Title: The Medusa Touch
Fandom: Harry Potter Books
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to JK Rowling, I do not own Harry Potter, but this story/fanfiction is entirely mine. No money is made from this but reviews are greatly appreciated! XD
Warnings: Abandonment (emotional and physical), emotional neglect, right reasons/wrong actions, supervisory neglect, isolation, insecurity,
Main Pairing: (Potentially, but undecided) Harry/Draco
Notes: Currently being rewritten, had to change Harry's twin from Elliot to Ethan after meeting a guy who has ruined the name for me.
Full Summary: A living Horcrux. A Secret of the Darkest Art. A scared little boy, who has been abandoned and left alone to stand in the shadow cast by his younger twin brother, 'the-boy-who-lived'. Isolated for what the Order of the Phoenix believes dwells deep, dormant inside of him, Harry grows up wondering why.
Why do his parents choose Ethan? Why does the order look at him with such guarded eyes?
But they've made a grave mistake, Harry is much more than they believe. The eldest son of Potter distances himself from his family, becoming colder with his words and seeking solitude in the forests of his Father's Estate. There's company and escape in books, they cannot hurt him like people. . .
Until one fated trip to Diagon Alley, where he meets a silver-haired boy and perhaps the world isn't such a lonely place after all.
. . .
The Medusa Touch
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Prologue: Dark Promises
Two children are more exciting than one, that's what everyone told James when Lily was pregnant. They may have neglected to say just how much more exhausting twins could be as well.
Nether the less, the two boys cuddled against his chest as he lay on the living room sofa, meant more to James than the stars in the sky. Their soft, little breaths warm the crook of his neck causing James to smile fondly. Nine months old and they were already trouble. Well, Ethan is anyway. The usual suspect remains surprisingly quiet tonight as he snuggles next to his dark-haired brother, showing no improvement in his normally unorthodox sleeping patterns.
Whenever and wherever it suited the little boy, he would burst out in tears and nothing could console the poor thing. James has been assured once, twice and then again that this kind of behaviour is completely and utterly ordinary for very young children, yet as a parent, he cannot help but worry.
Lily worries too, although James knows strong-minded wife never admit it. Only time will tell. As with their oldest Harry. He quietened down after his first month and has barely made a sound since. James thanked the universe for small blessings. But then again, as the months began to pass and Harry continued his vow of silence, James wondered and worried what had caused such extremes in his two sons.
He brushed the thought from his mind. For now, the Potter Household held an easy balance.
The evening drags lazily on and James snoozes, awoken only as Lily tiredly trudges through the front door and into the Kitchen. He listens with a smile on his lips as she hums sweetly, deciding to throw together whatever is left in their desolate cupboards.
Lily had promised earnestly that tomorrow when James was at work and she had some time on her hands, she would attempt to go shopping. But who is Lily kidding? Time was the one thing they never seem to have anymore. No time to themselves, no time since the twins and no time since the prophecy. Not to mention, neither one of them had survived through a night's sleep without interruption.
James muses resignedly, looking down expectantly at Ethan like he could explain himself.
Half an hour or so later, Lilly calls for dinner and James carries his two sons upstairs to their cots. He kisses their foreheads goodnight and stands to look out the window. The view of Godric's Hollow hasn't changed. It is the same street, no different from any other evening. James closes the baby-blue curtains and turns away to rejoin Lily downstairs.
Would he have done anything differently, if he knew what little peace this evening had left?
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The flames burnt with colours Lily had never seen before. She struggled, dragged, crawled her way up the stairs, crying out and tensing up every time she knocked her broken legs. Heat cut her flesh like knifes, but she continued up to where her husband had disappeared in the all-consuming smoke. The fires cast a yellow-orange hue on everything around her but Lily dared not touch. Knowing it would only scorch and burn.
By the time Lily reached the top, the only sounds she could hear was the crackling of wood. The sigh of relief on her lips was quickly replaced with pure, untameable horror at the sight of James' lifeless body. He had been struck down outside the nursery door, wand resting inches away from out-stretched arm. She crawled closer and checked for a pulse. It was weak and thready but alive, very much alive. Thank Merlin.
The smoke built with every second, hanging just over half-way down from the ceiling. A soulless, ashy barrier to block the young moonlight. Lily craned her neck to search her little boys' bedroom. It was wrecked and Lily's heart broke as she feared the worst. The shadow that had attacked her, snapped her legs and shattered her chest, had gone after her sons.
She struggled through the debris, the dust that was once her home. Battling the exhaustion before her broken body gave out completely.
Stretching her arm out in the direction of their cots, Lily cried helplessly. The house whined, creaked, and shifted as it burnt away. Smoke drifted into her lungs and Lily coughed, spluttered out each breath.
Twisting to lay on her back, Lily stared tearfully up at the hidden ceiling. Confusion danced her across features as moments later black hair and silvery eyes waned in and out of focus, then finally faded away with her consciousness.
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Lily woke up four days later to the sight of her husband slumped over her hospital bed, his fingers laced between her own. Closing her eyes, the young Witch let out a small sigh but her shallow breath hitched as memories of fire and pain and heat came flooding back. She screamed. James jolted up, almost falling from his chair in the process, but a heartbeat later his arms are wrapped round her shaking chest.
"James, our boys?" She croaked, lips chapped and throat dry.
"Lily, they're fine. I promise. Sirius is watching them at the moment." He paused. "Darling, I've been so worried. The healers said you'd make a full recover, but when you weren't waking up I- I feared..."
"James." She cried softly into his shoulder.
Their moment of peace was broken as the door swung open and Dumbledore entered, followed swiftly by Remus.
Lily reluctantly relinquished her hold on James but settled instead for holding his hand like their lives depended on it. The Headmaster nodded in greeting and wasted little time on pleasantries.
"I apologise for being so abrupt, but now you're awake Lily, there is something I must discuss with both of you." His sorrowful tone left nothing to chance, causing Lily to let out a small whimper.
"Well?" James demanded, half-angry half-fearful.
"I have no doubts that the shadow which attacked you four nights ago was none other than Voldemort. His dark magic lingers in the remains of your house, but it's only an echo. He came for your sons, and even thou I cannot be certain how, he was unable to kill either of them. It's my belief Ethan was the one who deflected the dark lord's magic back on himself- destroying his mortal body. But in this, something darker and more dangerous has arisen. Tell me, have either of you heard of a horcrux?"
Lily shook her head numbly and Albus continued.
"It can be created when a person does the unthinkable and takes a life. Voldemort's soul was already undone at the seams. When the killing curse rebound and hit him instead, it was unable to take the strain and a piece was torn off from the master soul. Unable to bind to Ethan due to his powers, I'm afraid it attached itself to the first living thing it could find." He stopped briefly, hesitating and softening his tone. "Lily, James. . . I'm so sorry. It latched onto Harry. The scar he now bares on his forehead is proof of something darker within."
Lily stared in shock and fear and anger.
"So get rid of it!" She yelled.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Removing it could- would mean destroying it completely, irreversible damaging Harry's soul in the process. He's too young to survive."
Remus looked uncertain, a frown darkening his face. "The Dark Lord is gone, how is it still there?"
"That is the unfortunate purpose of a horcrux. Voldemort will return and he'll use his other horcruxes to do so. But I doubt he realises what he's done to Harry, we can use this to our advantage. It is clear the prophecy speaks of Ethan, he will be the one to vanquish the Dark Lord-"
"-then what of Harry?" Lily shrieked. "Will Ethan have to vanquish his brother too?"
"It may not come to that." Albus replied calmly.
"But it could." James retorted heatedly. "And what if this thing turns Harry dark, turns him to their side. What then?"
Albus sighed wearily. "Then when the time comes. We may not have the choice to spare him."
"Get out." James snarled.
"I only offer the tru-"
"-Get out!" Lily screamed, hands covering her ears. "You promised we'd be safe. That Godric's hollow was safe from- from him! Now Harry has... is..." Her eyes lit up with bright flames. "You liar!"
Albus lowered his gaze, hovering just by the door before turning away. "I'm sorry, I truly am."
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