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Neither James nor Lily had been listening to what Dumbledore was saying, to busy looking over their twin boys Nigel and Harry (named after Lily’s favorite crazy uncle and James’ grandfather respectively). Dumbledore seemed not to notice as he rambled on and on.
“…Petunia, of course, will be happy to-” Dumbledore was saying, when Lily’s head shot up.
“Wait, what? Petunia? What’s my sister got to do with this? She wasn’t attacked tonight too, was she?”
“No, no, dear, she’s fine,” Dumbledore said, a puzzled look on his face. “She’ll just be happy to take him in, is what I was saying.”
“Take who in?” James asked.
“Why, Harry, of course.”
“And why would my sister be taking in Harry?”
“Well, you obviously can’t raise him,” Dumbledore said.
“Why not!?”
“You won’t have the time, between insuring young Nigel is prepared for his destiny of defeating Voldemort for good and tracking down the remaining Death Eaters with the rest of the Order, I mean.” Dumbledore took the Potter’s stunned silence as agreement, and continued. “Harry will be sent to your sister Petunia, and she will raise him alongside her own son while you raise the Boy-Who-Lived.”
“The What Now?” Lily said.
“The Boy-Who-Lived,” Dumbledore repeated. “It is the title that the press will call young Nigel, of course.”
“Why would the press be calling Nigel that?” James asked.
“Well, that’s what we’ll tell them.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, we can’t not tell them!” Dumbledore argued. “The people deserve to know that Voldemort has been defeated.”
“So tell them Voldemort has been defeated,” James said. “You don’t have to tell them it was Nigel.”
“They’ll begin asking how.”
“Then tell them it was you,” Lily said. “Or tell them it was the wards we have on this place. You certainly don’t need to mention one of our children, and how do you even know it was Nigel that vanquished Voldemort anyway.”
“The mark on his forehead.”
“They both have mark on their foreheads,” James said.
“Yes, but young Nigel has a ‘V’ shaped mark. V for Voldemort.”
“And Harry has the rune sowilo on his forehead, meaning victory,” Lily said. “Basing your theory that either of our boys had anything to do with Voldemort’s demise on a mark they have on their forehead that’s likely to be completely healed within a month is absolutely ridiculous.”
“But-”
“No buts! Out! Get out of my house, Albus Dumbledore, you crazy old coot!” Lily shoved Dumbledore out of the house. As far as the Potters were concerned, that was the end of it.
It wasn’t.
The next morning, James was taking a drink of coffee when he read the headlines on the Daily Prophet. He spit it out, spraying the paper, stared for several seconds and disbelief and then yelled for his wife.
You-Know-Who Defeated!
Nigel Potter named Boy-Who-Lived.
Lily took one look at the headline, and muttered, “I’m going to kill that crazy old bastard.”
The article itself wasn’t any better. Dumbledore had went and done exactly what they hadn’t wanted him too, and told everyone that their oldest son had defeated Voldemort. There was even a picture, taken several months ago, but edited to include the marks on both boys’ foreheads.