also a bit nervous- what if Jasmine hated him for running away? He had left her behind, after all. Harry had spent quite a few nights lying awake and feeling guilty about that, and her visit brought his worries right to the forefront of his brain.

He tried to read a book but his brain just kept reading the same sentences over and over. Instead, Harry tried to go out on a walk to clear his head but Sirius insisted on accompanying him. As much as he wanted to be alone, Harry knew he deserved it. His godfather always seemed scared that he was going to run off again if he was left by himself. Sirius had barely left him home alone for more than five minutes, and always checked on Harry when he got back. Despite all of that, it was still hard for him to sort through his thoughts with a great black dog bounding around his ankles. 

A few hours later, Harry was sitting in the living room, anxiously bouncing on the balls of his feet when the Floo lit up with green flames. Sirius stepped out first, closely followed by Jasmine. They locked eyes for a second as she stepped out of the grate. She still looked the exact same: long, black braids snaking down her back and glowing hazel eyes, which promptly filled with tears at the sight of him. Harry felt his throat constrict as she ran at him, hugging him tightly.

“I missed you so much!” she choked out. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.” He hadn’t thought about his sister for a second while he was making his plan. Jasmine was the best thing that had ever happened to him, but he’d just left her behind. 

When people said the word family, Jasmine was the person that Harry thought about. He didn’t need his parents, the Dursleys or anyone else when he had his sister here. No matter how nice it was to live with Sirius, she would always be his true home.

“If you ever do that again, I’ll hunt you down myself and kill you. Understood?” Jasmine said through tears.

“I won’t. I promise.” They pulled away and Harry wiped his eyes.

“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” She raked her eyes over every inch of him. 

“I’m fine. Just caught a bit of a cold, that’s all.” Admittedly, he was downplaying that quite a lot- the chest infection he’d had was quite nasty, and Sirius had barely let him leave bed for the first few days. He didn’t want to worry her any more than he already had, though.

“How has school been?” he asked, trying to change the subject. He hadn’t been back since running away as by the time he’d been found there was only a week of term left until the Christmas holidays. Since he had been ill and under so much stress, Sirius had decided to keep him off until the New Year. Harry was admittedly quite glad, since he would probably be in a lot of trouble come January. Running away during school hours definitely wasn’t allowed.

“School’s been alright. Mrs Wardleigh kept me in at break yesterday for spilling glue on my spelling book, though.” She scowled. “Also, Dan’s been asking about you. I told him you were staying with your uncle for now.” Harry felt another pang of guilt at the reminder of his friend. He hadn’t thought about how lonely it must have been for Dan once he’d left. Harry resolved to get him a really nice Christmas present to try and make up for all the trouble he’d caused.

“Sorry to interrupt, but are you two ready to go?” Sirius asked. “I don’t want to get you back too late, Jasmine, or your Mum and Dad will be annoyed.”

“Yeah, we’re ready.” Harry confirmed. Sirius started bundling him, Jasmine and Adhara into coats, ready to brave the cold outside.

Harry thought that the evening couldn’t have been more perfect. The lights were beautiful, and he almost tripped over more than once staring at them instead of watching where he was walking.

Sirius and Adhara also left him and Jasmine to their own devices, which Harry was incredibly grateful for. He wanted to soak up every single moment possible with his sister. They both intentionally ignored the more serious topics of conversation, but Harry could glean from what little Jasmine had said that the last few weeks at home had been difficult.

“Ollie’s in so much trouble, by the way,” she informed him. “They’ve grounded him indefinitely, so all he gets to do is sit in his room. Mums actually got him writing lines .” Harry couldn’t help his smirk of satisfaction. Ollie hated writing.

After stopping in a couple of shops (Harry bought the Chronicles of Narnia for Jasmine’s Christmas present while she was distracted) they ended the night with a trip to McDonalds. It was another place that the Dursleys had never allowed Harry to visit, and he enjoyed it immensely. Tired from the day out, he sat back and idly listened to the girls talking.

“I’m staying at my Mums for Christmas this year,” Adhara was telling Jasmine. “All my cousins are coming round!”

“Nice!” Jasmine turned her attention to Harry. “Hey, what are you going to do on Christmas?”

“Oh, um…” Harry stammered, panicking. He hadn’t thought that Jasmine would ask him about Christmas, and he really needed more time to decide. What was he going to do? He sent Sirius a desperate look of fear.

“Jasmine, sweetheart, it’s complicated…” Sirius jumped in. Her face fell at his words.

“Are you not gonna come round then?” She asked quietly. Harry wanted to say no, but the look of disappointment on her face was too much to bear. All he could think was that he’d let her down once already and he couldn’t again.

“No, no, I might?” Her face lit up at his words. Sirius looked at him, slightly confused. Harry just shrugged helplessly. “I’ll try.” He promised. “I want to see you, trust me.”

“Thank you so much!” She hugged him tightly. Harry realised at that moment that his maybe was going to have to turn into a yes. He really didn’t want to let her down.

Later that night, after Jasmine had gone home, Harry was regretting it.

“Why did I say that?” He groaned. “Sirius, I really don’t know if I can spend Christmas alone with them …”

“It wouldn’t just be you lot, if that helps.” Sirius informed him. “I would be there with you.”

“Don’t you have any other family you want to see on Christmas?” Harry asked curiously.

“Nah. Most of my relatives are either dead or in prison.” Sirius sighed. “I’d much rather come with you.”

“I wish it could just be us and Jasmine.” Harry said miserably. “I’m just so scared they’ll ruin it.”

“Say the word and I’ll whisk you out of there.” Sirius told him solemnly. “And we don’t have to stay there for very long. We could just stay for lunch?”

“That’s a good idea.” 

“We could also set some ground rules for them before we go over?” Sirius suggested. “That way everyone will know what to expect.”

“Do you think they’d listen?” The Potters didn’t have the best track record for listening, Harry thought.

“Trust me, they will.” Sirius squeezed his shoulder. “You’re really ready to do this?”

Harry squared his shoulders in determination. “I am.”

“Then I’ll start talking to them about arrangements.” Sirius stared into his eyes. “You’re a good brother, Harry.”

Chapter Text

Harry sat in Sirius’ living room, nervously fidgeting with his hands. It was two days before Christmas and the Potters were coming over to discuss the arrangements for the day. Sirius had offered to talk to them for Harry, but he had refused. This was something that Harry needed to do himself. Sirius was going to sit in the room and act as a mediator but Harry was going to carry the bulk of the conversation. Even though he’d agreed to this, Harry was still incredibly anxious. This was the first time he’d be seeing them since running away, after all.

Just when Harry thought he couldn’t bear the waiting for another minute, the Floo lit up and Lily stepped out. The dark circles under her eyes made her look even more worn than usual. 

“Oh, Harry,” she breathed, eyes filling with tears. She started walking to him, arms outstretched.

“Don’t touch me.” Harry hissed. She flinched back as if he’d slapped her. James, who had stepped out of the fireplace in time to witness this, took Lily by the shoulder and murmured something in her ear. Her shoulders slumped and they both sat down on the sofa opposite him. Luckily, Harry’s father didn’t try to touch him.

“Sirius told us you wanted to talk about Christmas, Harry.” James said.

“If you want me there, I’ll come over.” Harry muttered, not looking them in the eyes. He almost wanted them to say no.

“Of course we want you there, sweetie!” Lily said. You didn’t want me for the last eight years, he wanted to say, but he held back the bitter retort. Harry really didn’t want to get into an argument with them right now.

“Sirius and I will come over at lunchtime. We will not be spending the whole day with you, but we’ll probably stay for the afternoon.” Harry told them. “This is not me coming back to live with you. I have not forgiven you and I’m just doing this for Jasmine. Is that understood?”

“We understand.” James replied. He bit his lip. “And Harry, I just want to say how sorry I am-”

“Don’t.” Harry cut him off. “I’m sick of you saying you’re sorry. That doesn’t fix what you did to me.” His parents nodded silently, looking ashamed. Harry took a deep breath, preparing to continue.

“Oh, and you need to keep Ollie in line. If he does anything to me, I’m leaving.” 

“Of course.” James nodded.

“That’s it.” Harry cocked his head towards the fireplace. “You can leave now. I’ll see you on Christmas.”

“Thanks for agreeing to meet with us.” James started quickly walking out. Harry didn’t miss the look of hurt on their faces. “We look forward to seeing you, Harry.” He took a pinch of Floo powder and stepped into the green flames. Lily stared at Harry intensely, looking like she was about to say something. He watched her nervously, but she just sighed and stepped into the fireplace.

Once they were both gone, Harry’s shoulders slumped with relief. Sirius, who had been standing silently behind him, ruffled his hair.

“I’m proud of you.” he said. “That must have been really difficult, but you handled it well.”

“Thanks.” Harry gave him a weak smile. “You really think they’ll do everything I asked?”

“Definitely.” Sirius confirmed. “They’d probably jump off a bridge if you asked them to right now.” He smirked. “Now, how about a trip to the park? We can go sledding!” Harry knew that Sirius was trying to distract him, but he was grateful anyway. 

He continued to keep Harry occupied for the next few days to try and stop his incessant worrying. They had snowball fights, wrapped presents and even baked cookies. Whenever Harry started looking too anxious, Sirius would either throw something at Harry or hex him, much to his annoyance.

“It’s not a fair fight if I can’t do magic!” Harry exasperatedly ran his fingers through his now-purple hair. Sirius was cackling away in the corner.

“I’m sure you’ll get your revenge when you go to Hogwarts!” Sirius said merrily. Harry, armed with blue hair dye and Sirius’ shampoo bottle, didn’t have to wait that long. 

Harry was pleasantly surprised to find presents with his name on it under the tree on Christmas morning. Even though he’d gotten gifts for his birthday, it was still something he didn’t expect. Sometimes Harry wondered if he’d ever be able to leave the Dursleys’ influence behind.

“Well what are you waiting for?” Sirius said as Harry stared in awe at the pile. “Let's start opening!”

Another Christmas surprise was the amount of people who had bought Harry a present. Neville had gotten him a box of chocolate frogs, while Dan had gifted him a lovely black notebook. Adhara had bought him a book on the constellations, and Sirius had gotten him a wide assortment of things, from sweets to clothes and quidditch posters. The man was trying to convert Harry to his team, the Wimbourne Wasps. That all wasn’t even including the gifts from the Potters, which they’d agreed to unwrap at the Manor later.

Meanwhile, Sirius was thrilled with the china dog that Harry had gotten him. The shopkeeper had even charmed it to bark and howl. 

“How does sweets for breakfast sound?” Sirius said, grinning. Harry cracked open some Every Flavour Beans and each of them battled to see who could find the worst flavour. They both decided that Sirius won when he got horse manure.

Despite Sirius’ distractions, Harry was still buzzing with nervous energy by lunchtime. He spent most of the morning anxiously pacing around the house and trying to calm his breathing. He felt stupid for getting this nervous about seeing his family-he’d lived with them for months, why was he freaking out now? 

“Are you sure that you’re okay with this?” Sirius asked, concerned. “I can cancel if-”

“No!” Harry took a deep breath. “It’ll be fine. Let's just go and get it over with?”

“Alright.” Sirius squeezed his shoulder. “You’ve got this.”

Harry squared his shoulders and marched to the fireplace. For Jasmine, he thought as he sped through the network of chimneys. The sick feeling the Floo Network always gave him did not help his nerves.

The fireplace spat Harry out into the dining room, where his family were all standing together. James and Lily looked upset but were desperately trying to hide it, while Ollie was making no effort to hide how thoroughly miserable he was. Jasmine was the only person that looked happy to see him.

“Harry!” she squealed, running over and hugging him. He smiled, patting her on the back.

“Merry Christmas, Jasmine.” He looked over to the rest of the family, who were still standing off to the side. “Merry Christmas.” Harry nodded politely at them. A silence descended over the room. Before things had time to get any more awkward, however, Sirius finally arrived through the Floo with a bag of gifts.

“Happy Christmas, all!” he said, grinning cheerily. Harry felt a surge of gratitude- without his godfather, he knew the atmosphere would have been unbearable.

“Now when are we doing presents?” Sirius asked, holding up the bag. 

“How about now?” James suggested. “We still have a bit of time before the roast’s ready.” Everyone agreed to that and they all made their way over to the living room. It was decked out with tinsel and had one of the biggest Christmas trees Harry had ever seen, which was sagging with ornaments and enchanted lights.

The presents were handed out and Harry sat back and watched everyone else start opening them. It was another old habit from the Dursleys that he couldn’t quite kick. Sirius, who noticed his hesitation, gave him a subtle nod. Harry swallowed and hesitantly tore a corner off of the wrapping paper.

Like Sirius, the Potters had also spoiled him with a wide array of presents, far more than Harry had ever been expecting. There were clothes, books, sweets and even a beautiful red bike.

“Jasmine mentioned you two wanted to learn?” James said, looking very out of his depth. Harry politely thanked him and stared at it in wonder. It was almost too much. Even Ollie had gotten him a present, a set of wet-start fireworks. Harry was pretty sure his parents had forced his twin to buy them, but he was happy anyway.

“Now don’t go eating all of those sweets, now.” Lily warned Jasmine, who was opening a chocolate frog. “You’ll spoil your lunch.” Sirius sent him a guilty look, obviously thinking of their less-than-healthy breakfast.

As they all sat in the dining room waiting for the food to be served, Harry’s parents started to loosen up. Harry wasn’t sure if they were just less scared of offending him or if the wine was starting to take effect, but he was pleased either way. As much as he wanted them to feel guilty about what they’d done to him, it was really uncomfortable to be around. James and Sirius started reminiscing about some prank they’d pulled in their school days which even got a smile out of Ollie, who had spent most of the day sullenly staring at the floor. 

Harry tucked into his roast potatoes, reflecting on how much he’d missed Binksy’s cooking. Sirius did try but he was a terrible cook, especially in comparison to the talented house-elf.

Harry sadly reflected that it was actually quite nice to be spending time with his family. He loved his fathers sense of humour, his mothers tinkling laugh and Jasmine's constant aura of positivity. Even Ollie was tolerable when he was behaving himself. But, Harry reminded himself, it wasn’t always like that in this house-there was also the fighting, the shouts and the long history of betrayal. Harry deeply wished he could trust them again, but he wasn’t sure how he ever could after everything that had happened. Sometimes, he wanted to just Obliviate himself and start over so they could all be happy.

After they finished eating, they all retired to the living room, where Sirius started up a game of hearts. While everyone else got sucked into the game, Harry quietly slipped out and went to his room. It was oddly bare without his books and clothes, but it still felt like it belonged to him. His room in Sirius’ house just wasn’t the same-he still sometimes thought of it as the guest bedroom.

He walked over to the window, where the windows had all been fixed. Outside, he could see the Quidditch pitch, which was buried under a thick sheet of snow. Harry felt his heart ache at the sight. He missed being able to fly whenever he wanted to. Sirius’ garden was too exposed to do it without being seen by muggles.

“Hey.” Harry jumped out of his skin. Ollie was standing in the doorway. Harry’s heart sped up- what did his brother want with him alone? Was he coming to get revenge?

“What do you want?” Harry barely kept the resentment out of his tone. He didn’t want to antagonise the boy in case it made whatever was going to happen worse, but that didn’t change the fact he hated Ollie. His brother didn’t reply. He was staring at Harry with an expression he couldn’t read.

“I..I just…” Ollie trailed off, staring out the window. Harry’s patience ran out

“If you’re gonna do something just get it over with already.” He sighed. Ollie scowled at him.

“I don’t know why I was going to bother.” He stalked out, slamming the door behind him. Weird. Harry assumed that Ollie must have been planning something nasty but had chickened out at the last second. He sighed, and left the room in case he was planning on coming back. There was safety in numbers,after all, so Harry returned to the living room. Inside, a slightly drunk Sirius was loudly belting God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs while the rest of the Potters were politely trying to hide their discomfort. Ollie was nowhere to be seen.

“I think we’d better make a move.” Sirius said once he’d finished singing. James and Lily looked a little disappointed.

“It was lovely seeing you both.” Lily nodded towards Harry but luckily didn’t try and hug him like she’d done a few days ago.

“Will we be seeing you again?” James asked hesitantly.  “I think so.” Harry said, against his better judgement. He didn’t know if it was the festive cheer or Jasmine’s look of joy that had gotten him to agree, but he decided to give it a go. Besides, if he agreed to see them again, hopefully they’d let him keep living with Sirius. Harry was scared that they’d try and take him back if he cut them off permanently.

“Jasmine, Harry, a private word before we leave?” Harry curiously followed his godfather into the hallway, where the man revealed two rectangular packages wrapped in green paper. “Just a little additional present for you two.” He said with a wink. They both unwrapped the packages, revealing two matching red notebooks. 

“When you write in your notebook, whatever you’ve written will be transferred onto the paper of the other notebook.” Sirius explained. “That way, you two can write to each other without the need for owls.”

“Thank you so much!” Harry gave Sirius a hug. It was such a thoughtful gift, and he felt rather touched.

“This is such complicated magic, Sirius,” Jasmine breathed. “How did you manage it?”

“I need to give some credit to Remus.” Sirius said. “He was a big help in combining the charms to make it work.”

“Magic is wicked!” Harry said. Sirius laughed and ruffled his hair.

As they arrived back in the living room of Sirius’ house, Harry reflected that the day had been much nicer than he’d expected. His parents hadn’t done anything to upset him, Ollie had left him alone apart from that strange confrontation in his bedroom, and Jasmine’s boundless joy had made the whole experience worth it. 

Despite all of that, Harry still felt exhausted. He’d still spent the whole day on high alert, and the strain had taken its toll on him. He knew that it would be easier to save himself the trouble and give up on the Potters, and start a new life with Sirius. But that easy option didn’t include his sister. Harry couldn’t just abandon her; after being left at the Dursleys, he knew all too well how much that hurt. He also knew that to have a relationship with Jasmine, he also needed to mend the broken relationship he had with Lily and James. If that was what it took, Harry would do it. He knew that Jasmine would do the same if she had to, and that was all that mattered.

Chapter Text

The remainder of the Christmas holidays were quite pleasant for Harry. He spent most of his time either curled up by the fireplace with one of his new books or sledding in the park with his godfather. Harry even celebrated New Years for the first time, where Sirius let him stay up until midnight to watch the fireworks. 

He also regularly wrote to Jasmine in the notebooks Sirius had given them. Being able to talk to his sister whenever he wanted again was nice, although it wasn’t the same as living with her.

As December turned into January, however, Harry started to worry about what would happen at school. He was to have a meeting with the headteacher on the first day back and he was certain that he’d be in lots of trouble. Sirius hadn’t punished him for running away, but still…

“Your parents and I have explained the whole situation to the school.” Sirius tried to reassure him. “You won’t be in too much trouble, I promise.”

Unfortunately, Sirius had underestimated the Headmaster’s fury. The first Monday back at school, Harry had to spend a good ten minutes enduring Mr Cooper’s furious diatribe. He tried not to focus on the spittle flying out of the man's mouth. Sirius, who was standing next to him, looked less than impressed but held his tongue. After he had been assigned an essay to write on the dangers of leaving school without permission, Mr Cooper moved on to other matters. 

“Mr Black, what is your relationship to young Harry?” The man asked. “I understand he’s living with you due to…family issues…”

“Yes, I’m James’ brother.” Sirius replied. “Harry is my nephew.”

“Is there anything the school can do to help with the issues going on at home?” he asked. Harry didn’t appreciate how the headmaster was talking like he wasn’t even in the room. 

“We’d like to keep it private, thank you.” Sirius said with just a hint of coolness in his voice. “Now, would my nephew be able to join his class?”

“Of course, of course!” Mr Cooper gestured towards the door. Harry gratefully exited before the man could say anything else.

When Harry got to his classroom, the lesson had already started. He quietly slipped into his seat, trying not to be noticed, but he was unsuccessful. The whole class started pointing and muttering as soon as he entered the room.

“You’re back!” Mike whispered as Harry sat down. “I can’t believe you ran away during school!”

“How did you get out?” Alfie asked. 

“Quiet, you lot!” Miss Jeffords scolded. “This isn’t breaktime, this is lesson time.” The boys stopped talking to him, but they kept staring at Harry

At break, Harry quickly ran out to avoid his classmates' questions and went to his and Dan’s hideout. After a quick glance around to make sure that no one was watching him, he squeezed through the bushes and into the clearing. Harry walked around, noticing that no one had fixed the gap in the fence. He smiled- at least that meant that he and Dan could still sneak out at lunch.

Moments after Harry had sat down, Dan himself arrived in the clearing.

“Dan!” Harry said, rushing over to his friend. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Yeah, you too.” The other boy smiled.

“Are you alright?”

“You’ve got to be joking! Are you alright?” Dan raised an eyebrow. “Jasmine told me that they found you, but you didn’t come to school for ages! I thought something bad must have happened to you!”

“Yeah, I caught a cold so my uncle kept me off.” Dan was still staring at him, looking a bit hurt. “Hey, are you annoyed with me?” Harry asked. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have left-” Dan cut him off with a wave of his hand.

“I shouldn’t have let you leave.” Dan said, refusing to look Harry in the eye. “I didn’t tell the teachers anything, by the way. They asked but I told them I hadn’t seen you.”

“Thanks.” Harry said gratefully. “And you didn’t let me leave. It was all my decision and it didn’t have anything to do with you.”

They stood in silence, listening to the shrieks of the other children outside. Harry wished he could read Dan’s mind. 

“I bet you still can’t beat me up the tree!” Dan grinned at him. Harry knew that meant everything was okay between them.  

“You underestimate me. Race you there!” He ran towards the trunk, Dan laughing behind him.

After about a week, the attention around Harry at school died down. His classmates stopped badgering him with questions, and it was as if nothing had ever happened. Harry also noted with pleasure that Ollie was being far less aggressive than he had been before Christmas. Before, his brother had taken almost every opportunity to hit or shove Harry, but now he almost entirely ignored him. This suited Harry just fine- he didn’t care what Ollie did as long as he left him alone.

Even though school was better than ever, Harry was still struggling with one problem; his parents. He realised that Sirius couldn’t deal with them forever- Harry needed to talk to them himself. He knew that it would be a difficult conversation, but it had to be done. 

Harry also knew that he needed to sort out his issues with James and Lily for Jasmine’s sake. Their notebook system was imperfect, and he could rarely speak with his sister during school hours. He wanted to be able to live with her again, but he also didn’t want to leave Sirius’ house. It was quite the quandary.

“Harry, we’re back!” Sirius called, interrupting his musings. He’d gone out after picking up Harry from school to get Adhara from her mum’s house.

That’s it! Harry was suddenly struck by an idea. What if he had a similar arrangement with his parents like Adhara had with hers? He could spend the weekends at Potter Manor so he see Jasmine more, but still live with Sirius during the week. The idea wasn’t perfect- it still meant that he’d have to be around his parents, but Harry thought he could deal with that for a few days a week. Also, even though Sirius said Harry could live with him as long as he needed to, Harry was certain that his parents wouldn’t let him cut them out of his life for good without putting up a massive fight. He’d known deep down that at some point, he would need to give their relationship another go.

The whole idea did depend on Sirius wanting him, though. Harry knew that his godfather cared about him, but he didn’t know if that extended to taking care of Harry permanently. He knew that he’d have to ask Sirius about all of this before they made any arrangements with the Potters.

“Hey Sirius, can I talk to you?” He asked nervously once Adhara had gone upstairs to unpack.

“Yeah sure.” Sirius sat down on the sofa opposite him. “What’s up? You seem nervous.”

“I came up with an idea.” Harry bit his lip, unsure of how to put it. “You know how Adhara stays with you on the weekend and stays with her Mum the rest of the time?” 

“Yeah?”

“What if I did that with you and my parents? I don’t want to spend all of my time with them, but I thought weekends might be okay…”

“That’s a very clever idea Harry.” Sirius scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“Is that okay with you?” Harry asked anxiously. “I know you probably didn’t want me to live with you forever...”

“Of course it’s okay, Harry!” Sirius exclaimed. “You’re my godson. I’d do anything that you needed.” Harry felt a warm glow spread through his chest. It was nice to be wanted.

“Could we talk to my parents about the setup soon, then? I think I need to talk to them about everything before I actually stay with them again.” 

Sirius nodded. “Definitely. Let me know what day and I’ll invite them over.”

That Sunday, Harry and Sirius sat in the living room waiting for James and Lily to arrive. He was almost more nervous than when he’d been asking them about Christmas- this was a far more important conversation. What if they said no to him living with Sirius during the week? Harry wasn’t sure what he’d do if that happened. What if they agreed but once he was living there everything went wrong again?

Before Harry’s worries could spiral any further, however, his parents stepped out of the fireplace.

“Good morning Harry, Sirius.” James nodded at the two of them. He and Lily sat on the sofa opposite from Harry.

“I think we need to talk about everything that happened.” Harry cut straight to the chase. He was so nervous and just wanted to get it all over with.

“Look. I don’t trust you.” Harry said bluntly. He noticed Lily flinch slightly at his words. “I don’t want to hear any excuses for what you did. You left me at the Dursleys. You didn’t listen when I tried to tell you about how awful they were. I’m not sure I can ever forgive you for that.” He swallowed, hard. “But I am willing to try and stay with you again.”

“Thank you!” Lily burst out eagerly. Harry held up a hand for silence.

“It’s not going to be full time. Just the weekends.” The Potters deflated a little at that, but didn’t say anything. 

“I want to stay with Sirius during the week. I think it will be better for everyone involved if we do things this way.” 

“That’s all fine with me.” James exchanged a questioning look with Lily, who nodded in agreement. “And Harry, thank you again for giving us another chance. I know we don’t deserve it, but we will do whatever we can to be better parents.” Harry tried not to let his relief show on his face. They had agreed! He was almost surprised by how quickly they had accepted his demands. Harry guessed that Sirius might have warned them about what he was asking.

“Are you going to be fair if I live with you, though?” Harry asked hesitantly. “You always punish me instead of Ollie when something goes wrong, like when he pushed me into the pool.”

“We will be, Harry.” Lily said solemnly. “I know it’s no excuse, but Petunia -” she spat the name with uncharacteristic aggression, “ -lied to us about what you were like. She told us you were a bully. We obviously know that she was lying now, but at the time we believed her. We shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Harry wanted to be angry at his parents for believing his aunt, but he didn’t have it in him. Almost every adult in his life had believed the Dursleys' lies, so why should Lily and James be any different? He still felt disappointed in them, though. Your parents were the people that were supposed to believe in you, and it was yet another way they’d let him down. 

“Perhaps you can talk to Sirius if you think you’ve been punished for something unfairly?” James suggested. “You can call him through the Floo whenever you want, and if he agrees and thinks we’ve been unfair, we can all discuss it.” Harry was surprised- that was actually quite a good idea.

“Also, Harry, I want you to know that I’ll be around more.” James added. “I know that when you first came to live with us, we were very absent, particularly me. I’m sorry for that. Anyway, I’ve gone part time at the Auror’s office now, so it won’t just be your mum at home.”

“I know that with Ollie’s publicity and my illness, I haven’t spent as much time with you and Jasmine as I should have.” Lily chimed in. “I didn’t realise how badly I was handling everything, and I’m sorry for that, too.”

Harry was quite pleased that they were making such an effort. He’d been expecting his parents to fight him every step of the way, but they were actually being quite helpful.

“Speaking of Ollie, he won’t start being horrible to me again now that I’m back, right?” Harry asked.

“Believe me, he won’t.” James said firmly. “And if he does, you can always come to any of us and we’ll sort it out.”

Harry wasn’t sure if he trusted that. The previous times he’d gone to his parents about Ollie’s bullying, their punishments hadn’t made an impression on the boy and he’d carried on treating Harry horribly. For a moment, his faith in the arrangement wavered. What if Harry moving back in restarted their feud?

Ollie’s behaviour had changed, though. Even though Harry still caught his twin glaring at him in school on occasion, the outright abuse had completely stopped. Hopefully their tentative truce would continue if they were living together. Harry knew it was optimistic, but he had to hope. 

“Harry?” Lily began hesitantly. “About the Dursleys…” Harry tensed. Why was she bringing them up?

“How would you feel about prosecuting them?”

What? Harry sat up, surprised. This was completely unexpected.

“What do you mean?” he asked, dumbfounded. 

“They could go to prison for what they did to you.” James said quietly. “Then they won’t be able to hurt you or anyone else. It’s your decision, though. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Harry fiddled with his hands nervously. He hadn’t thought the Dursleys would ever get in trouble for their actions. Why would a court ever believe him? Every other adult in his life hadn’t. Vernon and Petunia appeared to be upstanding citizens from the outside, and could be very convincing when they wanted to.

Part of Harry also still believed that he deserved what they’d done to him. For being a freak.

“Do I have to decide right now?” Harry asked.

“You can take all the time you need.” Lily replied. “Was there anything else you needed to talk about?” Harry shook his head. He couldn’t think of anything, especially since the Dursleys were the only thing on his mind now.

“Harry, if you want you can go upstairs for a bit while I sort out the boring details with you parents?” Sirius suggested. He must have noticed Harry’s distress. 

“That would be great, thanks.” He replied, relieved. 

“I’ll call you back down when we’re done.” Sirius promised. Harry quickly went up to his room, locking the door behind him. He immediately got the red notebook out from his drawer and started writing to Jasmine.

I don’t know if Mum and Dad told you but I’m coming to live with you guys on the weekends from now on. Harry hesitated, fiddling with the pen. He really wanted to talk to someone about the Dursleys, but he wasn’t sure if it should be her. Harry always felt a desire to protect her, and she didn’t need to know how horrible her aunt and uncle were. He’d told Jasmine that they weren’t that nice to him and that Dudley was a bit of a bully, but Harry didn’t know if he’d ever go into the darkest details of his life at Privet Drive. 

He sighed and put the notebook to one side. He would have to wait until she opened the notebook to get a response. Harry picked up the book he was reading and to try and distract himself from his thoughts, but didn’t have any luck. All he could think about until Sirius called him downstairs over an hour later was putting the Dursleys behind bars.

“So, see you next Saturday, then?” James asked. They had agreed that Harry would spend next Saturday with the Potters so he could adapt to being there without Sirius, and if that went well then he would spend every weekend there.

“See you then.” Harry confirmed. They all said their goodbyes and the Potters left. 

“So.” Sirius began. “I think we need to talk about that. I’ll make some tea.”

“That would be great, thanks.” Harry sat on the sofa while Sirius prepared the tea, thinking about all of his questions. What would happen if the Dursleys were innocent? What would he have to do if he did prosecute them? What would happen to Dudley? He struggled to pin down one particular thought amid all the chaos in his mind.

Sirius came back in and handed Harry a cup of tea.

“I can tell you’ve got questions.” his godfather said. “Ask me anything.”

“If I did want to send the Dursleys to prison, what would I have to do to make that happen?” He began. It was the most important question that Harry needed answering before he decided what to do.

“Well you’d need to testify in court against them, talk about what they did to you.” Sirius explained. “And we’d get a healer to do a scan of any past injuries and submit that to the court. We can edit the documents and make it look like a muggle doctor did it.”

“But what if they didn’t believe me?” Harry asked worriedly. 

“I don’t think that would be a problem.” Sirius said. “There’s quite a bit of evidence. We’d go through the muggle legal system, but in the unlikely event that they got off we could go through the Wizarding one where you can submit memories and use Truth Serum. That will be a lot more complicated, though, especially with your family name, which is why going muggle would be easier.”

“Okay.” Harry sipped his tea, deep in thought.

“You don’t have to decide right away, Harry.” Sirius said gently.

“I’ll probably think about it for a bit longer, then.” Harry decided. It was all too much right now, and he didn’t know if he could possibly tell a court full of strangers about what the Dursleys had done to him.

“Okay then.” Sirius squeezed his shoulder. “How are you feeling about next week?”

“Nervous.” Harry admitted. “Christmas was okay, though, so hopefully this will be too.”

“I’m only a Floo call away if anything goes wrong.” Sirius reassured him. “Now, that was a long stressful afternoon. I think a takeaway is in order!”

“Great!” Harry grinned.

“Anything else you need to talk about?” His godfather asked.

“Nah, not right now.” Harry finished off his tea.

“Alright. Tell me if you need anything, okay?”

“I will.” Harry hugged his godfather before going upstairs. He wanted to check if Jasmine had replied to him yet. To his pleasure, he saw her messy scrawl on the open pages when he entered the room.

AMAZING!! It read. I missed you so much! Thank you!

I missed you too. He wrote back. I’ll see you on Saturday!

Harry smiled as he thought of his sister. He was absolutely terrified of reaching out to his parents again, but he knew it would make Jasmine happy if he could see her more often. A small part of him knew that it might even be nice to repair his relationship with his parents. He had spent all those years in his cupboard wishing for them, after all. Harry just hoped that this risk would be worth it.

Chapter Text

“Good luck, Harry.” Sirius said, hugging him. They were standing by the fireplace, which Harry was about to enter to travel to the Potters. Harry was more nervous than he wanted to let on-this was the first time he was going to see his parents without Sirius there, and he was terrified that it would all go horribly wrong.

“I’ll see you after dinner?” Harry asked, fiddling with his shirt collar. He had an irrational fear that Sirius had grown sick of him and was going to leave him there.

“Of course.” The man promised. “See you then! And try to have fun.” 

Harry took a deep breath before throwing the Floo powder into the flames and stepping in. He shut his eyes tightly as he rushed through the network of chimneys. His stomach was already churning from the fear, and travelling by Floo always made him feel ill.

“Harry!” he heard Jasmine say as the fireplace spat him out. Harry coughed, rubbing the soot off of his glasses. James flicked his wand and the ash vanished from Harry’s skin and clothing. He looked around the dining room, realising that his mother and Ollie weren’t there.

“Nice to see you, Harry.” his father smiled at him.

“Um, you too.” Harry said, trying to sound normal but failing miserably. He hated the awkwardness in his relationship with James and Lily. No matter how hard Harry tried, they always fell into an uncomfortable silence if they were left alone together for too long. Luckily, Jasmine was around to save the day.

“Hey, Dad! Tell Harry what you have planned!” she said eagerly. Her hazel eyes were glittering with excitement.

“Give him a minute!” James laughed. “Harry, we were thinking that we could go for a bike ride this afternoon? You mentioned at Christmas that you didn’t know how to cycle, so I thought it would be nice to give it a go today.” his father was visibly nervous, fumbling his words and shifting from foot to foot. He had clearly tried hard to have something to connect with Harry over, and it did warm his heart to see his father trying to improve.

“He’s teaching me too!” Jasmine chimed in, bouncing on the spot.

“That sounds nice,” Harry said with a small smile. James looked visibly relieved.

“Ready to go, then?” the man asked. “It’s just us three. Your mother and Ollie are at the Ministry. We thought it might be easier with less of us, considering…well…” He awkwardly trailed off.

“I don’t mind.” Harry reassured him. He genuinely didn’t- the less of his family he had to deal with at a time, the better.

“They’ll be here for dinner, though!” James added quickly.

“That sounds lovely.” Harry smiled at his father again, trying to get him to relax. As much as he thought James deserved to feel guilty and uncomfortable, it was annoying to deal with and Harry really wished he would calm down.

“Can we go now, then? Please?” Jasmine begged. The girl had become so antsy that she was actually bouncing on the spot. James laughed, loosening up a bit.

“Of course!”

They went over to the back of the house to retrieve Harry and Jasmines’ bikes and drag them out to the road. There weren’t a lot of cars that passed by Potter Manor, so it was the perfect place to learn.

“Please can I go first?” Jasmine begged. James sent Harry a questioning look, and he nodded in agreement. He didn’t particularly want to go first anyway.

James started fussing around Jasmine while Harry watched from the sidelines. He occasionally tried to start pedalling, but it never went well. He narrowly avoided face planting into the pavement multiple times.

Jasmine wasn’t having much more success. She kept crashing over onto her side, much to James’ exasperation.

“Don’t you just…pedal?” He asked, looking very confused. “I don’t get why you keep falling...”Harry was struck by a sudden realisation.

“Dad, do you even know how to ride a bike?” He asked, trying to suppress a laugh. James blushed.

“I think the answer’s pretty obvious.” Harry broke out laughing. Jasmine did too, which caused her to topple over again, which just intensified Harry’s mirth.

“Hey, I’m a Pureblood!” James protested. “My childhood was all broomsticks and Apparition. We didn’t have these newfangled bikes.” He sighed, although there was a smile on his face. “I really thought it would be like riding a broom!

It didn’t take him quite as long as it did for his sister, and before Harry knew it he was zooming down the road without James pushing him along. As he sped along, he reflected that James wasn’t entirely wrong about cycling; it was rather like flying a broom, just with more work.

Once Jasmine and Harry could both ride, James went into the house and brought out a bike of his own. 

“Reckon you two could help me out now that you know how to do it?” He asked with a grin. Much hilarity ensued during the remainder of the afternoon as Jasmine and Harry tried to help their father go in a straight line without toppling over. James took the falls in his stride, though, always quickly getting back on the bike and soon enough he had mastered it. They all had enough time for a quick cycle into Hornford before the sun started to dip in the sky and they needed to go home for dinner.

They all stacked their bikes behind the house, red-faced and starving. Harry had really worked up an appetite from all of the exercise and the smells coming from the kitchen were making his mouth water.

 Inside, Ollie and Lily were sitting at the table looking a bit nervous. Well, Lily looked nervous. Ollie was his usual sullen self; he was currently stabbing the tablecloth with his fork and refusing to look at Harry. 

“Hi guys.” He smiled, trying to alleviate the awkwardness. If he was going to be living with the Potters at the weekend, they needed to get along. His father was already relaxing around Harry, but his mother hadn’t reached that stage yet. Harry assumed it was because she was the one he had mainly argued with.

 “How was the Ministry?” he asked politely, trying to make conversation.

“Boring.” Ollie muttered, kicking the leg of the table. Harry was surprised- that was the first thing his brother had voluntarily said to him in a long time.

“This new bill is ridiculous!” Lily began angrily. “I honestly don’t understand the Ministry’s prejudice against werewolves, honestly…” Harry started to tune her out. His mother was often prone to long political rants and it was generally best to nod along until she wore herself out. Luckily, the food arrived and interrupted her tirade. Harry hungrily tucked into his spaghetti  while James told an amused Lily about their cycling exploits. He didn’t miss the look of resentment on Ollie’s face.

After dinner, it was time for Harry to go home, much to Jasmine's disappointment. Before he went back to Sirius’ house, however, he needed to talk to his parents about something. After saying goodbye to Jasmine, he pulled them aside.

“What is it, Harry?” James asked once they were all alone in the living room. Harry swallowed, trying to build his resolve.

“Um…you know the Dursleys?” his parents nodded, expressions instantly darkening at the mention of their relatives.

“I’ve decided I want them to get in trouble. You can tell the police, or whatever you need to do.” Harry looked at the ground nervously. Even though his parents had suggested it, he was still scared that Lily would hate him for wanting to send her sister to prison.

“That’s very brave of you, Harry,” she said, hesitantly reaching out to pat him on the shoulder. For once Harry let her. He didn’t have it in him to fight off his mother at the moment and he was just grateful she didn’t seem angry. 

“If they do go to prison, Dudley won’t have to live with us right?” Harry asked worriedly. Lily shook her head solemnly. 

“We know you two didn’t get on, so that wouldn’t happen.” Harry thought not getting on was an understatement, but didn’t correct her. “It’s likely he’d go and live with Vernon’s sister.” Harry barely suppressed a shiver at the thought of Aunt Marge. There were few people who were as unpleasant as the Dursleys, but she was one of them. He still sometimes had nightmares about Ripper biting at his ankles while he scrambled up a tree.

“Can I go back to Sirius' now?” Harry asked, trying to hide the tinge of desperation in his voice. He felt oddly close to crying and he really didn’t want to do it in front of his parents.

“Of course!” James said quickly. “Does he know you want to prosecute the Dursleys?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah.” It wasn’t entirely a lie; he was going to tell Sirius as soon as he got home. He just hadn’t wanted to discuss it with his godfather beforehand. Sirius was very insistent that Harry talk about his feelings, which he hated doing, so he wanted to keep the discussions about his aunt and uncle to a minimum.

“We’ll talk to you about the next steps when everything is sorted, okay?” Lily said soothingly. “You don’t need to worry about anything.”

“Okay.” Harry agreed wearily. Even though she said he didn’t need to worry, Harry knew he would anyway.

As soon as Harry stumbled out of the fireplace, he ran over to Sirius and gave the man a hug.

“Woah, woah!” Sirius exclaimed, awkwardly patting Harry’s head. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“I said yes. I’m gonna send the Dursleys to prison.” Harry whispered into Sirius’ robes.

“Oh, Harry.” His godfather squeezed him tighter. “I’m very proud of you.”

“Thanks.” Harry said, pulling away. His cheeks were burning slightly- why had he run up to Sirius like some kind of baby? He was ten now, for goodness sake! He should be able to handle his emotions.

“Could I just go up to my room now, please?” Harry asked wearily. “I’m tired.”

“Of course.” Sirius sighed. “But don’t just try and push down what you’re feeling, okay? If you need to talk about any of this, come to me.”

“I will.” Harry said seriously, even though he had absolutely no intention of doing so. 

After the first visit to the Potters, Harry settled into a routine. Every Saturday morning he would Floo over to Potter Manor, where he would spend the weekend playing Quidditch or riding his bike with Jasmine. Occasionally, Ollie would fly with them, but never without James present. Harry had a feeling that his father was forcing his brother to join them in an attempt to mend their strained relationship. Either way, it didn’t work- Ollie would inevitably go off into a corner by himself and ignore Harry and Jasmine.

Aside from the occasional awkward moments with James and Lily, these weekends at the Potters were surprisingly pleasant. Harry hadn’t forgiven them by any means, but their superficial relationship was an acceptable arrangement, in his opinion. Besides, Harry had bigger problems to focus on than his family; the Dursleys.

After Harry had agreed to go to the police about how they treated him- he still refused to think of it as abuse- his life had been overtaken by all sorts of uncomfortable interviews. He’d had to talk to a muggle policewoman about his time at the Dursleys, and he’d had to be poked and prodded by some Healer. Harry didn’t like the Healer whatsoever- she was condescending and spoke to Sirius like Harry wasn’t even in the room.

“You should really consider sending the boy to a Mind Healer, you know.” she said brusquely. She had a nasally voice that was deeply unpleasant to listen to. “Abuse often causes psychological trauma, especially in children.”

“Mmm.” Harry noticed Sirius’ jaw was locked tightly. His godfather was generally quite good at hiding his emotions from strangers, but Harry knew him well enough to tell whenever he was angry or upset.

“What an insufferable woman!” Sirius spat once they Apparated back home. Harry enthusiastically nodded in agreement. The police officer had been nice enough, but that appointment had seemingly taken an eternity.

“As much as I could not stand her, she did have a bit of a point, Harry.” Sirius sighed. “Maybe you should talk to someone about all of this.”

“No!” Harry shouted, instantly becoming even more annoyed. “There is nothing wrong with me! I don’t need to talk to anyone!”

“It could be helpful!” Sirius pleaded.

“I am not going to see some Mind Healer!” Harry stormed upstairs, slamming his door so hard that it rattled in its frame. He threw himself onto his bed, and shattered the mug on his desk with his magic. He did feel a bit bad about that, but tried to push those feelings down. Why did Sirius always think there was something wrong with him? He just wanted to be left alone!

All in all, Harry wasn’t having the best time. The interviews had exacerbated his internal dialogue- now almost every time Harry did something, he heard his uncle calling him a worthless freak or a waste of space. He woke up most nights with Vernon’s shouting and Petunia’s screeching still ringing in his ears, and it took hours for him to get back to sleep. He had to fight most mornings to keep his eyes open in school, and the exhaustion was leaving him snappy and withdrawn.

Sirius and his parents had explained to him that he was going to have to see his aunt and uncle in court when he testified against them. Harry felt nauseous every time he thought about that dreaded day, especially since there wasn’t a date set yet. He knew he’d be told in advance, but Harry still felt like one day he’d be dragged to a courtroom with no warning to speak. The whole event loomed over him like a storm cloud. 

Luckily for Harry, however, Dan was ready to provide a much-needed distraction. In early March, Harry’s friend excitedly informed him that Katie had decided he was trustworthy enough to let him in on whatever her and Dan’s secret was.

“Can you meet us in the park on Saturday? About two-ish?” Dan asked him eagerly in school one day. Harry agreed, and a few days later he was flying through the streets of Hornford on his red bike, ready to meet Dan. His parents had agreed he could go out alone as long as he was back for dinner.

When Harry arrived at the park, Katie and her friends were already there, sitting on a bench in a secluded area and smoking. Dan was absent however. Katie’s friends didn’t seem to care that Harry was there, but Katie beamed with pleasure as he came up to the group.

“Alright, Harry?” she said, taking a deep drag from her cigarette. Harry watched, fascinated, as she blew rings of smoke above her head. Katie noticed and laughed.

“Wanna try it?” Katie held out the cigarette to him. Harry shook his head nervously. Luckily, Dan arrived before she had the chance to say anything else.

“Sorry I’m late.” He said, breathing heavily. He must have rushed. “Problems with mum again.” Katie nodded in understanding.

“So, what is it we’re doing today?” Dan asked.

“I need you two to deliver this-” she held up a battered black backpack, “-to 63 Bowlby Lane. Darren’s waiting for you.”

“Alright!” Dan said, taking the backpack from her and slinging it over his shoulders.

“Explain to Harry on the way, yeah?” Katie said, dropping her cigarette and crushing it under her heel. “He can be on watch for now.”

“Okay. Let's go, Harry.” Dan hurried off to where he’d ditched his bike, Harry following closely behind.

“So what is this all about then?” Harry asked, failing to keep the excitement out of his voice. He’d been waiting for months to see what was going on with Dan and Katie and the anticipation was driving him mad.

“Katie and her mates get me to deliver things for them.” Dan explained as they started pedalling down the street. “Like…weed and stuff.”

Harry swerved sharply, shocked.

“You do what?” he shouted incredulously. 

“Don’t be weird about it, alright?” Dan snapped. “You know what my mum’s like. I need the money, I can’t just ask Liam for things all the time!” Harry stared at the ground, trying not to feel hurt. He and Dan rarely fought and he didn’t want to start an argument.

“Couldn’t you get in trouble, though?” Harry asked softly. 

“Well, yeah.” Dan snorted. “That's why they pay me. Besides, I’ve got you here now as my lookout. If you see anyone you can give me a shout and I’ll be fine.” Harry didn’t reply. He realised nobody had actually asked him if he wanted to be a part of this, but he wasn’t sure how to back out. Dan was his only real friend at school, and Harry felt like he somehow owed it to the other boy to do this with him.

“Would they pay me too?” Harry asked. He still remembered with painful clarity his week on the streets, completely penniless and helpless. Even though Sirius gave him a decent amount of pocket money, sickles and galleons couldn’t help him out in the muggle world. He needed cash.

“Yeah, ‘course!” Dan replied. “You’re working for them, aren’t you?”

“I’m in then.” Harry grinned. He supposed the whole thing wasn’t too bad- besides, if he ever did get into a tight spot, he could always use his magic.

“Great!” Dan beamed at him as they pulled into Bowlby Lane. “Right, you stay here and keep an eye out. Look after my bike.” Harry watched carefully as his friend disappeared around the corner, determined to do his job well. Even though the road was almost deserted, his heart was still hammering. He was terrified of getting caught.

After what felt like forever but was probably a few minutes, Dan returned. 

“Alright, let’s go back. I need to give the money to Katie.” Dan swung his leg over the bike and started heading off. Harry had to rush to keep up with him.

“How do you know Katie, anyway?” He asked, curious.

“She lives in the flat across from mine.” Dan explained. “And my brother’s in the same year as her.” 

Once they got back to the park, Harry was pleasantly surprised to find Katie holding two bottles of coke and a box of piping-hot chips.

“Just a thank you for helping us out, Harry.” she smiled sweetly as the boys feasted on the food.

“I'm still getting my money, aren’t I?” Dan asked in between mouthfuls. Katie gave him a playful shove.

“Course you are, Danny!” Harry snickered at the scowl on Dan’s face. His friend really hated that nickname. 

“I’ll give you your money the next time we do this, alright, Harry?” Katie said. Harry nodded eagerly. Even though he was still wary about the whole situation, it was still strangely exciting to be involved.

“Oi, Katie,” One of her friends- Tom?- grunted. “Stop hanging around and get a move on. We need to see Martin.”

“Okay.” The smile died on Katie’s face. Her expression hardened, an unusual look on her.. “See you boys some other time, ‘kay?” Harry tried to keep the dislike off his face as she and her friends shuffled out of the park. Even though they hadn’t spoken much, Harry didn’t like Tom very much. He was often quite rude to Katie and pushed her around, and Harry often noticed the fear in her eyes whenever he grabbed her too hard.

“I don’t like Tom.” Dan said in a hushed voice. It was as if he'd read Harry's mind. “I saw him shove Katie against a wall a couple weeks ago when he thought I’d left. He’s a real git.” Harry grunted in agreement. The older boy reminded him of his Uncle Vernon, which was never a good sign

“I’d better get home.” Harry said once he and Dan finished the chips. 

“Me too.” Dan said, throwing the empty container away. “I’m glad you’re doing this with me, mate.”

“It’s no problem.” Harry gave the other boy an easy smile. “I kind of enjoyed it.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. Even though what they were doing was a bit scary and highly illegal, he had enjoyed the adrenaline rush from keeping watch and getting to spend the day with his friend. Earning some extra cash didn’t exactly hurt, either.

As Harry cycled home, he was also struck by the realisation that he hadn’t thought about the Dursleys all day. Maybe this was good for something else, then. He had desperately wanted a distraction, after all. Still, Harry couldn’t quite shake the feelings of doubt about the whole arrangement. He wasn’t sure what he’d gotten himself into.

Chapter Text

Despite his reservations, Harry found himself enjoying his work with Katie and Dan. Since he was new, all he really had to do was keep watch while Dan did the groundwork, which he was grateful for. Interacting with any of the customers was terrifying- Katie had tried to get him to talk to some of them, but Harry always got too nervous.

As spring turned into summer, he also began to learn more and more about who he was selling these drugs for. It turned out Katie was not the one in charge - Tom’s older brother Martin seemed to be the true leader. Harry wasn’t even sure if he’d gotten that right, however. There could be someone even higher on the food chain for all he knew, not that he particularly cared either way. He had his role and got paid generously. That was enough for him to not ask awkward questions. 

In the passing months Harry’s relationship with his family also improved. It was so tiny and gradual that he barely noticed it but by June, he was surprised to find he didn’t mind the weekends at Potter Manor anymore. In fact, he almost enjoyed them. His parents had remained true to their word and were spending far more time with him. James made an effort to fly with him every Saturday morning, while Lily tried to read whatever Harry was reading so they had more to talk about. While Harry didn’t think he’d ever be as close with his parents as he was with Sirius, he was still happy with his strange family arrangement.

In fact, Harry’s life would have been perfect if it wasn’t for the trial of Vernon and Petunia. It was set for late July, and Harry was dreading it more and more with each passing day. He wasn’t sure how he was going to face the Dursleys and tell a whole room full of strangers what they’d done to him. Every time Harry thought about it, his hands started sweating and his heart sped up. It was awful.

Worst of all, Sirius was insistent that he needed to talk about it. Harry had tried to put on a calm, cheerful front, but his godfather hadn’t been fooled.

“There’s no shame in getting some help, Harry.” Sirius would often say. His endless patience only ended up frustrating Harry, however.

“I know there isn’t but I don’t need help! So could you just leave it?” 

These conversations often ended up in Harry storming off to his room, where he would take his anger out on some small piece of crockery. He’d ended up spending a lot of his money from Katie on breakable objects to use his magic on, since he couldn’t keep cracking Sirius’ bathroom tiles, or the man would have definitely caught on. Deep down, Harry knew that it wasn’t healthy, but he couldn’t talk to someone about it. If he did, it meant the Dursleys had won, and Harry couldn’t stand that. He just hoped that after the trial, he could finally stop thinking about it.

In the meantime, he just had to cope somehow. If that meant smashing plates or yelling at Sirius, then so be it. He had to find relief somehow. Harry had even given into the pressure from Katie and tried smoking, although he’d immediately hated it.

Despite Harry’s feelings of dread, time did not slow down. In fact, it almost seemed to speed up as he got closer to the trial, and before he knew it, it was July. Harry had his final days of primary school, and said goodbye to most of his classmates. Harry knew he wouldn’t see most of them ever again - he and Ollie would be starting Hogwarts in September, while most of the other kids would be joining the local comprehensive. Since Harry had only known them for about a year, this was no great loss. He was, however, going to miss seeing Dan every day. They had both planned to write to each other regularly, but it wouldn’t be the same. Harry harboured a secret hope that Dan would get a Hogwarts letter and they could both learn magic together, but he knew it probably wouldn’t happen.

Harry wasn’t even sure he’d get a place at Hogwarts himself. Even though he’d performed magic before, he still didn’t know if it would be enough. There had to be a reason for Harry being declared a Squib, after all, and what if it stopped him from getting in?

 Neville, who Harry saw every now and then, harboured the same fears. His situation was even worse than Harry’s - the other boy had only displayed magic once, when his Great-Uncle Algie had dropped him out of a window.

“Gran’s worried I won’t be magic enough to get in, even with that.” Neville had confided. Harry felt quite bad for the other boy - he had quite the legacy to live up to.

A week before his birthday, Harry woke up with a pit in his stomach. It was the trial day. He started washing and dressing robotically, fretting over what would happen. He would read out his statement and the Dursleys’ lawyer would ask him a few questions. That was all. It had all sounded so simple when Sirius had explained it, but Harry knew it wouldn’t be that easy. He still had to see his aunt and uncle, after all. The prospect made him feel sick to his stomach and he barely touched his breakfast, much to Sirius’ dismay. 

“Do you think you could manage a little bit of toast?” The man pleaded. “Please?” Harry shook his head mutely. He felt sure that if he even ate a bite, he would be sick. His stomach was in knots. 

Eventually, Sirius gave up and took Harry to a nearby alleyway so they could apparate to the courthouse. When they entered, they were shown to a small, stuffy room where Harry would wait since he wasn’t allowed to be in the courtroom. Sirius was doing his best to distract him, but it wasn’t working. Harry felt like he sat in that room for an eternity before someone came to get him, and yet it still wasn’t enough time.

As Harry entered the courtroom, a curious ringing filled his ears. He locked eyes with the Dursleys, who scowled at him. Harry didn’t think they’d ever regarded him with such hatred before, even when he had lived with them. Petunia’s horse-like face was contorted into an ugly sneer, while Vernon had turned a deep shade of puce. Harry was sure his uncle was fantasising about wrapping his fingers around his throat. It really didn’t help with his nerves. In fact, Harry was so terrified of his aunt and uncle that he almost missed the judge’s command to read his statement. He stumbled and stuttered over his words, feeling Vernon and Petunia’s eyes on him the entire time. After he was finished, Harry had to swallow hard so the tears wouldn’t spill over.

He barely had an opportunity to calm himself down before the Dursleys’ lawyer, Mr Brown, started questioning Harry. He was an unpleasant, red-faced man, who spoke to Harry in a slow, patronising voice, like he was stupid.

“Are you sure you aren’t remembering things wrong?” he kept asking. Even though Harry kept disagreeing, Mr Brown didn’t stop. He kept digging into the statement, picking apart everything that Harry had said until his head was spinning. By the time the lawyer was finished with him, Harry almost believed the man was right. Maybe he had made everything up. There was no comfort to be found in the stone-faced judge or the listless jury, who Harry couldn’t read. There was no way of knowing if they believed him or not.

The last thing Harry saw as he was ushered out of the courtroom was Petunia’s smug, self-assured face. It was the same expression she’d had when the CPS worker had been sent to Privet Drive after a teacher had noticed the bruises on his arm. A look of victory.

As he stumbled down the corridor, tears streaming down his face, Harry was certain that the Dursleys would never go to prison. It had all been for nothing. The woman escorting him tried to offer Harry a tissue, but he brushed her off. Nobody could help him.

Just when Harry thought he was going to fall apart, Sirius found him. The man instantly scooped Harry up into his arms and held him tightly as he buried his face in Sirius’ shirt.

“It’s okay, it’s over now.” Sirius soothed. “You don’t have to see them again.”

“They’re never going to believe me!” Harry sobbed.

“They will.” Sirius pulled Harry up and looked intensely into his eyes. “We still have the doctor’s report, remember? They found evidence in their house, too. It’s going to be fine.” Still, Harry couldn’t find it in himself to believe his godfather. He hadn’t been in the courtroom. He hadn’t seen their faces. 

“Now, I think it’s time to go home. How about you run into the toilets and wash your face?” Sirius said after Harry’s crying had slowed. “Then we can go around the corner and Apparate back.” Harry nodded gratefully. He wanted to leave this awful place.

Even though he wasn’t crying anymore, Harry didn’t feel any better. In fact, he felt worse: numb, empty, miserable. As soon as Sirius unlocked the door, Harry fled to his bedroom. He locked the door, shut the curtains and burrowed into his duvet. He just wanted to be alone.

It was all too much.

Freak. Freak. Freak. Vernon and Petunia chanted.

“Harry?” Sirius’ voice was muffled through the door. He must have followed up the stairs. “Can I come in?”

“No!” Harry shouted. Sirius would want to talk about everything, which was the last thing Harry wanted to do. 

“Okay, then.” Sirius sighed. “I’ll be downstairs when you want to come out.” His footsteps faded into the background. Harry shoved his face into his pillow, trying to muffle his sobs. Today had been worse than he’d ever imagined.

Harry didn’t leave his room for two days.

The trial seemed to have broken something inside of him. Harry spent all of his time lying in bed, sleeping or pretending to sleep and wallowing in his misery. He couldn’t stop thinking about his aunt and uncle’s smug expressions at the end of the trial, and that triggered a whole slew of other memories Harry had spent the last year burying.

Useless freak! Vernon spat.

We took you in out of the goodness of our hearts after your good-for-nothing parents dumped you here! Petunia screeched. We put a roof over your head and food in your belly! Ungrateful brat.

Even sleep wasn’t a respite for Harry. His memories turned into nightmares, where Vernon and Petunia were chasing him, with Dudley laughing and pointing in the background. They always caught him, and Harry would wake up gasping and crying, feeling more tired than he had in the first place. 

Sirius didn’t seem to know what to do. Whenever he came into the bedroom, Harry would fake sleep until he left. The man would leave a plate of food with a heating charm next to his bed, which Harry would barely touch. The sick feeling he’d woken up with on the trial day had only worsened, until Harry’s stomach felt like a writhing mass of snakes. He couldn’t possibly eat.

After two days of this, however, Sirius had had enough. He came into the bedroom without knocking and sat down next to the pile of blankets that contained Harry.

“Harry, we need to talk.” Sirius said firmly. Harry ignored him, trying to feign sleep. If he didn’t get a response, hopefully the man would leave.

“I’m not going anywhere until you say something, Harry.” Sirius sighed. “And I know you’re not asleep. Could you poke your head out and have a word with your godfather?” He put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. He flinched away from the touch.

After Harry realised Sirius  really wasn’t leaving anytime soon, he reluctantly poked his head out of the duvet. Sirius smiled at the sight of him, but it was full of sadness.

“Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.” Sirius said. “Are you still upset about the trial, or is it something else?”

“I can’t stop thinking about them. ” Harry said bitterly. “I can’t stop remembering.” 

“Oh, Harry.” Sirius gently mussed his hair. Harry didn’t shy away from the contact this time.

“I’ve just gotten some good news, though.” Sirius said softly. Harry pulled back, looking at him curiously. “They’ve been convicted.”

“Oh.” Harry knew that he should feel happy, but he didn’t. He still felt sad and empty. 

“I thought I would feel better if that happened.” Harry confided miserably. “I thought they’d go away.”

“Go away?” Sirius asked, confused.

“I hear them all the time. Calling me a freak, a waste of space.” Harry looked at the floor, unable to look his godfather in the eyes. Sirius always looked unbearably upset when Harry said those kinds of things.

“Will it ever stop?” he asked desperately. “How do I make them go away?”

Sirius sighed. “It never goes away completely, love.” Harry’s shoulders slumped. 

“They get quieter though.” Sirius tilted Harry’s chin up so they were looking each other in the eyes. “My mum’s voice did. Even if it doesn’t go away, it gets easier. I promise.” Harry felt a sudden pang of guilt. He’d been fighting his godfather for all these months, trying to not talk about how he’d felt. In the chaos, he’d forgotten Sirius had gone through the same thing. Maybe he would have understood.

“I’m sorry,” Harry whispered. Sirius squeezed his shoulder and gave him a gentle smile.

“You don’t need to apologise!” Sirius said. “You’ve been hurting. I’m just glad you’re finally talking to me, okay?” Harry smiled gratefully.

“What do you hear her saying?” Harry cringed as soon as he said it. It was probably too personal of a question.

“Mostly the old Black family motto.” Sirius said easily. Harry relaxed; he clearly wasn’t upset.

Sirius sat up straight, jutting out his chin and screwing up his nose. "Toujours purs, Sirius!” he screeched in a ridiculous impression of a posh woman, before breaking out into laughter. Even Harry smiled.

“It helps to joke about it.” Sirius told him.. “It makes them less scary. You’re probably not ready to joke about it yet, but maybe you will be someday.”

“That would be nice.” Harry couldn’t see himself laughing about the Dursleys any time soon, but maybe he would be able to someday. 

“In the meantime, you need to see a Mind Healer.” Sirius said with uncharacteristic sternness.

“Sirius, no!” Harry didn’t want to spill his darkest secrets to another stranger. It had been horrible enough to say everything to the court, and he had no desire to repeat that experience.

“You can’t just sit in bed for days, Harry. It’s not healthy.” Sirius ran a hand through his hair, exasperated.

“Can’t I just talk to you, instead?” Harry begged.

“You haven’t been doing that for the past few months. How do I know you will this time?” Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I promise I will. I’ll answer all your questions, and we can talk about all of it.” Harry looked at him with wide, pleading eyes. “Just give me a chance?”

Sirius sighed, and Harry knew he’d won. “Fine. But if you retreat into yourself like this again I’m taking you to a Mind Healer, no matter what you think of it. Understood?” Harry nodded vigorously. It was at times like this that he remembered Sirius was his guardian, and could be strict when he needed to be. 

“Now, how about you shower and then we eat breakfast?” Sirius said. “There’s a surprise waiting for you on the kitchen table!”

“What is it?” Harry asked eagerly. Sirius shook his head. “Shower first, then come and see.”

He washed quickly, eager to see what his godfather had in store. He came downstairs and saw that Sirius had bought an assortment of pastries for breakfast. A wide grin broke out across Harry’s face.

“Thanks!” he said, walking over to grab a croissant. Sirius laughed. 

“That’s not the surprise! That is.” He pointed towards a thick envelope addressed in emerald green ink.

Mr H. Potter

The Blue Bedroom

16 Victoria Road

Redbridge

London

“No way!” Harry exclaimed, picking up the letter with trembling fingers. He scanned the acceptance letter and list of necessary supplies, barely containing his glee. Now it was obvious he wasn’t a Squib!

“When are we gonna go to Diagon Alley and get everything?” Harry asked eagerly. Sirius smiled at him. 

“Hold your horses! We’ll go in the next few days. Your parents will want to come, too.” Harry knew this meant that he would have to see Ollie, but even that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. He was going to Hogwarts!

Even though he’d had a difficult few months, the letter was like a symbol of hope. Harry could start to leave the Dursleys behind. They were in prison, and he was finally rid of them for good. Hopefully, they would fade away, like Sirius had said, and he could start this new chapter of his life at Hogwarts.

Chapter Text

“Wake up Harry! We’re going to Diagon Alley!” Jasmine shouted in Harry’s ear. He winced.

“I’m awake, calm down!” He said, fumbling around for his glasses. He had woken up a while ago, but had been lazing in bed. “We aren’t going yet, Mum and Dad won’t be awake for ages.”

“No, they are.” Jasmine said, bouncing up and down on the side of his bed. “Ollie’s the only one still sleeping.” Harry rolled his eyes. His brother was not a morning person. 

They went down to breakfast, where Lily and James were already eating. Their father was telling Lily a story about his first trip to Diagon Alley for school supplies.

“I wanted to buy everything in Gryffindor colours!” he said with a laugh. “I was so disappointed when my mother made me wait.”

“What house do you think you’ll be in, Harry?” Jasmine asked.

“He’ll be a Gryffindor, just like his mum and dad!” James said, sipping his coffee. Lily rolled her eyes.

“I see him as more of a Ravenclaw,” she said thoughtfully. “You don’t end up in a house just because of who your family are, James!”

“Where do you think you’ll go, then, Harry?” James asked. Harry wasn’t sure; he supposed Ravenclaw would fit him, considering the amount of books he read. Gryffindor probably wouldn’t be too bad, either. He wasn’t that keen on Hufflepuff, though, and he didn’t think he’d end up in Slytherin, either. From what Harry had heard, everyone in there was a Death Eater. Why would he want to be sorted there?

“I’d be happy with either.” Harry said truthfully. Lily nodded approvingly.

“What time are we meeting Sirius?” he asked. 

“In about an hour, I think.” James said, checking his watch. “I’d better go drag your brother out of bed, then.” 

“Harry, did you bring your robes from Sirius’ house?” Lily asked. He nodded. “Good. You two go and get changed after you finish eating.”

“Mum, what house do you think I’d be in?” Jasmine asked. 

“Ravenclaw.” she said without a hint of hesitation. “Although, you’d make a good Gryffindor, considering all the stunts you pull!”

One hour later, The Potters were all sitting in the Leaky Cauldron waiting for Sirius. Harry was proud that he had barely stumbled while stepping out of the fireplace this time. All of the trips between his parents and Sirius’ houses meant he was finally adjusting to Floo powder. 

“Harry!” Sirius said, ruffling his hair. “Good to see you.”

“Yeah, you too.” he smiled at his godfather. 

“Are you boys excited to go Hogwarts shopping?” Sirius asked. Harry nodded eagerly. Ollie just shrugged.

“I’d like it more if people left me alone.” he muttered, staring at the table sullenly. They’d only been in the Leaky Cauldron for about five minutes, but three people had already come up to them to shake Ollie’s hand. 

“I’ll keep them away, don’t you worry!” Sirius said brightly. “My dazzlingly good looks charm all the witches and wizards, no one will be paying attention to you.” 

Ollie didn’t respond, but Harry noticed the corners of his lips twitch. Sirius rarely failed to cheer someone up. 

“Where are we off to first?” his godfather asked. 

“Oh, Madam Malkins, I think,” Lily said, scanning through the list. “We need to get the boys’ Hogwarts robes fitted.” Harry tried not to groan. He hated robe fittings.

“I’ll pop down to Gringotts and get the money, then.” James said, getting up from the table. “I’ll meet you at the store!”

Harry reluctantly made his way through Diagon Alley to Madam Malkin’s Robes For All Occasions. The shop was almost the exact same as it had been on Harry’s first visit, just a bit busier. There was a group of witches standing by the rack and flicking through the robes, giggling loudly, and a small, red-headed girl was being fitted on a stool in the back.

“You two, over here.” Madam Malkin hurried Ollie and Harry over to where the girl was standing. Her eyes widened slightly.

“Are you the Potter twins?” she glanced between them. Harry assumed she was trying to figure out which one of them was Ollie.

“That we are. I’m Oliver, but you can call me Ollie.” He said with a smile, reaching out a hand. The girl shook it. 

The difference was like night and day. Ollie was actually being polite and cheerful instead of his usual miserable self. Harry felt like he was actually meeting the famed Boy-Who-Lived, not the surly brother he was used to. Ollie even managed to look graceful while a shop assistant was throwing a robe over his head - an impressive feat.

Suddenly, Harry noticed Susan staring at him and realised he hadn’t introduced himself yet.

“I’m Harry.” he said quickly, trying to replicate Ollie’s smile. It came out as more of a grimace; the shop assistant had just stabbed a pin into his arm.

“I’m Susan. Susan Bones.” The girl said, politely ignoring the look on his face.

“Any relation to Amelia Bones?” Ollie asked. “I think my Dad works with her.”

“Yeah, she’s my auntie.” Susan said. They started talking about the DMLE, which Harry didn’t understand at all. It was at times like this that he really felt the gaps caused by his Muggle upbringing. A year wasn’t nearly enough to catch up on all of the intricacies of the wizarding world, no matter how many books Harry read.

After what felt like an eternity, the robe fitting was finally over and they were allowed to shop for the rest of their belongings. They dragged Jasmine away from the bookstore(“I know what you’re like, sweetie, we won’t be out for hours!”) and visited the apothecary. Harry immediately decided he hated it there; it smelt awful, and far too many dead things were staring at him. 

“You’ve got a lot to live up to, you know.” James said as they paid for their items. “Your mum’s a genius at Potions. She was top of her class!” Lily blushed.

“I don’t think they’ll have much luck with Snivellus teaching them.” Sirius muttered. “Miserable bastard-” Lily cuffed him around the head.

“Don’t be so childish, Sirius!” she scolded, while Sirius rubbed his head. “He’s going to be their Potions professor, and I won’t have the boys disrespecting him because of anything you’ve been telling them.” She sent a dark look at Harry and Ollie. “If either of you ever call Professor Snape that name, you’ll sorely regret it.”

“Yes, Mum.” they said nervously.

Their final stop before Flourish and Blotts was the wand store, Ollivanders. The magical energy in the store was palpable as soon as you breathed in the dusty air. It reminded Harry of the sensation he got in his body before he blew something up - electrical and slightly wild.

“Good afternoon.” Harry flinched. A white-haired man with large, pale eyes had snuck up behind them, presumably Mr Ollivander. Ollie looked equally surprised.

“Oliver Potter.” Ollie seemed to shrink under the man’s unnerving gaze. “Harry Potter.” That piercing look was turned to Harry, next.

“It seems like only yesterday I had your parents in here.” Mr Ollivander reflected. He looked at Lily and James, who were standing nervously in the corner. “Lily. I remember the day I sold you that wand. It’s perfectly designed for Charms. Ten and a quarter inches, made of willow. Swishy.” Harry’s mother nervously laughed.

“And James. Mahogany. Eleven inches, pliable.” James nodded, absentmindedly twisting his wand between his fingers.

“Oh, and how can I forget Sirius Black? Stiff, twelve inches and made of dogwood.”

“That’s right.” Sirius said with a smile. Ollivander didn’t react. Harry was finding him creepier and creepier by the minute.

“I remember every wand I’ve ever sold, boys.” Mr Ollivander said. It seemed he was talking to himself more than anyone. “Every wand. Now it’s time for me to find yours. Who’s first?”

“I’ll go first.” Ollie said, jutting his chin out. Of course he didn’t bother asking, Harry thought. It seemed his brother’s manners extended to everyone other than Harry. 

“Alright. Hold out your wand arm, please.” Ollie complied, and the strangest process Harry had ever witnessed began. 

At first, Mr Ollivander used a silvery measuring tape, which acted of its own accord like the one at Madam Malkin’s, to measure Ollie. Then, he started giving the boy wands, most of which Mr Ollivander instantly snatched back and placed aside.

“Why is it taking so long?” Ollie complained as the pile of wands grew larger and larger.

“The wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter.” Mr Ollivander said vaguely. “You can’t rush the process. We’ll find your wand soon enough, don’t you worry.”

After a few more minutes, the wandmaker did indeed find the one.

“How about this? Blackthorn and dragon heartstring, ten and a half inches, unyielding…” Ollie picked it up, and gave it a wave. Large silver bubbles floated from the end, before popping with a loud bang. Everyone cheered and clapped.

“Wonderful!” Mr Ollivander cried. “I believe we’ve found your wand, Mr Potter.” Ollie smiled, twirling it around. 

“Now, it’s time for you, my boy.” The man fixed his gaze onto Harry again. After he was measured, Mr Ollivander handed Harry wand after wand. He could tell none of them were right - they didn’t give him the tingling feeling that he’d come to associate with magic. Mr Ollivander always seemed to know, too, and would quickly snatch away the wands away from Harry.

It was taking a lot longer for a wand to choose him than it had for Ollie. A sizable pile of wands had formed, which only seemed to spur Ollivander on.

“Difficult customer, eh?” he said distractedly, peering at the labels on his shelves.

 Harry noticed his brother was getting antsy in the background.

“Can I go and look at the new Nimbus? Please?” he whined. 

“Oh fine, but leave me with your wand so we can pay.” Lily sighed. Ollie quickly scurried out of the shop. 

As soon as he left, a thoughtful look crossed Mr Ollivander’s face. 

“This could work.” The wandmaker pulled a new case off of the shelf. “Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple. It’s an unusual combination, but perhaps…” He handed the wand to Harry.

He immediately knew this had to be the one. A warmth spread from his fingertips all the way down his arm. He brought the wand down, almost instinctively, watching as a trail of red and gold sparks flew through the air. His family all clapped with delight, and Mr Ollivander cheered.

“Very good, very good!” He peered down at the wand with a frown. “But how curious it is that the wand should choose you …” Harry felt his excitement fade, and he was filled with trepidation.

“Why?” he asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

“See, that wand has a brother. The phoenix that provided the feather of your wand core provided one other feather. Just one. It resides in the wand of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, my boy.” Ollivander hummed, and a sick sense of dread filled Harry. Why did he have the brother wand of Voldemort?

“Very curious, indeed, when that wand’s brother gave your very own brother his infamous scar…” Mr Ollivander stared into the distance, clearly lost in thought. “I’d have thought…never mind.”

They quickly left the wand shop after that. Harry could tell his parents and Sirius were just as unsettled as he was.

“That guy was a proper weirdo.” Harry muttered. Sirius laughed weakly. “Spot on, Harry.” 

“It’s probably nothing, right?” Lily asked anxiously. James nodded vigorously.

“Yeah, just a weird coincidence. Let's try not to think about it.” They were trying to hide their unease, but Harry didn’t miss the worried looks they were sending his way. 

They all stopped outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies, where Ollie and some other boys were all gawking over the broom on display. Harry couldn’t help but stare, too. It was a beautiful broom - the new Nimbus 2000.

“Dad, please can I get this for my birthday?” Ollie begged. James shook his head. 

“You’ve got a perfectly good Cleansweep, it’s only two years old!”

“But Dad, it’s so outdated!” Ollie whined. “This has the latest technology! I need it!” James sighed.

“You really don’t need a new broom, Ollie. If you make it onto the Quidditch team, then we can talk. Same for you, Harry.”

“But you’re not even allowed to try out until second year!” Ollie complained. “That’s ages away!”

“Well, If you train hard enough, you’ll get a Nimbus eventually. Now, stop staring. We need to go pick up your books.” Ollie reluctantly dragged himself away from the display. Harry followed, also struggling to tear his eyes away from the beautiful broomstick.

Naturally, they spent a long time in Flourish and Blotts. They bought all of Harry and Ollie’s textbooks, plus a few new books for Jasmine to read. Harry also picked up Hogwarts: A History to read through. The clerk had recommended it, and he wanted to find out more about the school from someone other than his parents and Sirius.

“Now, before we leave, how would you boys like an early birthday present?” James asked. Harry and Ollie looked at him eagerly. “The list says you can have an owl, a newt or a cat as a pet. How would you like to pick one out?”

“Thank you so much!” Harry said. He’d always wanted a pet, but the Dursleys had hated animals. Even when Dudley had begged them for a dog, his aunt and uncle had refused. 

“What do you think I should get?” Harry asked Sirius as they walked through Diagon Alley to the pet stores. 

“I’d say an owl. They’re useful for carrying mail.” his godfather said. “Newts went out of style years ago. A cat wouldn’t be too bad, though…” 

They arrived at Eeyelops Owl Emporium, a dark store full of rustling, hooting birds. A beautiful snowy owl quickly caught Harry’s eye. He couldn’t stop staring at her - she was beautiful. Harry ran through possible names while his parents paid for her and a small, tawny owl that Ollie had picked out. He definitely needed something elegant for such a regal bird. 

“Well, I’ll be off.” Sirius said. “I’ll see you all at the birthday party tomorrow?” Harry hugged him.

“See you then!”

Much to Harry’s delight, his eleventh birthday was even better than his tenth. Last year, he’d felt like an intruder at Ollie's birthday celebration. He hadn’t known any of the traditions or any of the people, and had felt very out of place.

 This year, however, was leaps and bounds better. Harry knew the people there, and had even invited friends of his own. Dan wasn’t allowed to be there, of course, but he still had Neville there to keep him company. People actually knew what presents to buy Harry, and he wasn’t forced to tag along with Ollie all day. All in all, it was a great day.

Later that night, once all the guests had left, Harry was sitting on the balcony with Jasmine. The sun was setting behind the hills around Potter manor, and a gentle breeze was tousling his hair. Harry sighed with contentment.

“I can’t believe it’s been a year since I met you.” Jasmine said. “It feels like I’ve known you forever!”

“Yeah, it feels that way for me too.” Harry said with a smile. He couldn’t have imagined having anyone like her when he’d been stuck at the Dursleys. Going to Hogwarts was going to be difficult - he’d only get to see her in the holidays.

“You’re going to write to me loads, yeah?” Harry asked, trying not to sound desperate. He was scared that he wouldn’t make any friends. Jasmine was his lifeline.

“Of course! And you’d better write to me, too.” she said fiercely. “I want to hear all about it. You’re learning magic! It’s gonna be wicked! ” Harry grinned at her.

His life had changed so much in the last year. Even though his relationship with the rest of the Potters was still delicate, he had Jasmine, now. Not only that, he had Sirius, he had Neville, he even had Adhara. Harry wasn’t alone anymore.

He was going to Hogwarts. He was learning magic. And best of all, he had a family.