You can't choose family...?

Summary: Harry Potter is not The-Boy-Who-Lived. In fact, who the hell is Harry Potter? This is a story about The-Boy-Who-Lived's life after his family gained new members. AU. Starts last day of 3rd Year. Evil!Dumbledore. Slytherin!Harry. Alive Potters.

Warnings: Eventual slash, that means Male on Male. Harry really is not The-Boy-Who-Lived; still, he is a very powerful wizard. The Potters survived AND are not evil or bad parents. Dumbledore is not only manipulative, he can be downright evil in this story. AU where Harry's twin is The-Boy-Who-Lived and Harry doesn't live with his family. Harry is sorted into Slytherin. Grey!Voldemort. Still don't know final pairings. Slow paced story.

Disclaimer: Didn't do this in another story, but oh well. Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter and don't make money out of it.

A/N: I researched a little and discovered that the name "John/Jane Doe" although commonly used in the US as a name for unidentified corpses (or alive people) is not as used in the UK. For the sake of my story, please take John Doe as a name used for unidentified corpses and/or people; this sort of add to the depth of one of the character's many complexes. This story focus on family and friendship interactions, especially so in the first year, so don't expect a lot of romance so soon.

1 - Summer Plans

"So, what are you so excited about, Darren?"

"I'm spending summer with Ron at the Burrow. You're coming too, right?" Darren asked her grinning like a loon.

"Yeah, Mione. You should come too; we always have space." Ron put his arm over their best friend's shoulder. Hermione only shook her head.

"I'll think about it. I want to spend some time with my parents, you know." She sighed knowing it was alright to do so in front of her best friends. She didn't have to pretend to be stronger than she was. They always had her back and always were there for her when she needed them the most. She could admit they could be a bit harsh on their pranks, but she knew they only wanted a laugh. It's not like they wanted to hurt someone. "When are you going there, anyway?"

"Right after we leave the train!" They chorused.

"Aren't you a bit too excited? And what about your parents? Don't you want to spend time with them after so long? You didn't even go back home for the holidays; you spent Christmas with Ron too."

"That's our Hermione! A thousand questions in a second!" Ron laughed out loud almost rolling to the side. She frowned and looked pointedly to Darren waiting for her answers. She really hated not knowing things.

"Mum and dad sent a letter today telling me to go to the Burrow. Seems like this time they found a strong lead to where Harry might be. Can't wait for them to bring my baby brother back home, even if he's a squib." He plastered his loon grin on his face again. Harry... Hermione still remembered the day Darren confided to Ron and her about his twin. That was what stopped her hero worship towards the Headmaster.

Hermione always thought that if someone held a position of power over others, that person should know better and always be right. It was quite a shock for her twelve-year-old self to have her delusions of a black and white world ripped from her like that. She understood why people thought Dumbledore was oh-so-great; he had defeated a Dark Lord after all. Everyone saw him as a beacon of light, the embodiment of everything good and light. The Potters, Ron and Hermione knew better. He was an old and biased man. If he thought you were good then nothing you did was wrong, Darren and Ron took good advantage of that in other to escape punishment for their pranks and escapades. Sometimes Hermione herself did so as well, it was really hard to get a permission slip for the Restricted Session of the Hogwarts Library after all.

Anyway, people only thought him so good because they didn't know better. They didn't know Darren had a twin. Sure Darren was The-Boy-Who-Lived and needed special protections growing up but that didn't make it right for Dumbledore to interfere in their family like he did. Taking Harry away against his parents' wills was kidnapping, still is. Even if he meant good by taking him away, he shouldn't have done so.

"I'm telling you, John. I'm almost convincing them. Even Uncle Sev has only good things to say about you! They ought to be convinced by your magical prowess at the very least! You're the strongest and brightest in our year. Even the upperclassmen ask you for help!"

"That's because I actually offer to help, Draco." He was really getting annoyed. He loved his best friend like a brother but he hated all this talk about adoption. He stopped hoping for the better a long time ago, no, he just wanted to graduate and move on with his life. He was sick and tired of hoping against hope to be adopted by and become a part of a nice family. He was not a young and delusional kid anymore, one day he would have a family but one he would make. After fourteen years of life, the prospect of adoption was non-existent.

"I'm a Malfoy and Malfoys-"

"Always get what they want. I know. You made sure I knew."

"Exactly. And I want you to be officially my brother; it's just a matter of time." Draco gave him one of those smirks he used to say he was always right and John couldn't do anything about it. It's strange how one got used to such things, said smirk used to irk him to prove Draco wrong but now... John could only feel reassurance when confronted with it. Nothing bad could happen to him as long as Draco was with him.

John chuckled thinking about his feelings for Draco. This whole year had been about experimenting new sensations, discovering themselves and what they did like. There was so much trust between them they actually thought they were in love. Only once they got past the touches and went almost all the way did they understand that it was a mere teenage curiosity. John felt a bit relieved; he liked to fool around with kisses and a few touches, engaging into real sexual relationships not so much. He could have done it for Draco, thank God- Merlin, their attraction was that of brothers. No one could fault them, they are easily in the top ten best looking guys of the school, and Draco being, well, Draco Malfoy was very sought after.

To this day, John couldn't understand what Draco saw in him to arouse such curiosity. Who would have thought a Malfoy could befriend a muggleborn. It is such an unthinkable occurrence people tend to forget his muggleborn status. The interesting bit is Draco couldn't care less about that, John was John and that was the end of it. He could rip any other muggleborn apart because of their blood status and still find reasons to assert John was above them. To be fair, he was. He was probably the best student to ever grace Hogwarts. Moreover, the summer would be a good break from Draco, his better-than-thou attitude started to rub off.

"When are you acting on your silly crush?" He said unable to hold a chuckle in.

"That was not subtle, you know? At least you're back with us. You should really stop spacing out like that; one day someone will take advantage of you!"

"Like you?"

"Like me."

"Maybe being taken advantage of is not so bad. And you were also not subtle in dodging my question. Like at all."

"Not anytime soon." And just like that, the Malfoy heir became redder than an angry Weasley. Better not let him know what I just compared him to.