Actions Speak Louder Than Words - Chapter One; The Birthday Party.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
A/N: Hey, This is my first story, I'm not sure if it's any good but I hope you like it! Please leave a review :)
Harry Potter sighed silently, and shut the book he was reading. He gazed out of the window in the Potter library that backed onto the back garden of the manor. He could hear chatting and laughing, his brother William's voice; high and exited, was easy to determine above the rest of the sound. It was their eleventh birthday today, they were twins, however, the differences between them were large. William was of a sturdy build, and average in height. He had bright auburn hair, like his mother, and hazel eyes, like his father, he was prone to getting a heavy splattering of freckles on his nose in the summer, which annoyed him immensely as he thought they made him look 'weird'. Harry was smaller than average with a slight build, he was thin, but not scrawny. He had a mop of jet black hair on his head, which fell into his bright green eyes often, so he was the mockery of his father, James, and godfather, Sirius, when he did a 'very girly' flick of his head to get the hair out of his eyes. He was pale, but not sickly so, he just liked to spend a lot of time indoors. He could have been outside with the other people at the party, as it was his birthday too, however, he was uncomfortable around large amounts of people who do not know him well. Their appearance was not the biggest difference between the twins, for you see, Harry Potter was a mute. He had never been able to talk, even from birth, apparently his voice box did not develop properly, It was something that Harry pondered often, surely, there would be a magical potion or spell that would cure this? Apparently not. No, Harry had known from a young age that he would never be able to talk, never be able to laugh aloud, and according to his parents, never properly be able to cast a spell.
However, Harry had a secret. Being so quiet in contrast to his brother (who more than enough made up for Harry's lack of speech), he was easily forgettable by his family. They didn't mean to ignore him, William was just a demanding child, and Harry was not able to protest. So Harry was more or less able to do whatever he wanted, so he found sanctuary in the Potter library, and since discovering it, only came out of it for meals and bed. He originally thought that any chances of him learning magic spells was unlikely, as wordless spells were advanced magic, and not everybody had the power or concentration to manage it. But he did not give up hope. He found an old wand of his fathers, and practiced a few simple charms. It took him about a week to learn the lumos charm without speech, but he was over the moon when he did. With nothing else to do, he scoured the library for spell books which he could learn the incantations wordlessly, and consequently learnt the whole of the first year syllabus for Hogwarts. Harry realized that he was no average wizard. His brother was still struggling with the simplest spells, and he had a tutor!
Harry was brought out of his daydream when he heard Sirius bounding up the stairs, shouting his name. He made his way to the library door and waved at his approaching godfather, smiling.
"Alright, Pup?" Sirius looked inquiringly at him, Harry nodded a "yes".
"Why aren't you downstairs at the party? Something wrong?"
Harry gave Sirius a scathing look, and pointed at his mouth, he didn't want to go downstairs, people he didn't know would ask him questions that we wouldn't be able to answer, and he would feel stupid, just blankly staring them, trying to explain that no, he wasn't being rude, he just couldn't speak!
Sirius gave him a sympathetic look. "I get it pup. Don't worry then." Then his face lit up, "I hear you got a Hogwarts letter this morning! Surprised your dad alright, he didn't think they would make you go, as, well, you.." he trailed off, uncomfortable with discussing Harry's condition.
Harry looked saddened for a moment, sad that his dad didn't believe that he was capable of wordless magic, but he shook it off, as he knew that he was. Very capable. He used sign language to explain to Sirius that "Yes, I'm really exited, we are going to get our school stuff from Diagon Alley tomorrow!"
Sirius took a moment to figure out what Harry was saying, he didn't learn the language very well, but got the grasp of what Harry getting at.
"Thats good, pup." He reached into his cloak pocket and brought out a badly wrapped present
"Here, Happy Birthday, Harry!" He gave the gift to his godson and awaited eagerly for his reaction. Harry opened it, and it was a book. 'Hogwarts: A History' Harry smiled. He had already read this book, but he appreciated the gesture. Sirius never really knew what to get for him, he knew already that William had got a Nimbus 2000 from Sirius, a pang of jealousy went through him, but he squashed it. After all, he had never expressed an extreme interest in quidditch like his brother, although he did enjoy the sport.
He mimed a "Thanks" to Sirius, and gave him a hug.
"I thought it would come in useful, with you going to Hogwarts after all, and I knew you liked books, hell, you practically live in the library!" said Sirius.
Harry blushed, and smiled at Sirius.
"Well, I'd better be getting back, come and join us for cake in a bit, if you feel up to facing people, The cake has your name on it too!"
Harry nodded. Yes, he would have to get used to people talking to him at Hogwarts, better practice now.
He made his way downstairs to the birthday party, the sound of the celebrations getting louder as he approached. He met his mother, she seemed surprised, but pleasantly so, to see him.
"Harry! you're just in time to blow out the candles of the cake with William!" She bustled him over to stand next to his brother. William smiled at him, and hugged him, wishing him a happy birthday. Harry smiled appreciatively and nodded in return. People grouped around them, there were many people at the party, Harry didn't even know a quarter of the people there, and he thought that William didn't either, but his brother didn't mind, he loved people paying attention to him. He had always had people wanting to know him, he was the Boy-Who-Lived, after all. Defeater of Voldemort, etc etc, blah blah blah. Harry thought that there was no way that William could have defeated Voldemort, he was just a baby, and nobody but him and his brother were there that 'fateful night' as the newspapers reported it, their parents were out at a party, and the babysitter was asleep, so nobody really knew what happened. All Harry knew was that Voldemort was maybe the most powerful wizard alive, as even Dumbledore could not defeat him, so William surely couldn't. Voldemort was not dead, he would come back one day, Harry was sure of that.
"Happy Birthday to you..." everyone started singing at William and him, they paused slightly when it came to actually saying Harry's name, as not many people knew that William had a brother; the Potters lived out of the spotlight. However, James, Sirius, and Lily guided them through it, loudly singing William and Harry's names.