Nightmares of Reality

by scion.of.morbidity

The Potters were living the dream: they had two powerful sons, one beautiful daughter and a public ready to bow to their every whim. But Harry's dreams aren't the happy kind. NOT a Wrong Boy Who Lived fic. NO Neglected!Harry.

1. Chapter 1

Edited: 30/1/12

Title: Nightmares of Reality

Author: Claire (.morbidity)

Rating: T

Genre: Family/Tragedy

Pairings: Probably no pairings. I think. A part from the obvious ones – e.g. between married couples. But a Pairing Warning: none of the relationships will be nice. They'll probably all come crashing down. The main ones that I've figured out are LE/JP and LE/SS.

In case you were wondering, no: there will not be a Harry/Lily pairing.

Warnings: Possibly eventual murder, insanity, character death, torture, but for the first chapter nothing spectacular, and naturally spoilers

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR, especially the first scene where I've copied almost straight from Deathly Hallows, and the Ollivander's scene, where I copied from Philosopher's Stone and the Hogwarts letter, also from PS.

Extended Summary: The Potters were living the dream: they had two powerful sons, one beautiful daughter and a public ready to bow to their every whim. Lily works, while James cares for their twin sons and daughter. Ethan, their son, killed Voldemort but he has grown up a sweet child, away from all the media. The life of the Potters is truly a dream come true. But Harry's dreams aren't the happy kind.

-NoR-

So, here's my first chaptered fic. I don't like the current name, and will probably eventually change it. I'll probably also change the summary as the plot develops, so be warned. Other than that, enjoy!

-NoR-

Chapter 1
He forced the door open, cast aside the chair and boxes hastily piled against it with one lazy wave of his wand… and there she stood, a child in her arms. At the sight of him, she dropped her son into the cot behind her, where the other lay sleeping, and threw her arms wide, as if this would help, as if in shielding them from sight she hoped to be chosen instead…

"Not my sons, not my sons, please not Harry and Ethan!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now…"

"Not my sons, please no, take me, kill me instead -"

"This is my last warning -"

"Not Harry or Ethan! Please… have mercy… have mercy… Not my sons! Not my sons! Please – I'll do anything -"

Sighing, he gave up on reasoning with the silly woman, flicking her away from the cot and stunning her. He could have killed her, but as the father was out he had been unable to kill him, and he much wished for Severus to be rewarded in some sense for his loyalty… If he could not kill James Potter, it would be prudent to leave Lily Potter alive…

Besides, he could feel the pleasure mount inside him at her horrified face when she discovered his mercy; when she had to tell her beloved husband her failure to protect their children…

The red light flashed around the room and she dropped to the floor. The children had not cried all this time: one lay still sleeping while the other, the one with green eyes, could stand, clutching the bars of the cot, and he looked up into the intruder's face with a kind of bright interest, perhaps thinking that it was his father who hid beneath the cloak, making more pretty lights, and his mother would pop up any moment, laughing –

He focused on the sleeping child, pointed the wand very carefully into the boy's face, willing to deal with this one first: he wanted to see it happen, the destruction of these two, inexplicable dangers. The child with green eyes began to cry, waking the other, whose brown eyes whimpered before following the other's lead: the green eyed child had seen that he was not James. He did not like them crying, he had never been able to stomach the small ones' whining in the orphanage, and now both boys were starring at him, bawling their eyes out. He absently wondered which was which. 'Harry and Ethan' the mother had called them. Brown eyes or green eyes… He wondered the name of the one he was about to kill-

"Avada Kedavra!"

And then he broke: he was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the children and mother were trapped, the green eyed child screaming while the other lay passed out, but far away… far away…

"Mummy!" Harry Potter sat bolt upright, sweating, screaming. The flash of green, the flash of red, the broken feeling…

No, no, no…

It was the nightmare. Just that same old nightmare. Just a dream, just a dream…

Lily came rushing into her son's room, prepared to fend off any beast from a wet bed to a monster under the bed to a Death Eater, almost hoping that for once it wouldn't be the same old-

"Mummy, I had another nightmare."

Harry's mother seemed to sigh, resigning herself to the fact that a screaming Harry would only ever mean a nightmared Harry. Her job now was to comfort her terrified son. Climbing onto the bed, she wrapped her arms around his five-year-old head, rocking him back and forth as she hummed a haunting lullaby she couldn't quite remember the origins or lyrics of.

As she finished the last notes, Harry realised that he had stopped shaking. He wasn't surprised. He and his mother had been through this act so many times the lines came naturally.

"The same?" his mother's voice was breathy after the nodded into her chest. Lily wasn't surprised. Harry hadn't had another nightmare in his life. She'd have thought it would become less scary after having the same nightmare, over and over again, but at least once a week Harry cried out in the night and Lily, coming home late from work, was always the one to rush into his room and calm him down.

At first, she had woken James too. As the boys were at that point sharing a room, they had taken it in turns to calm each boy. But when the nightmares had started, they came every night and they'd thought both boys were having them. But then after a month of specialists both muggle and wizard the nightmares had died down to every two days or so, and they had isolated Harry as the only one having the nightmares. They had tried silencing charms and the like, but Ethan had always seemed to sense his brother's terror. Thankfully when Harry had moved into another room Ethan, at least, had stopped waking.

Lily and James had decided to take it in turns to comfort Harry when he woke up, but James slept like the dead. Lily would wake up anyway, and have to wake James up herself. When she put silencing wards around herself, Harry had turned up in their room in the night and she had pulled him close while James snored away.

So Lily had taken the burden on herself.

It was really the only thing she shared with Harry. During the day, Harry hated reading, hated the classical music she put on for her sons, hated watching her paint and draw on the weekends, hated sitting still and hated just about anything she liked. In fact, during the day it was James Harry latched onto, James he came to when he was hurt, James he begged a new toy from and James he flew with. Lily was too… still for Harry. And Lily was rarely there during the day: she always had work. James was always there for her boys.

Ethan was much the same… except he seemed more interested in her artworks. Art was something Lily had always loved, and something she had never quite given up. She wasn't particularly good, but nonetheless she loved to spend her Sundays outside drawing or painting, with Ethan next to her copying her every move. She drew beautiful things like the trees and forest nearby, or Padfoot and Harry playing by the pond in the garden, or James and Harry flying in the clouds, never quite capturing them.

But then on Monday it was back to work, while James stayed home with maybe Padfoot or Moony (depending on who was working that day) and looked after Harry and Ethan. She would never have expected to trust the Marauders with the safety of her sons, however she had imagined them working even less. Even now Moony and Padfoot only worked part-time, sharing the workload between the Monday to Friday week. The two had started off shaky in the world of law, especially when Remus' condition was made known to the public, however now, with the backup of Sirius' fortune from his mother's recent death, their business was flourishing, their firm being one of the most wealthy in the United Kingdom. In fact, their support of magical creatures had done wonders for witches and wizards with 'furry', 'appetite' and various other problems everywhere. Just the other week their firm had for the first time ever, represented a goblin – and won! Lily and the Marauders had celebrated long into the night, drinking too many bottles of firewhiskey to count and thanking heaven that it was a Friday… and that Harry hadn't woken up that night.

During the war, Lily hadn't had time to work. She had been too caught up in the Order and her sons to do anything. However after the shock of Halloween Lily had been offered many positions in high places – mainly due to being the amazing Woman-Who-Lived, along with her Children-Who-Lived. For weeks the public had celebrated her and her sons.

But it hadn't lasted.

Eventually, somehow, the truth had come out. Ethan and Harry had still been loved, of course. But Lily had been treated with suspicion.

Padfoot and Moony had barely won the case when her ability to care for her children had come under scrutiny.

With that, most of the offers had withdrawn, only a few remaining, including one offer for being interviewed once a month at the Witch Weekly. They had offered seven galleons an interview. Lily hadn't been so stupid as to agree.

So now Lily worked at the one place that she had actually been considering that hadn't drawn out. Namely, the research department of the Department of Mysteries. Granted, they demanded ten hours a day for five days a week, with five hours on another day, but they were flexible, allowing her to sleep in after comforting Harry, and leave late enough that she wouldn't be woken up by his screaming, but come home just in time. Another perk of her job was that it allowed her to research that which most concerned her: that night, and Harry's dreams. She was by now one of the top specialists in the Avada Kedavra and curse scars, while she was quite knowledgeable in the science of dreams. Her sleeping patterns might be completely out-of-whack, but hopefully with her research, one day, they wouldn't be.

But for now Lily was holding her son while he drifted in and out of sleep, under the stars charmed like the Great Hall of Hogwarts. This was their connection. The days may be for 'Harry, Ethan and James' and sometimes 'Ethan and Lily', but the nights would always belong to 'Harry and Lily'.

Careful not to wake the sleeping mob of black hair, Lily crept off the bed and out of the room, tracing her fingers over the scar of dead flesh once before she left.

-NoR-

Lily lay still in her bed, feeling the rays of desperate morning sun crawling onto her face. She smiled. She could tell this would be a brilliant day. She could hear James in the kitchen making breakfast, a bird chirping outside and the pattering of footsteps outside her room…

"Mum!"

"Mum!"

"We got it!"

"We got the letter!"

"Our Hogwarts letter!"

"We got it!"

"Dad says we can go to Diagon today!"

"We got our Hogwarts letter!"

"Hogwarts!"

"Letter!"

"Diagon!"

Two eleven-year-old boys jumped onto her bed, barely avoiding her legs as they bounced about in excitement. It brought back memories of when she had got her Hogwarts letter. The excitement, the proof, the joy…

The sorrow at leaving her sister…

Brushing thoughts of Petunia aside, she pushed a smile onto her face.

"Your Hogwarts letter, you say?"

"Yeah! So can we go to Diagon Alley?"
"Please? Dad said we could!"

"And will Padfoot and Moony come too?"

Shushing her sons, Lily climbed out of bed with two not-quite-eleven-year-olds latched to her sides. Making her way, yawning, to the kitchen she saw a smiling James holding a cup of tea in each hand. Giving a tired smile in return, Lily took the cup, giving him a quick kiss, completely ignoring the twins beside her as she nodded and mhmed her way to the table.

Lily wouldn't wake up properly before nine. Even though she now worked a normal working day, with normal times and all, after spending so many years staying up late and waking up much later, the habit kept. Sipping her tea, she drank in its warmth with eyes closed. Around her she could hear the sounds of morning. James was cooking pancakes in celebration of the Hogwarts letters, while the two boys were raiding the cupboard for ice-cream, nutella and maple syrup. She would never quite forgive Padfoot for introducing the boys to the pancake-toppings, but she figured that at Hogwarts, at least, pancakes weren't served everyday… And the staff were unlikely to be as affected by the puppy dog eyes as she and her husband were. At Hogwarts the boys would be getting good, nutritious foods, as long as they didn't find the kitchens. She made a mental note to remind James not to tell the boys were to find them… or give them that stupid map, if he still had it. James swore he didn't, but Lily wouldn't put it past him to 'liberate' it from Filch's office when he came with her when she visited Severus.

"Mummy?" a quiet voice, accompanied with a tug at her pyjamas, caused her to jerk, her tea slopping about. Hissing as a droplet scalded her wrist she quickly put it down, turning with annoyed eyes to the cause of her disturbance.

"Sorry." The little girl flinched back, and Lily's eyes softened.

"It's alright, darling. But what has Mummy told you about speaking to her in the mornings?"

"Don't!" James shouted out across the kitchen, causing the two boys beside him to burst into laughter. They were watching him cook the first pancake intently, waiting for him to flip. Once he had flipped it, the fight would begin on who would get it first.

"Don't be stupid, James. I understand that's hard for you, but please do try. Now, darling, the speaking to Mummy in the mornings rule?"

Ignoring James' mutterings of 'Snape-influenced behaviour' and moving the boys to Durmstrang to avoid the Potions Master, Lily stared at her daughter with what she hoped was reprimanding eyes. She probably did look reprimanding, and quite angry at that, because, as James constantly pointed out, Lily had learnt how to deal out punishments from Severus, but Lily often found it hard to keep up her glare under her children's wide-eyed faces.

"Don't speak to her with hot drinks?" The soft-spoken child whispered, and Lily allowed her face to soften, hugging the strawberry-blonde-haired girl to her chest. Ava had inherited a mix of Lily and Lily's mother's hair it seemed. In the light, it looked like her hair was on fire. However, as she carded her fingers through her daughter's hair, it became obvious the she was James' daughter as well, the hair refusing to sit flat, just growing in a wavy sort of blob, falling in ringlets around her cheeks. Knot after knot, it was as if the hair had never been brushed.

"That's right, darling." Sighing in contentment, Lily leaned back into the hard chair for a second before sitting up straight, three-year-old Ava still in her arms. Watching the boys fight over the silly pancake, Lily smiled. However, they needed to hurry up if they were going to get to Diagon in time before the crowds… and for that matter Ethan need to get his make-up and glamours on.

"Boys…" She spoke up. All eyes focused on her, the pancake forgotten on the plate while James paused from pouring in the batter. "If we're going to get to Diagon Alley early enough, Ethan needs time to put on all the make-up and glamours. Ethan is eating the first pancake."

Harry began to protest immediately, Ethan taking a second to catch onto what had happened before the gloating began.

"But Mum!" Harry yelped, mortally offended, his green eyes screaming. "Ethan had first pancake last time! It's so not fair! Just because he had to get his stupid stuff on… I have to put make-up on too."

But Ethan had already begun piling disgusting amounts of ice-cream and nutella onto his pancake, and James had poured out another.

"Listen to your mother, Harry. Besides, you can have glamours put on you without making a big fuss about it."

Ethan continued to gloat, until he heard the bit about himself making a fuss.

"Hey! I don't make a fuss!" This was a complete lie, but it sparked another argument between the boys, allowing Lily snag a bit of plain pancake from Ethan's plate (and Ava to steal the next from James before Harry realised) before she headed into the pantry to fix herself a bowl of muesli. Settling back down at the table, Lily picked up the Hogwarts letter, hastily shoved back into it's envelope.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Messrs. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you both have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed the necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Well, at least they weren't wasting any parchment by sending us two letters. Lily thought. Looking over the list of equipment, she noted that the history book hadn't changed.

"I hope the book has at least been updated," she mumbled.

"What was that?" James questioned, looking up from the third pancake.

Looking up from the list, Lily answered, "Batty's book is still the history text. I was just saying that I hoped she's updated it since we were kids. Well, I know she has – I remember talking to her about it a few years ago. But that was years ago! And they've changed their cauldron standards again. It's pewter now – remember when there was that one year they insisted everyone bought gold – Severus spent years ranting about the explosions. At least they've finally thought to put a note about nametags – I remember Mum completely forgot, thinking magic would solve any problems involving lost property…" Lily went on talking, while James got himself a piece of toast, and in doing so burning the pancake.

"Dad!" Harry was annoyed, to say the least.

"Sorry, Harry, I got distracted. Now, Ethan since you're done why don't you go get dressed and start putting on your make-up while I make this pancake…"

Lily glanced at the time. They only had half an hour, and she'd only had half her muesli… Taking one last spoonful, she shoved her bowl beside the sink, knowing she would come back to it later.

"No time." She mumbled, her mouth still full of food. Hopefully the kids wouldn't notice. "Harry, we'll cook you some pancakes later – first go get dressed. Ava, don't play with your food. You look done with that. Here, give it to me. James, go have a shower…" after a quick glance at the clock, James followed her lead, putting the batter under a charm to keep it fresh, and running out of the kitchen. Harry drooped up to his bedroom, looking quite morose, while Lily herself wrestled Ava's plate away from her.

"No pancakes for girls who play with their food, Ava… You can have it later for goodness' sake. Now, we've got to get you ready." Ignoring her daughter's teary hazel eyes, Lily cleaned the kitchen with a charm, before levitating her daughter to the bathroom.

Being known by every wizard over the age of two, the Potter family, especially after Ava's birth, tried to avoid crowds as much as possible. Having a baby around just wasn't safe when you were being crushed by mobs of people. Lily herself always made sure to dye her hair, powder her face and wear a different style of clothes every time she went out, so people couldn't tell it was her. This lead to her owning a lot of clothes, but mostly she just wore a nondescript black cloak – with a cooling charm in summer. But people were no longer out to openly lynch her anymore – mainly they ignored her.

She still refused to be outside at midday looking like herself.

Added to her make-up was a glamour, just as a protective layer. Most witches wore glamours anyway so it didn't really matter that she did the same. Although some wizards were gifted with the ability to see glamours, they wouldn't notice it as anything out of the ordinary.

James also tended to wear a black cloak and muggle make-up. He, however, avoided glamours – after all, men didn't wear glamours so much. When he did wear one it was over a few small parts of his appearance – oftentimes his hair, as his most prominently recognised feature. But James didn't get so much attention – he hadn't been there. James was only famous by association.

He had done more interviews than Lily – a grand total of two.

The children never wore cloaks – it would have been noted as unusual. However Ava's picture had never appeared in public and the majority of the public didn't even know her hair colour. Lily hadn't let anyone take pictures of her little girl, and whenever Ava was out she had so much make-up and dye on she looked like a different person. Once the little girl had even paraded down Fine Alley with Lily as diplomats from the Kingdom of Persia (never mind that the Kingdom had been abolished twenty years ago, it had been fun pretending) and both had dyed their skin and hair completely black, wearing muggle contacts over their eyes. Lily swore to this day that it was the most fun she'd had in years, and James had never been more proud of her (or so he said). Padfoot had cried, 'we'll make a marauder out of you yet, Lils' and Moony had sat in the background, laughing as he always had. But Lily would never do it again, after all, people may catch on to the fact that she actually had no royal blood at all, and then she'd have to go to the Ministry and… but if she absolutely had to, Lily definitely wouldn't say no to it.

But the Potter family didn't go out much.

Having got her daughter dressed, made-up and charmed, she left her to play in the playpen while she went and had a shower. She was barely under the water before she sprang out, scrambling into her clothes and cosmetics, putting a final glamour on herself before she hurried into the living room. James was already there, attempting to deal with Ethan, while Harry stood sulking in the corner. Sighing, Lily threw a glamour at Ethan, who was to busy fighting James to notice. Making her way over to her other son, she began to charm him. Today Lily and James would be Harry, Ethan and Ava's older siblings. They would be a family of Muggleborns – rare as it was for a whole family to be magical – and their parents would be less than happy about magic. So Tania and Dave Michigan, 22 and 24 respectively were helping their siblings, Sebastian (Harry) and Devlin (Ethan) get their Hogwarts supplies. Their youngest sister, Anika, (or Annie) was seldom parted from Tania, so she was coming too. They had grown up in London, although for the past ten years they had lived in the country. Tania and Roy still lived with their parents, although Roy would soon be heading off on a journey around the world before he settled on a job… Lily sometimes got carried away with the back-stories. This time she would have to remember to actually tell everyone…

Harry and Ethan always wore glamours. Even though there was the risk of people spotting the glamours, if done correctly people would just think they were twins born with the same defect, or something similar. The trick was to glamour the hair so that it encompassed the forehead, or do one eye, glamouring it right over the eyebrow as well. It was a risk, but muggle make-up didn't cover the scars, all that did was make them bleed.

Those dratted scars… what Lily wouldn't give if she could just get rid of them.

Lily finished with the glamours, and gave one last inspection of Harry's makeup. Nodding in approval, Lily stepped back. Both boys were fantastic at the application of make-up both magic and muggle. She suspected they would perfect the glamour charm very early as well.

"Harry, Ethan, I know this is a big day for you. It's why we won't be owl-ordering everything. But we must also keep in mind the crowds and reporters prowling about. We will not stop for side-trips. We will not stop for brooms or for joke shops," she spoke to James, "Nor will we stop for books or potions," she continued to herself. "We will split into two groups. Boys, you're still the same size, so Sebastian," she nodded to Harry, "You'll get yourself measured and get twice the amount of robes, gloves, hats and such. Then we'll go get two telescopes. Dave," she looked at James sternly, while the man-turned-twenty-year-old had flashbacks to his school days, "you will get two cauldrons, two sets of phials – crystal, remember – two brass scales, double the usual amount of first year ingredients and two sets of first year books. Do you have the list?" James flinched slightly as he lifted the list for her to see. With a flick, she copied it, stuffing it into the folds of her cloak. She would need it, after all, to get the robes. "At nine thirty we will meet at Ollivanders to get your wands. No earlier, no later. We will stop for no one, no matter who we meet. Boys, you can make friends on the express, you do not need to make them now. Is that clear?"

Even Ava on the floor looked mildly alarmed. But Lily did not back down. The family was by now used to her paranoia over Diagon Alley, but they had never had a talk this full-blown.

"This is prime time for students to be buying school supplies! I may have asked Professor McGonagall to send the letter early, but it doesn't change the fact that many children will be around to buy owls, trunks and potions supplies early. The alley will be packed! So: Is… that… clear?"

There was frantic nodding, none daring to break the silence.

"Good." Lily took a deep breath. The public wasn't out to get her, they didn't want her blood, she tried to tell herself… But her mind kept reminding her of the day after the court case, walking through Diagon… the mob on her way through the markets… they were on top of her… spells flying everywhere… apparating away at the last minute…

Taking another breath, Lily began to explain their story. She cut the emotion from her face, and let the words flow. Story-telling… Lily had always been good at that. She was already beginning to see how Tania would act, her behaviour, her speech-pattern…

Finally calm, Lily led her family to the floo.

"Diagon Alley!"

-NoR-

Stepping out of the floo, Sebastian made his way to Tania's side.

"Will we be meeting Syria today?" He asked, letting excitement cloud his voice, "What about Summer?" He really wanted to see Tania's friends today. They often looked after him, Devlin and Annie when Tania and Dave weren't there. Syria, Summer and Tania had met at Hogwarts, then bonded when they discovered Summer's illness and had been inseparable ever since.

"Summer's sick today – she and Syria were up all night. You know – they say people go crazy with the moon and all."

Yeah, Sebastian did know. Summer and Syria always stayed up late, and they always, especially Summer, acted a bit crazier under the moon.

Devlin and Dave stepped out of the fire one after the other, brushing soot off their clothes and wandering over to the group.

"What was the hold-up? We're on a tight schedule, you know. No time for messing around." Tania said this with a joking smile, but Sebastian could hear the underlying threat in her eyes.

"Devlin just had a minor break-down. You know, the usual: what if I have no friends at Hogwarts, what if no one likes me…" Dave smiled down at Ethan.

"D- Dave! You said you wouldn't say anything!" Seb could hear the 'in front of Sebastian'. Devlin never liked to appear 'weak' in front of him… He sometimes wished Devlin would just admit that he was a complete pansy and stop pretending. So he said so. But before Devlin could retaliate, Tania and Dave dragged the two away from each other.

"Remember what you're doing and when to meet?" Dave demanded.

"Yes, Dave." Tania said in that tone. Tania often used that tone with Dave. He was so overprotective: It was Tania's role as a younger sister to become as exasperated with him as possible, just as it was Devlin and Sebastian's roles to fight as often as possible.

Entering the Alley, Sebastian was shocked yet again by the magic. He had been to the Alley twice before, but even now it was like he was seeing it for the first time. It was bursting with life, bustling about, never still, just a constant movement. Harry felt like he could spend all day here, running with the crowd, foraging under every crack and corner and he wouldn't find everything…

But Sebastian was still.

"Hurry up, Sebastian! We haven't got all day!"

He followed his sister to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. It was a long way down the alley, but eventually they made it. It was, after all, the best robe shop in London. Sebastian wasn't going to complain – if it meant he had the finest robes England had to offer, why should he? Well, Harry could think of numerous reasons to complain – they were just clothes!

Entering the shop, Sebastian, Tania and little Annie were greeted by Madam Malkin. Upon seeing an eleven-year old, she ushered Sebastian to a stool.

"Isn't it a bit early for Hogwarts students? I thought the letters wouldn't come till tomorrow?" She questioned as she set about measurements, directing an assistant to send out fabrics for Tania and Sebastian to look at.

"Yes," Tania answered, dismissing most of the fabrics, finally finding two she liked, holding them up to Sebastian, trying to find which she preferred. "But we'll be leaving soon for France – a final holiday before Sebastian goes to school. We wrote to the school and asked for the letter in advance." Deciding that she couldn't decide in advance, she asked for a set in each. "Devlin and Sebastian are twins. They're the same size exactly, but Devlin would look better in this one, while Sebastian looks better in this. It's all in the eyes…"

Madam Malkin finished measuring, and set the fabrics to be cut and sown with her wand, while chatting with Tania. Sebastian personally couldn't tell the difference between the fabrics, but if Tania said they were different they probably were… In fact the only difference he could tell was the price – his fabric was a little cheaper than Devlin's.

Sebastian shifted anxiously in his seat. He was getting bored with this. Usually he didn't mind shopping, but all this sitting around was making Harry itching to… do something. His mother always hated shopping in disguise, because it made all the colouring off, so they tended to shop for clothes in the muggle world where the family could afford to not go about hidden. This sitting around, and waiting was quite a novel experience for Harry, although he vaguely remembered going with his Dad to the robe shop years ago to buy dress robes… and Mum had reminded him not to glamour himself in a way that changed his body shape because then the measurements would be off… and Harry had been so very bored…

But he was Sebastian, not Harry, Sebastian! And Sebastian loved shopping, and always sat still! In fact, Seb hated running. He preferred to curl up with a nice book, than to run around outside…

Finally, after half an hour of robes, hats, gloves and cloaks, Sebastian was done with the robe shop. Rushing to Oddment's Ends, a shop just across the road, Tania and Sebastian picked out two good telescopes, before sprinting through to Ollivanders just in time. Coming the other way, they could make out Devlin and Dave strolling down the alley, each holding an ice-cream.

"Dave!" Tania let out in that tone. "You were the one talking about getting here on time!" But her eyes promised that later, there would be hell to pay.

"Sorry, Tania. We had time. Besides, I bought one for you, Annie and Sebastian too!" He brought out the three ice-creams with a wave of his wand. "It's your favourite!"

But Tania was not pleased. With her own wand, she vanished them. Sebastian didn't mind – eating in public just wasn't done. However, Devlin, Dave and Annie looked hurt. Devlin and Dave were about to protest when Annie started to cry.

"But I want ice-cream! Mu-!" Quickly, an ice-cream appeared in front of her. Grabbing it with two hands, her tears quickly vanished. Tania turned to Dave.

"Come on, it's your turn to look after her. You two go home. I'll get the wands." Although Dave was still grumbling about his ice-cream, he did as Tania said. Dave, thought Sebastian, is becoming more and more Dave James Michigan, which means that Devlin is becoming Devlin Ethan and Tania, Tania Lily Michigan. What's more, Annie was very close to slipping up completely there! If we're not careful…

His thoughts were cut off as they entered the wand shop.

Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 BC. The shop was filled with stacks of wands, piles upon piles, but it seemed dusty and old… so old…

So magical…

"Hello? Mr. Ollivander? We're here for some wands?" Tania's voice cut through the silence, clear as day. But everything was still. Silence, silence, nothing, silence, nothing, magic,

"Good day." The three jumped out of their skins. There was Mr. Ollivander – his eyes so silvery pale they creeped Harry out even more. "Ah, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you Messrs. Potter, and how delightful to see you again, Mrs. Potter. You, boy," He was suddenly staring at Harry, though Harry hadn't seen him move, "You have your mother's eyes, though you," he was now facing Ethan, "you have your father's." Then he was in front of Lily. "It seems only yesterday you were in here, buying your first wand: Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work." Mr. Ollivander hadn't blinked yet. "Of course, you've been through many a wand since then, haven't you, Miss Evans?"

Lily nodded. All the Potters were silent while the man hummed.

"Cedar, black walnut, walnut, maple, chestnut, redwood, hawthorn… The list goes on. It's silver lime, a good round eleven inches you favour now, of course… quite thin, but a lot of power in that wand… a lot of power…" He seemed to become lost in thought, only to shake himself out of it when Harry shifted, hating the stillness, making the floorboards creak. "Of course, James still favours his first wand. Mahogany, eleven inches. Pliable. Less powerful than the blackthorn, but more so than the willow – but what can you say for a first wand. Excellent for transfiguration. Though 'favours' isn't quite the right word… the wand chooses the wizard, of course."

But now Mr. Ollivander was in front of Ethan reaching out towards his forehead, his fingers brushing the now-visible scar.

"And that's where…"

Lily coughed, slightly, and Mr. Ollivander drew back.

"I apologise, Mrs. Potter." He said softly, as he slowly drew back into the shadows of the shop. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it. Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…"

Lily coughed again, and Mr. Ollivander came out of his reverie. Recovering, Mr. Ollivander set his tape measures to work.

"Wand arm?" he snapped.

"They're both right-handed." Lily snapped back. While the tape measures went a-measuring, Mr. Ollivander began his lecture:

"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a magical substance, Messrs. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Mr. Ollivander wands are the same, ju-"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Lily interrupted. "I sincerely apologise, Mr. Ollivander, but we don't have much time." She didn't look very sincere at all, and Mr. Ollivander looked quite angry at the interruption.

"Very well." He stated. "That will do." He called to the tape measures, which had begun measuring the widths of fingernails, the length of strands of hair and even between nostrils. It fell to the ground.

"Right then, you." He pointed to Ethan, while Harry wondered if he actually knew their names. "Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. While you," he pointed to Harry, "try this – maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches and quite whippy. Just take them and give them a wave. If they don't work, swap." Mr. Ollivander seemed quite agitated now, and Lily seemed downright cranky. But Ethan and Harry just foolishly waved the wands around before they found the wands snatched out of their hands and into the others'. The new wands had similar results. Piles of wands went by, and as they did, Mr. Ollivander seemed to become less and less agitated. In fact by the fourth round of wands he looked positively delighted.

"Tricky customers, eh? Don't worry we'll find you both the right wands."

Ollivander had barely finished speaking before Ethan cried out in delight. Out of the wand he held, red and gold sparks were flying, lighting up the room. Mr. Ollivander clapped with joy, while Lily went to hug her son.

"Very good, very good. Fir, Thirteen inches, phoenix feather. A survivor's wand! Very appropriate, very appropriate indeed…"

Ethan seemed quite scared of Ollivander, but on the whole pleased with his wand. Lily whispered a 'well done' to him and he beamed in pride.

Harry still hadn't found his wand.

Piles upon piles of wands seemed to transfer from the neatly-arranged shelves to mountains beside him before Mr. Ollivander finally said, "I wonder – yes, why not – an unusual combination – holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple, would have expected… but perhaps this is right…"

He continued to mutter to himself while Harry took the wand. Suddenly his hand felt warm, and secure – like the warmth of the night… He raised his arm above his head and brought his wand swishing down, feeling a cloud of warmth surround him.

"Oh, bravo!" Mr. Ollivander cried, and Ethan grinned and Lily came over to hug him. Harry was so happy – having his wand finally in his hands felt like meeting an old friend…

But then Mr. Ollivander ruined it all.

"Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious. Curious, curious…" He muttered as he wrapped both wands back up and put them away in their cases.

"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harry asked, almost too scared to hear the answer. Mr. Ollivander was in front of him again, his pale, unblinking, nerve-wracking stare piercing him.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather – just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave your own brother his scar."

Harry swallowed. Ethan, who had moved beside him during the speech, seemed to freeze up.

"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yes. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter… After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great."

Harry shivered and he felt Ethan do the same. Silently, Lily paid fourteen galleons for the wands and shepherded them out of the shop.

It was only once they were out of the shop that they realised all their glamours and make-up had failed. At ten o'clock, Diagon Alley was at peak hour and Ollivander's was down the very end of the street. They needed to get to the end of the Alley without attracting attention – which, unfortunately, was not going to happen.

"Mum! What are we going to do? There's people everywhere!" Harry and Ethan had never seen this many people at once. Even in Muggle London, they had made a point to avoid places that might attract the attention of Muggleborns. At the sight of so many people, both children were growing slightly frantic. Lily, meanwhile, was just shy of a full-out panic attack.

'They're not out to get you, they're not out to get you' was quickly becoming her mantra.

"Right…" Lily thought for a second. "There's no way you two are going anywhere near the other inn, so it's the Leaky or apparition. I can only take one of you side-along… Harry, take the invisibility cloak. Without your glasses, they're less likely to recognise you." Harry had always worn glasses in public when he'd been spotted. He was now wearing contacts – the one camouflage that hadn't failed. "Harry, be brave. Besides, Ethan's the one they really care about now." And with that, she apparated Ethan away.

Now Harry was alone. All alone, in a crowded street, she'd left him. While it was true that they cared more about Ethan, she could have said it nicer…

Although at first everyone had been obsessed with the idea of Lily, Ethan and Harry as the saviours of the Wizarding World, his mother's part had soon been shoved away when the public discovered that You-Know-Who had let her live. After all, if he'd let her live, she couldn't be trusted.

So Ethan and Harry were the celebrated saviours. People had attempted to flock to them, while their parents had shielded them away, adding to their air of mystery, while Harry dreamed.

But over the years the dreams had faded. Harry now hadn't had a dream in weeks… Actually, now that he thought about it, the last time he remembered having the dream was in May – it was a record. He still remembered waking up, at seven years old and running into his parents' room, proclaiming that he'd had his first real dream. He'd told them in excruciating detail how he had been a snake, slithering through a forest, climbing over rocks, under logs, through bushes… Harry didn't dream often, but he tended to dream about moving about in forests a lot, when he wasn't dreaming about… that, of course.

But when the dreams had faded to more of a monthly thing, his Mum had been able to finally work proper hours, which please her immensely, though she tried to hide it. And then, one night, Harry had told her what happened in the dreams.

Almost.

He told her how a scary figure came in, the speaking, the pleading, the flash of red light… the wand, the face… watching the green light speed towards Ethan…

Harry never told her the perspectives of his dreams. He knew not to tell. It was a secret, never to be told to anyone. It wouldn't do anyone good to know that Harry Potter, one of the Boys-Who-Lived had the Dark Lord's nightmares.

But from this, Lily had gathered that Ethan had been the one to survive the curse, thus solving one great mystery. In a moment of insanity, Lily had informed the press and given her first (and final) interview.

It had not ended well for either party.

But then the Wizarding World had recognised Ethan as its saviour – but never quite letting Harry fade into the background. Being hit by a killing curse was certainly a good explanation for Ethan's lightning scar, however it failed to explain the rotten thing on Harry's own forehead that seemed to grow every year…

But now Harry had a problem. He had to get from one end of Diagon Alley to the other without being spotted.

Why did Lily have to be so focused on keeping Ethan safe and not, for once, look after me?

He let the angst wash over him for a second before he forced himself to focus. With the invisibility cloak on, he stepped out from the shadows.

Light streamed through him, hitting the ground below. No one seemed to notice the monumental change that had just occurred. Suppressing the urge to run, Harry slipped and slid through Diagon Alley, avoiding families, brushing between couples, dodging goblins, even ducking between a centaur's legs. He was almost at the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, when some red-haired idiot stepped on his cloak.

"Oh, Merlin – You're Harry Potter!" And with that – pandemonium.

The crowd descended on him in a flash, people straining to shake his hand, touch him, spot him, anything. They crowded around him, all talking at once and he quivered beneath their stares. There were so many people. They were taking photos, stroking him, pulling his hair…

'Ow!'

The blonde haired girl jittered at him, smiling sarcastically.

'What was that for?'

'I don't know what you mean, Tom.' She replied, eyeing the caretakers to make sure they weren't looking.

'You pulled my hair!'

'Don't be silly, Tom.'

Tom's eyes narrowed. Amy Benson wouldn't know what was coming…

"Ow!" harry yelped, but nobody paid attention. They were leaning over him, clawing at him like vultures and Harry felt tears in his eyes.

He just wanted to be away…

Suddenly, he shut down. He stopped feeling. He had seen Lily do it before, but he himself had never managed it – before now. As if seeing the crowd through another's eyes, he stood up.

"Stop." He commanded. His voice was loud, cutting through the noise of the rabble.

"Leave." His words rang with magic. Slowly, impossibly, the crowd began to back away. As they left, so did the numbness.

Suddenly scared, he snapped back into awareness. Before anyone could notice anything the cloak was back around him and he had scampered away into the Leaky Cauldron.

Chucking in some floo powder, Harry announced his destination. Entering the fireplace, he felt the green flames licking at his legs before he whisked away – home.

…

…

What did you think? I'd love to know – review!

The second chapter will be out within a week, and the third chapter probably a week after that. I'm not sure about further updates – I go to school, I've got homework, you know the story – but when the next lot of holidays come around, I can promise a huge updating spree.

EDIT: 30 Jan, 2012