To the Rescue, a harry potter fanfic

To the Rescue
by Healer Pomfrey

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

COMPLETELY AU!

Every Saturday morning, nine-year-old Tracey Davis visited her best friend Daphne for a lesson with Daphne's father, Lord Adrian Greengrass, about the magical world, their conventions and the wizarding families.

On this cold but sunny day in November, they were taught about the Potter family and learned that Harry Potter, who was going to be Lord Potter as soon as he was going to turn seventeen, was not only the heir of the Potter family but had also been made the heir of the Black family.

"But why?" Daphne asked in surprise. "I thought it was Sirius Black who gave the Potters out to Voldemort, so why would he make Harry his heir? I don't..." She slowly trailed off, shaking her head in confusion.

"I don't have a clue, Daphne," her father replied in a soft voice. "Nor do I know why Dumbledore insists that the boy has to live with his Muggle relatives. Your mother and I would have loved to take the boy in - just like many other families in the magical world, especially as his relatives seem to hate magic with a passion, at least that was what the Potters always told us about Lily's sister."

Daphne and Tracey exchanged a look. They had known each other since they could remember and were often able to understand each other without words.

As soon as Adrian Greengrass released them, they stormed off into Daphne's room, closely followed by Daphne's little sister Astoria.

"Let's go and visit him," Daphne was the first to speak up.

"Whom are we going to visit?" Astoria asked in apparent excitement, jumping up and down on Daphne's bed.

"Stop that, Asto," Daphne replied, frowning, before she simply said, "Harry Potter."

"You're going to visit Harry Potter?" Astoria blurted out, causing Daphne to quickly cover her younger sister's mouth.

"Shhh." Tracey looked at the younger witch. "No one must know about this, as no one is supposed to visit him."

"Oh well, I'm in though," Astoria replied, eagerly. "When and how are we going to travel?"

"Now," Daphne said in determination. "Wait a moment." With that, she left her room only to return a few minutes later. "I got granddad's wand," she told the others. "We'll need it to call the Knight Bus."

"Mum, we'll go to visit a friend," Daphne quickly told her mother. "We'll take Astoria with us," she added, afraid that her seven-year-old sister would give them away if they didn't take her with them.

Before her mother could do as much as enquire whom they were going to visit, the three girls left the manor and headed to a nearby park, where Daphne waved her grandfather's wand and called the Knight Bus.

"Three young ladies," the conductor, who introduced himself as Stan Shunpike, greeted them and enquired, "Where do you want to go?"

"We want to visit Harry Potter," Astoria was the first to reply, causing the wizard to cast them a surprised look.

"Do you know where he lives?" Stan asked with apparent curiosity.

"No," Daphne replied, groaning. "The Ministry won't tell us, so perhaps we should ask at Gringotts," she thought aloud, turning to Tracey, who agreed immediately.

"Leaky Cauldron it is then," Stan informed the driver, and after a huge jump, the bus arrived at its destination.

The three girls quickly made it through Diagon Alley without even looking at the show windows, and after a few minutes' walk, they reached Gringotts, where Daphne demanded to speak with the goblin responsible for the Potter vaults.

After a few minutes' wait, a goblin approached them and led them into his office, where he introduced himself as Buckbean, the manager of the Potter accounts.

"What can I do for you, young ladies?" he enquired in a friendly voice.

"Good day Buckbean," Daphne spoke up. "I am the heir of House Greengrass, Daphne Greengrass, this is my friend Tracey Davis, and my sister Astoria. We'd like to visit Harry Potter, so we'd like to ask you to give us his address."

Buckbean stared at the three children in clear surprise. "You know that Professor Dumbledore has forbidden anyone to contact Harry Potter?" he then enquired, smirking.

"Yes, but we don't care," Astoria was the first to reply. "We want to make sure that he's all right and want to become friends with him."

"Yes," Daphne nodded, for once agreeing with her sister. "We heard that he was living with Muggles who hated the magical world, so we want to make sure that he knows everything about our world. Maybe he needs our help."

Buckbean almost smiled at the children's enthusiasm. "I very much appreciate your concern and agree with you," he then said. "Personally, I believe that Dumbledore should have never placed little Harry there. However, we goblins do not interfere into the matters of the human magical world, and thus, I haven't been able to do anything for Mr. Potter yet. While I don't know his Muggle address, I can offer you to take you there, and I'd like to ask you to tell him to come to see me as soon as possible."

He handed Daphne a small parchment with his name on it and continued, "Please teach him how to travel to Gringotts or bring him here right away."

"We'll try," Daphne promised, smiling at the friendly goblin. "Thank you for helping us, sir."

"You're most welcome," Buckbean reassured her and, making sure that the girls were ready, held out a parchment for them to hold on to before taking the small group to Privet Drive in Little Whinging. "This must be Harry's relatives' house," he informed the children.

Daphne rang the bell in determination, mentally readying herself for the Muggle who was probably going to open the door. She looked up in surprise, however, when a whale of a boy stood in the doorframe.

"What do you want?" he enquired.

"Excuse me, are you Harry Potter?" Daphne returned the question, causing the boy to retreat into the house in apparent shock.

"Mum, there's someone for the freak," they heard the boy shout and exchanged an alarmed look.

A moment later, a woman came to the door, who was as thin as the boy fat.

"Excuse me, Madame, but we'd like to visit Harry Potter," Daphne said in a friendly yet firm voice.

"He has gone to see a friend," the woman replied, crisply.

"Oh all right, then we're going to wait for him. Thank you," Daphne decided, not believing a word.

When the door closed behind the unfriendly woman, the three girls walked around the house and into the garden, wondering if they'd be able to get a glimpse at the boy through one of the windows at the back of the house.

Harry was in the garden, preparing some of the more sensitive plants for the winter, when he suddenly felt a strange presence behind himself. He turned around, and his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of three girls of about his own age standing behind the garage watching him.

He was just about to turn back to his garden work, knowing that Aunt Petunia would not tolerate him talking to girls when he was supposed to tend to her precious flowers, when one of the girls waved him over.

Confirming with a glance at the kitchen door that neither Aunt Petunia nor Dudley were nearby, Harry slowly made his way over to where the girls were standing.

"Hi," he said in a small voice, giving his guests a shy look.

"Hello, are you Harry?" one of the girls asked, smiling at him like no one had ever smiled at him.

"Yes," he replied, hesitantly, wondering how the girl knew his name.

"I'm Daphne, and this is my friend Tracey and my sister Astoria," the girl introduced themselves, before she explained, "We've come to check on you. Are you all right living with your Muggle relatives?"

"Muggle?" Harry voiced, hesitantly, causing the girls to groan.

"Harry, you know that you're a wizard, don't you?" the girl who had introduced herself as Daphne enquired and, apparently noticing his confusion, explained, "You're a wizard, just like the three of us are witches. Anyway, do you like it at your relatives' home, or do you want to come with us to the magical world? We'd somehow have to hide you there, as the headmaster of Hogwarts wants you here with your relatives, but we'll manage somehow."

Harry had not understood much of the girl's rambling, however, he was fully aware that she had invited him to come with her away from the Dursleys, and there was nothing that he wanted more than leaving his relatives.

"I'll go with you," he replied, uncertainly, making the three girls smile in apparent excitement.

"Well then, fetch your belongings, we'll wait in front of the house," Daphne instructed him, staring at him in apparent disbelief, when he told her that he did not own anything.

"All right let's go then," she said in determination and led the small group out of the garden and up the small street until they reached the nearby park.

"I'm going to call the Knight Bus," she announced and suddenly waved a strange stick.

An instant later, a purple triple-decker bus arrived in front of the four children.

"Welcome back to the Knight Bus," the conductor greeted them, and Daphne paid for another trip to the Leaky Cauldron.

"You better hold on here," the smallest of the girls told Harry motioning him to grab one of the rails. "The bus does huge jumps."

Harry eyed the girl in confusion, thinking, 'Busses don't jump.' However, he soon realised that in the magical world as Daphne had put it, some things were different from what he was used to.

The girls led Harry straight to Gringotts explaining to the boy that it was the wizarding bank and demanded to speak with Buckbean.

The goblin greeted the four children and led them into his office, before he turned to Harry. "Welcome to the magical world, Mr. Potter," he said in a friendly voice and introduced himself as Buckbean, the account manager of the Potter vaults. Apparently realising that Harry had no idea what he was talking about, he explained about his parents' wealth, about himself being the heir of the noble and ancient House Potter and about his parents' will, which the headmaster of Hogwarts had so blatantly ignored.

"In your parents' will it says explicitly that you're not going to be placed with the Dursleys," Buckbean informed the boy, before he enquired if Harry had any unusual abilities which might help him decide on how to hide him for the twenty-one months before he would be going to Hogwarts.

"I can change my hair to another colour," Harry replied, timidly, unsure if that was not too freakish.

However, Buckbean seemed excited at the idea. "Only your hair, or are you able to change your face, too? Maybe you're a Metamorphmagus."

'A what?' Harry thought in disbelief, however, knew from years of boredom while being in his cupboard that he could change his features at free will. He looked at Daphne and wished to look like her, causing a simultaneous gasp from Buckbean and the girls.

"Daphne, he looks like your twin brother," Tracey was the first to find words.

Daphne grinned. "Harry, we have to ask my father, but if he agrees, would you like to come and stay with us as my twin?" she asked, seemingly excited.

"I'd love that," Harry replied, smiling, somehow instinctively knowing that the girl meant what she said.

"Miss Greengrass, would you please floo-call your parents and ask them over, so that we can discuss the matter with them?" Buckbean instructed the girl, before he turned back to Harry and ask him to change back to his normal features.

During the following hour, Buckbean explained the matter to Adrian and Samantha Greengrass, who were not only extremely surprised by their children's actions but also very willing to accept Harry under a different name as Daphne's twin brother.

Buckbean then used a goblin spell to make an exact copy of Harry, before the real Harry was allowed to morph back into his form of Daphne's twin brother.

"I will now obliviate Harry's copy of everything concerning myself and the children and take him back to the Dursleys," Buckbean announced and suggested that real Harry and the Greengrasses should think of a new name for the surrogate twin.

Harry observed with a combination of confusion and amazement how Buckbean waved his hand over the copy of himself and popped away with the boy. Somehow he felt sorry for him, knowing that he had to endure many more months at the Dursleys before he could leave to attend Hogwarts.

"I don't think the copy will live until you're going to attend Hogwarts," Adrian spoke up, almost as if he had been able to read Harry's thoughts.

"What name would you have chosen for me if I had been a boy?" Daphne enquired, looking at her parents.

"David," her mother replied, smirking. "At least that's what we thought ten years ago."

"I like the name," Harry spoke up in a soft voice, smiling.

"Very well then, so you'll be our son, David Greengrass now," his new, surrogate father said, seemingly contented. "And your birthday, together with Daphne, is the fifteenth of June, 1980."

"We could still leave Harry as David's middle name," Samantha suggested, smiling.

"All right," David Harry replied, happily. "Thank you all so much for doing this for me."

"But won't everyone know that Daphne doesn't have a twin brother?" Tracey suddenly spoke up in apparent concern.

The twins' parents shook their heads. "Buckbean is going to place a charm on the registration documents within the Ministry of Magic, which will not only charm the documents but also alter everyone's memory concerning our children," Adrian explained, smiling. "No one will notice, not even people who know us well like, for example, your parents."

"Exactly," Buckbean confirmed, as he re-entered the room.

"I'm so happy," Astoria suddenly blurted out, causing everyone to look at her in clear surprise. "I always wanted to have a big brother. Now I finally have one."

"I'm happy, too, little sister," David Harry replied, feeling happier than he could remember having felt ever before.

During the following twenty-one months, David thoroughly enjoyed himself living with his new family. Not only his sister Daphne, but also their parents, Samantha and Adrian, taught him many things about the magical world as well as easy spells and charms, which children coming from old wizarding families were supposed to know by the time they entered Hogwarts.

Samantha and Adrian behaved like the parents that David never knew, and they treated him like their other children, just as if he was their real son.

Nevertheless, he often thought about the copy living with the Dursleys and could not help feeling sorry for the boy, even if he reassured himself that it was only a copy. 'Does a copy have feelings?' he wondered every now and then, however, knew better than to bother anyone with his worries.

A few weeks before Daphne and David were supposed to go to Hogwarts, the topic of David's scar came up. Even with the change of his features to Daphne's twin brother, his scar remained clearly visible, and Adrian and Samantha had worked together with Buckbean to develop a charm that would hide it. However, David had to re-apply the charm once a week to make sure that no one would be able to look through it.

"I can't wait to finally become a student at Hogwarts," Daphne said in excitement, causing David to give her an anxious smile.

"Don't you think someone will notice who I really am?" he asked, worriedly.

"I don't think so, dear," Samantha replied in a soft voice.

"In fact, there is a possibility," Adrian spoke up, smirking, as he explained, "If you were ill or injured, it might be possible that your magic fails in a way that you automatically transform back into your natural form."

"Why are you laughing, Dad?" Astoria threw in, glaring at her father. "That would be really bad for David."

Adrian chuckled. "Yes little one, that wouldn't be good, which is why I spoke with Buckbean, and he offered to place a goblin charm on David that will prevent him from displaying his Harry features if not by his own free will. When we go to Diagon Alley to buy Daphne's and David's school supplies next week, we'll stop by so that Buckbean can apply the charm."

"Oh that's great," David said in relief. "Thank you so much for arranging this for me, sir."

"You're very welcome, son," Adrian replied, smiling.

'I wonder if the copy is still alive,' David thought, as he followed his family onto the Muggle platform at King's Cross coming from a hidden fireplace that was invisible to Muggles. However, he should soon realise that the copy was not only alive but on his way to Hogwarts, as they met him, while he was obviously looking for platform nine and three quarters.

"Come with us," David automatically invited the boy, who gratefully followed them onto the platform, where the Hogwarts Express was already waiting.

David inwardly groaned when the boy even joined them in their compartment, as soon as they boarded the train together with Tracey. They had just introduced themselves to Harry, when a red headed boy entered their compartment, closely followed by a girl with bushy brown hair and they could begin the introductions anew.

"You're Harry Potter?" the redhead blurted out in clear amazement, causing David to inwardly groan. "So do you have the scar?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't have a scar," he replied and told the group how distressed Hagrid had been when he found out about the matter, while he was helping him buy his school supplies.

David inwardly grinned.

A few hours later, David and Daphne entered the Great Hall together with Tracey, Hermione, Harry and Ron. While the first-years let their eyes wander around the Hall in amazement, David mused, 'I just hope that the copy won't be sorted into the same house as I, and I hope that I'll be together with Daphne.'

Daphne became sorted into Slytherin, and David hesitantly stepped over to Professor McGonagall who placed the Hat onto his head as soon as he sat down on the stool. Soon, a small voice penetrated his mind.

'Hmm, what am I going to do with you, considering what you're hiding? The headmaster would throw a fit if he knew that it's you who's bearing the scar. He was very much upset that what seems to be a copy of you doesn't have it.'

'Oh please don't tell the headmaster about it,' David immediately begged the Hat that chuckled in return and promised to keep the secret.

'Oh well, then it's clear where I'm going to sort you,' the Hat finally said.

'Please not together with Harry,' David quickly thought to the Hat, who chose that instant to shout into the Great Hall.

Sighing in relief, David handed the Hat back to the professor and walked over to the Slytherin table, where he let himself sink onto the empty seat between Daphne and Draco Malfoy.

Six years later...

David observed with mixed feelings how Voldemort cast the killing curse at Harry. The instant the deadly curse stroke, Harry Potter vanished from the sight. 'Of course, there can't be a body, because he was only a copy of me,' David thought, wearily.

During their six years at Hogwarts, he had had to save his copy's life once a year, had killed a basilisk, had unobtrusively cast spells at a dragon during the Triwizard tournament, and had telepathically given his copy much needed information about Voldemort, which he had been able to gather through his scar. Last not least, he had assisted destroying the Horcruxes including - with Buckbean's help - the one behind his scar. 'Well, it was clear that it's up to me to vanquish Voldemort for good,' he realised and readied himself to cast the very last spell at the evil wizard, who did not as much as even notice him - to David's absolute relief.

The whole battlefield observed in shock how Voldemort let out a cry of disbelief and desperation, breathed his last breathe and finally came to lie on the ground, unmoving. Even David stood there, staring at the evil wizard, before Daphne brought him back to reality by pulling him into a bear's hug.

"You did it, David. Well done," she said, enthusiastically.

While the Aurors popped into action and hurried to capture the small group of remaining Death Eaters, Dumbledore stepped over to the twins.

"Mr. Greengrass," he addressed David, who slowly turned around, cancelling the charm on his scar as he viewed the old wizard.

"It's you," the headmaster blurted out in clear disbelief. "You have the scar."

"Yes sir," David confirmed and changed his features back to their original state. "I'm sorry for the small masquerade," he apologized, only to add, unnecessarily, "I'm the real Harry Potter."

"And who was Harry?" McGonagall spoke up in clear disbelief.

"He was a copy of myself," David admitted, before he glanced around and said, "I believe that we have more important things to do right now though. We must help the injured."

"I'm going to call the staff from St. Mungo's here," Dumbledore replied. "Please follow me into my office. I need to know everything."

Several discussions with the headmaster and his deputy later, David and Daphne left the office to search Tracey, Hermione and Ron and tell the two Gryffindors the truth about Harry Potter and his copy.

"David," Daphne spoke up as she pulled him down to come to sit on the stairs next to her in the empty corridor, "are you going to remain my twin, or do you want to go back to being Harry Potter?"

David stared at the girl in surprise. "What would you like me to do?" he finally asked.

Daphne chuckled. "Oh David, no matter what your name is, you'll always be my twin brother," she then said, grinning.

"Do you think Tracey would prefer if I'd change my name back?" David asked, uncertainly.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Of course not, David. She got to know you as Harry Potter, she became friends with you and even your girlfriend as David Greengrass. I don't think she'll mind under which name she's going to become your wife, provided that you marry her," she explained, smirking at her brother.

"All right dear," David finally replied in determination, before he changed his features back to David Greengrass.

The End