This disclaimer is to serve the following purpose: The characters in this story are fictional in nature. Any resemblence to persons either living or dead is unintentional. This is a Harry Potter fan-fic. Bearing that in mind, all characters mentioned herein that are the creation of J.K. Rowling are her property. Any other character is the creation of my twisted mind. Please don't sue me, as that would not be nice. (Plus, I'm poor, so it would be useless)

"A Little Secret"

The morning sunlight poured in through Jacob's window. It was a Saturday, which meant that he usually would sleep in late. Yawning widely, Jacob glanced at the window in disgust. He was way too tired to get up just yet, but he couldn't go back to sleep. Moments later, he heard the heavy footsteps of his brother coming down the hall, which stopped at his door. knock, knock

Adam entered his brother's room. "Jacob? Jacob... are you awake?" Jacob turned over, getting slightly tangled in the sheets.

"Yeah, I think so," he mumbled, still feeling the tugs of drowsiness. Jacob was wondering why his brother was coming to him so early in the morning.

"Dude, can you go get the mail? I think it just came." Adam gazed at him briefly before stepping back into the hallway. Jacob was very puzzled.

"Why don't you go get it?" Jacob looked in the direction of the doorway for a second or two, but received no answer. "Oh fine, I'll go get it." Jacob detangled himself from the sheets, sliding sideways onto the floor. Standing to his feet and rubbing his eyes, Jacob went to his closet and put a decent shirt on. He went into the hallway and slowly trudged down the stairs. Opening the front door, Jacob could see the mailbox was stuffed with various envelopes. It looked as if someone had tampered with it, as the mail was sticking up out of the box, which was propped open. Jacob grabbed the stack of mail and reentered the house. As he shuffled through the mail, Jacob came across a letter addressed to him. It wasn't much bigger than a card. "That's odd, my birthday was last month." Jacob sat the remainder of the mail down on the kitchen table and took his letter to his room. He sat down at his desk and admired the fancy script on the outside of the envelope. Turning it over to open it, Jacob noticed that it was sealed with wax, with a large ornate "H" stamped into it. He peeled through the wax and slid the envelope open. Enclosed was a letter, covered in the same elaborate, green script as the envelope. He couldn't help but to read it out loud. "Dear Mr. Harthrow, I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..." Jacob trailed off; a puzzled look came over his face. He glanced up toward his door, where his brother, Adam, stood watching him, a clever grin spread across his face.

"So you found it? I'm glad you did, before mom and dad." Adam entered the room and sat on the bed near where Jacob was sitting. "I told them that they should have told you about this sooner." Adam patted the bed next to him, indicating that he wanted Jacob to join him. Jacob's face was that of a lost person. He stood up by an unknown force and managed to move to the bed, whereat he plopped down. Adam put his arm around his brother's shoulders. "This might be a bit shocking for you, but I just couldn't let mom and dad lie to you any more." He turned Jacob's face to look at his own. "Our family, we have a little secret. You see, we have these powers. Magic powers. And I know how this sounds. We're not superheroes or anything like that. We're..." Adam trailed off, gnawing on his bottom lip as he debated the proper method for revelaing the rest of his information."You are a wizard, Jacob." After nearly blurting it out, Adam paused to let it sink in, but the look on his brother's face proved that Jacob wasn't going to take this and accept it right away.

"That's a good one Adam, tell me another one. Who helped you write this? It has to be a girl; your handwriting is nowhere near this good..." Jacob looked down at the letter in his hands, which were now shaking a little bit. Part of him was sure Adam was pulling his leg, but the rest of him knew it was the truth. "Adam?" Jacob said, his voice full of fear. He was only eleven. Adam wrapped both of his arms around his younger brother.

"Hey, dude. It's ok... This isn't a bad thing, trust me... Hey, your bro is a wizard too... Huh? What d'ya think of that?" Adam was desperately trying to console his brother. Jacob was crying now, and starting to shake. Adam was worried that he had managed to seriously damage his brother like his parents feared. Jacob sniffed a few times.

"If it's not bad, then why didn't anyone tell me sooner?" He looked hopelessly into Adam's eyes, lost as how to handle this shock. "What am I saying? This isn't normal." Jacob buried his face in his brother's shoulder, sobbing fully now. Adam felt like he had succeeded in aggravating a sensitive situation. All he could do was shrug and look at Jacob. A few moments went by.

"Hey, I know!" Adam stood up and bolted to his room, leaving Jacob to sit on his bed and cry, which was starting to ebb, slightly in the light of his brother's comforting. Adam soon returned, carrying a small rectangle box. He opened it and took out it's contents. Adam handed his redwood wand to Jacob, who scooted away from it. "This is my wand, Jacob. I want to show you that being a wizard isn't that bad." He held out his wand, waiting for Jacob to take it, but he kept inching away from it, as if it were a poisonous snake, ready to bite. "Don't be afraid of it. Nothing too bad ever happened from this wand. Just a broken window or two." Adam laughed a little. Reluctantly, Jacob took the wand in his hand. "Ok, ready?" Jacob gave a small nod, showing his acceptance. Adam walked over to Jacob's nightstand and dumped a glass of water over, letting it spill all over the small wooden table. "Alright bro, hold the wand and aim it at the spill. Hold it tight. Now, wave it with a little force at the table and say 'Scourgify'! Ok, go for it." Adam was praying silently for this to help Jacob. He didn't like to see his brother scared. Jacob stared at the wand a bit, then at the table. He sighed and closed his eyes, aiming the wand at the spill, hand quaking slightly.

"Scourgify." Jacob mumbled. Nothing happened. Jacob looked at the wand curiously, then looked at Adam.

"No, you have to say it with force, and confidence. 'Scour-gi-fy' Scourgify! Like that." Adam smiled at his brother and gave him a "try-again" look.

"Scourgify!" Again, nothing, save for a small puff of smoke from the end of the wand. Adam neared his brother and placed his hand on Jacob's shoulder.

"Try again, dude. No one ever gets this stuff on the first try. Except for maybe Harry Potter, but you'll find out about him soon enough." Adam rubbed Jacob's hair, messing it up slightly. "C'mon, give it one more try." Jacob was disgusted. He wanted Adam to leave him alone. He wanted the world to leave him alone. He didn't want to be a wizard. Jacob already knew what that meant. He would have to say goodbye to his friends. He would have to leave every school year, just like Adam had for the past seven years.

"I... I... I don't want to do this! I don't!" Jacob fell to his knees and began crying again. Adam immediately sat down by his brother and hugged him tightly.

"I know, I know. This is tough. But, Jacob. You can't deny who you are. Mom is a witch, dad is a wizard. I am a wizard. YOU are a wizard. Our grandparents were the same. This is who we are. And it's all our parents' fault for not telling you. I know it was wrong, but they wouldn't let me do anything about it. So finally, I did something today. Jacob, listen to me, this isn't as bad as it seems. Trust me. Everything will be fine. I'll always be your brother, and I'm here. Just, talk to me." Adam was almost to the point of crying himself, but knew it wouldn't do for Jacob to see his brother cry. Suddenly, Jacob stood up, lightly brushing Adam away. Adam was worried that Jacob would take off running, and thus, prepared to jump up and stop him. But, Jacob did the unexpected and turned towards the table.

"Scourgify!" Jacob shouted, almost pissed that the stupid spell hadn't worked the first two times. This time, a small trail of sparks were seen, followed by the disappearance of the water. Jacob's eyes widened a little, and he slowly turned around to face Adam, who had a wide smile of pride, and a touch of shock, frozen on his face.

"See, I told you that you could do it!" Adam jumped to his feet and hugged his brother, lifting him off of the floor briefly. Adam set Jacob down and looked into his eyes, trying to judge if he was okay. He saw a faint smile on Jacob's tear streaked face.

"Ok, Adam, what else can I do with this thing?" Jacob began to open up to the wizard thing, ever so slightly. A start, to Adam, but he would take any progress he could get.

Adam began showing Jacob various things in the field of magic, Jacob gaining confidence immediately, which was something that Adam was counting on. Then, something happened, that would forever divide this small, dysfunctional family.

While Jacob was in the midst of performing Wingardium Leviosa, their parents returned. Arriving at Jacob's room, unbeknownst to the two boys, Chester and Anora dropped their bags in horror at the sight that met their eyes.

"What is going on? ADAM! What are you doing?" Anora screamed. Chester remained silent, but looked as if he would explode too at any moment. Adam immediately began yelling and screaming, which didn't help the already shaken Jacob. Adam protectively wrapped his arms around his brother, who was burying his face in Adam's shirt and sobbing quietly. Blame was thrown back and forth, the vast majority landing on Adam. Jacob looked at his parents and couldn't help but feel as if the whole thing was a dream. They had always been happy, so why was everything suddenly falling apart? Adam grabbed Jacob's acceptance letter and began waving it around, trying to get his voice heard over his parents'.

"His letter came. I had to tell him what it was about. You should have told him years ago!" His parents couldn't see eye to eye with him, and after it was all over, and everyone was through yelling, Adam was told plainly to "get out." Jacob's heart broke. He shut the door to his room and locked it. Adam packed most of his things, simply stating that he would get the rest later. He went by Jacob's room, but couldn't him to come to the door. Jacob was so heart-broken that he couldn't bare to see Adam's face, knowing that he wouldn't be able to see him very much at all anymore. Adam lowered his head and went downstairs.

The thought of his brother being sent away ate at Jacob's mind. His insides squirmed; his breathing became erratic. After a few seconds, Jacob realized his terrible mistake. "ADAM!" Leaping off of his bed, Jacob swung his door open and raced downstairs. He reached the front door in time to see his brother slam the trunk of the car shut and get into the driver's seat. "Wait! Adam!" He ran outside and to his brother's waiting arms. The two brothers shared a tight embrace for a few minutes. Finally, Adam broke the hug, eyeing his parents standing at the front door of the house. He looked down into his brother's eyes.

"Jacob, promise me. Promise me that you'll go to Hogwarts. Go to Hogwarts, and make me proud." Adam knew that Jacob couldn't refuse once he mentioned the proud part. He would always be proud of Jacob, regardless, but it was the only way to make him go. Jacob nodded his head.

"I will, Adam. I promise. I'll make you proud." The tears began to flow again, and Jacob lowered his head. Adam smiled and put his hand under Jacob's chin, raising his head so their eyes met again.

"Don't cry, buddy. I'm not going very far. I'll come and pick you up sometimes, and we can hang out. Just… don't cry anymore. For me?" He leaned in towards Jacob's ear, and whispered. "Remember, this isn't your fault." Adam turned and got in the car. He pulled out of the driveway, with Jacob staring at his departure, waving the whole time. When Adam had gone out of sight, Jacob began to cry silently again. He turned and went back to his room, ignoring his parents.

"Jacob, promise me. Promise me that you'll go to Hogwarts. Go to Hogwarts, and make me proud." Adam's words kept playing over and over in his head for the rest of the summer. The day before he was to leave for Hogwarts, Jacob's parents took him to Diagon Alley to get his supplies. He left the following day, on a train named the Hogwarts Express.

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