IN THE MIDST OF PARADISE

Summary: In a world where Lily Potter finds herself giving birth to two babies instead of one, young Harry Potter is not christened The Boy Who Lived. In fact, no one is. However, because of some unsavory circumstances, Harry still winds up being raised by the Durselys and still ends up with a miserable and oft time's horrific childhood. 16 years later, Voldemort is still alive and kickin', the Chosen One has been whittled down to two candidates, and Harry finally gets a Hogwarts Letter that's long overdue. With Harry being raised by muggles, will his technical first year at Hogwarts be as humdrum as he (in Rowling' world) always dreamed it would be? With Voldemort steadily rising in power, Hogwarts School severely divided, and some ancient relics that could make or break the war against the Dark Side; hmph, not very likely.

Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K. Rowling. Except for the plushies. All the Draco and Harry plushies is belonging to me! ME I SAY!! clutches plushies in death grip.

Rating: R, probably will be NC-17 later on, knowing me.

Warnings: OOC-ness, eventual boy/boy action (do I even have to say it?), child abuse (again, do I have to say it?), violence in later chapters, hmm I think that's it. blinks Maybe it will keep an R rating.

Beta Reader: Shadow in Flight. The single greatest gal in all the land — if only because she can put up with my antics. BWahahahahahahaha!!! See, just like that.

A/N: Woot! Another fic to add to this site. Yup that's some good progress mmmmhmmm

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Chapter 1: A Long Night

James Potter thought that he was a man that could no longer be surprised. After finding out that his wife was pregnant — despite all their efforts to avoid such a thing during this time of darkness and peril — and subsequently learning that his unplanned baby boy was predestined to destroy the darkest wizard since Grindelwald, James figured that anymore shocks that came his way would pale in comparison to those two.

And yet, there he sat in his living room with the lights all turned off, his head in his hands and his eyes fixed onto the rug. The scene that had taken place at St. Groeswen's, a little Hospital tucked in the muggle town south of Godric's Hollow, played over and over in his head, as if by continually reanalyzing it, it would somehow change everything.

"Healer Stedmen!" James exclaimed when he caught sight of the wizard doctor coming out of the Maternity ward. The expression on his face gave no indication as to whether something had gone wrong or not, but it did nothing to settle James' anxiety. "What is it Healer? Is Lily okay? Where's the baby?"

"Whoa, slow down Mr. Potter," said the Healer, chuckling good naturedly. "Everyone is just fine and healthy; they're all just taking a well earned rest right now."

James let out a gusty breath of relief and promptly plopped into one of the waiting chairs. It had been a long and nerve wracking night. Never had he wished for his friends to be here with him more than now, as he sure could have used their support and reassuring presence during the time in between the delivery. But Remus and Sirius were both tied up with Order business at the moment, and Peter had been called away to take care of his sick mother several days ago and hadn't been back since. All of them had expressed their sincerest apologies for not being able to be there during this extremely important time in James' life. It still didn't make him feel much better though.

"Can I go see them?"

The Healer hesitated. "There are a few things I should tell you first Mr. Potter."

James nodded stiffly for him to go on, bracing himself for some unpleasant news.

"It's nothing terrible, don't worry about that. It's actually somewhat of a miracle when you think about it."

James was getting tired of the Healer dancing around the subject. The little patience he possessed had already been eradicated at this point. "What is it?" he snapped.

"Well…" The Healer straightened himself up, as he too saw there was no point in putting things off (or rather couldn't think of anymore platitudes). "Congratulations Mr. Potter, you have twins, both boys."

"Twins?" James repeated breathlessly. He was glad he was sitting down already, otherwise he would have collapsed under his suddenly very weak knees. Twins. Two boys! He hadn't even been ready for one boy, how could he ever manage with two!? He was too young to be a father damnit! And oh Merlin, what did this mean for the Prophecy?

James was shaken out of his depressing thoughts at the sound of Healer Stedmen clearing his throat.

"Ah, there's something else." The Healer sounded even more hesitant than before. Probably because of the stricken expression that had yet to leave James' face. "It'd be best if your wife heard this too."

James sighed deeply, then slowly stood and followed the Healer into Lily's room. His wife looked deathly pale, and instead of the serenity that most mothers portrayed after the trial of giving birth, she mirrored James' stricken expression. She cradled two babies in the crook of her arms, one swaddled in a blue blanket and the other in a green one. After staring at them for a long moment, James turned to the Healer questioningly, eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"They're fraternal twins," Steadmen answered the silent query. "They usually don't look very much alike."

And indeed they didn't. The baby in the blue blanket had a tuft of auburn hair and — after the baby blinked a few times before dozing off again — hazel eyes. The other baby's hair was pitch black like his own, and was much smaller than his brother. 'By the looks of it they're going to have the famous rats-nest Potter hair in the near future, pity Lily's genes didn't override that,' he thought distantly.

"The one in the blue blanket is Marcus," Lily finally spoke, her voice soft and monotonous, "like we wanted in the first place. I was waiting for you to come so we could name the green one together. What do you think?"

She turned her gaze from the babies to him. James felt his heart clench at the lost look in Lily's eyes — the same look she had gotten after hearing that awful prophecy — and he suddenly felt an irrational surge of anger towards the Healer. Wasn't he the one who was supposed to know these kinds things in advance? How on earth did a supposed fully credentialed Healer miss the fact that Lily was carrying two babies during all those weekly checkups!?

James made sure none of the anger he felt was reflected in his voice, before quietly saying: "How about Harry? It was my grandfather's name, though I'm sure he wouldn't mind us borrowing it for our baby."

Lily smiled a little at his weak attempt at a joke, which in turn calmed James down somewhat. "That's a good name," she said with a nod. "Harry it is then."

"Speaking of Harry, that's who I wanted to talk to you about."

James glared at the Healer. "Don't tell me, he has a mental disability, or better yet, maybe he's a squib!" James snapped nastily. "Do tell 'Healer', we all know how 'precise' your diagnosis can be!"

"James! Stop it right now! You'll wake up the babies."

James felt a niggling bit of betrayal from Lily. Didn't he have a right to be upset? If the stupid doctor had told them about this in the first place, then James wouldn't be feeling as if his whole world had been turned upside down right now! Surly Lily understood that?

Apparently she didn't, if the hard look was he was receiving was anything to go by. James pursed his lips, but didn't apologize to either his fuming wife or the suddenly stoic Healer.

After a few moments of silence, Healer Stedmen continued: "I've already done the blood tests on both of them. Marcus — he's about a minute older by the way — will have proficient ability in wandless magic if he's trained properly, and he's definitely got potential to be an animagus."

"Looks like Prongs has a little protégé," Lily said, smiling down at the brown haired baby and bouncing him a little.

This brought a small smile out of James as well. He wished his parents had had the foresight to give him a blood test when he was younger, the knowledge certainly would have come in handy when he was learning to become an animagus back in fifth year. "And Harry?"

"Harry will without a doubt be quite powerful magically, but… he also has dominant magical creature traits as well."

"Creature — what!? That's impossible!" James exploded. Not for the first time tonight he was wondering just how competent this Healer was in his field. "There aren't any magical creatures in my family, not even half breeds! You must have made a mistake while taking the tests."

"I'm aware that your side of the family is pureblooded Mr. Potter," Stedmen said calmly, "but if you knew what kind of magical creature Harry is things will make a lot more sense."

James ran his hand through his hair and resisted the urge to growl. This man was so infuriating! He hoped dearly that Lily was well enough to leave tonight so that they didn't have to deal with this blasted Healer any longer. "What is he then, Healer?"

"Harry's a Bird of Paradise."

Complete silence followed this revelation. James, eyes wide in shock, clutched the hospital bed's headboard so he would have something to hold him up. "Wha — he can't — it's not possible…" he stuttered faintly. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. No! His entire family…could it all have been a lie? At what point had the Potters stopped being genetically Potters!?

Healer Stedmen looked between the two parents — both of whom seemed to be momentarily catonic at the moment — and the smaller baby frantically. "Now Mr. Potter," he said deliberately slow, as if speaking to a cornered animal, "there is absolutely no fact behind those old pureblood stories; surely you don't believe that nonsense?"

James choked out a hysterical laugh. "There's no fact huh? Well there's nothing that says that Birds of Paradise don't eat wizard babies and replace them with their own young!"

"Mr. Potter, I insist that you calm down!" Stedmen hissed, looking pointedly at the stirring babies. James resisted the urge to yell 'don't tell me what to bloody do!', as even he could admit how extremely childish it sounded. He settled for simply squeezing the headboard even tighter and gritting his teeth so hard it was almost painful.

"He's — he's okay though, isn't he?" Lily asked.

Healer Stedmen turned to Lily and addressed her with an air of relief, as if she were the only rational person in the room. "Yes Mrs. Potter, Harry is perfectly healthy baby boy. There's nothing that would indicate that he's going to be a Dark Wizard or anything like that —"

Lily's expression crumpled as she gazed at baby Harry. "But you can't really know that until he gets older, right?"

"Now that isn't fair! You can't condemn the child for being who he is on flimsy stories! Birds of Paradise aren't even rated as dangerous by the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures! He's —"

"How dare you try and lecture us! Just who do you think you are to try and tell me to raise my son?"

Suddenly Marcus let out a short wail. Everyone quieted, and took the time to catch their breath as Lily gently shushed the baby and rocked him back to sleep.

"I was in no way questioning your integrity Mr. Potter, and I understand that you were both stressed out even without the babies and Harry's heritage," Stedmen said, becoming the calm impersonal doctor he was before, "but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that boy. He won't be any different then a half Veela or a half goblin or any other sentient being."

James nodded but wasn't really listening. He stared at Harry intently, who through all of this hadn't made a single peep, mentally debating on what he should do next. He could leave with his wife and two babies right now, and wait and see what this creature-child's true nature was. Or…or…

"Does anyone else no about the twins?" James murmured.

Healer Stedmen sighed in relief, figuring that now that the shock had worn off the two parents were seeing sense. "Ah, no. There's only a few Healer's here actually, and none of them are apart of the Maternity Department." He slumped against the wall and yawned. "In fact, I haven't really had time to do any of the paper work either. I'd better get to it now before I forget."

"Perfect." James drew his wand so fast that the Healer didn't even realize what was happening until he uttered: "Obliviate!"

James had quickly refilled the Healer's now blank memory of the past couple of hours, thanking him for delivering their beautiful baby boy Marcus and that he appreciated the offer to stay overnight but Lily felt fine and they all just really wanted to go home.

The lights flickered on, followed by the soft creaking that came from even the slightest pressure on the staircase. James waited until his wife had sat down before looking up.

"I hope you had a good reason for what you did James," said Lily with controlled calm, "because I don't fancy a stay in Azkaban for mind rape."

James took a deep breath. There was no use mincing words, not that there was any feasible way to put what he was about to suggest delicately. "We have to get rid of him —"

"No," Lily interrupted immediately, shaking her head. "No, no, no, no —"

"Lily, please! Just listen to me, alright?" James crossed the room and sat next to her on the recliner, wrapping his arms around her. "We have to think about the prophecy love, if the Longbottom boy isn't the Chosen One then it has to be Marcus. We can't risk Harry harming him, even if it wasn't on purpose."

"But he's our son James!" Lily cried. "We can't just throw him away like some old toy! We'll raise him to be a good boy, he won't want to hurt Marcus!"

"Think about it though. Can you honestly say that we won't treat him differently then Marcus, neglect him even, because of what he is?"

"I —"

"Honestly, Lily?" James looked into her green eyes. Her silence was telling enough.

Lily tore her gaze away from her husband and dissolved into tears. "I — I can't believe I'm considering —" she choked out in between sobs. "I'm a horrible mother."

James rocked her gently and rested his cheek on the top of her head, whispering words of reassurance into her hair. "Shh, it'll be better for him." And us, he added silently.

"Where will we take him? We can't trust him with another wizarding family; they may treat him terribly because of his heritage."

'And the fact that the Potter's have Bird of Paradise blood will eventually come out,' a little voice whispered in the back of James' mind that made him feel extremely guilty. "What about the muggle world?"

Lily quickly sat up straight. "We can't leave him at an orphanage James!"

"No, no, of course not. I was actually thinking of erm…your sister's family."

"Petunia!?" Lily screeched. "Are you completely mad!? We can't leave him there, she hates anything to do with magic, and she hates me twice as much!" She hopped off the couch and started to pace rapidly.

"Exactly! If Harry stays with Petunia and her husband they won't let him anywhere near the magical world. He'll grow up never knowing about us or magic and —"

"He'll grow up unhappy. Do you think that just because he's a child that Petunia will hate him any less?"

"Maybe not," James said quietly, "but if you have any other options, then I'd like to here it."

Lily growled in frustration, but no suggestions were forth coming. "They aren't just going to take him," she said, tone resigned.

"I know. I'll manage to persuade them though."

"When are you taking him?"

"In a few minutes."

Lily gasped. "So soon? Can't we wait —"

"It's best that we just get it over with, before Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail get back." And before they can try and change our minds, he thought.

After retrieving the child from the crib he was currently sharing with Marcus, he walked up to Lily so she could say goodbye.

"Don't worry baby," Lily whispered as tears streamed down her face, "it may not seem like it at first, but it'll be better for you. I — I promise." She stroked his little cheek gently, smiling when the baby yawned and snuggled deeper into his blanket.

"You still have that Portkey?"

Lily nodded and went over to the bookcase to fetch it. She had intended to give the Portkey to the Dursley's as a wedding gift. It would send them to another cottage they owned in France — as it held no magical objects and was stationed in a muggle neighborhood — and back, in case any Death Eaters attacked them in a way to wreak vengeance on the Potters.

Petunia had shown her appreciation for the gift by throwing the Portkey back at Lily's face, and then yelling for her to "stay the hell away from her family!"

James activated the Portkey — a stuffed Puffskin — with a tap of his wand. He kissed Lily softly on the lips, then said: "I won't be long," before touching it and whirling off to Number Four Privet Drive.

A shouting match (which awoke Harry, Petunia's own son Dudley, and quite a few of the Dursley's neighbors) and several well placed threats on the Dursley's person later, the little muggle family finally agreed (very reluctantly that is) to take care of his second son.

"Will we at least get a stipend for taking care of the rotten little freak?" Petunia said through gritted teeth.

James considered it for a moment. "I'll make some arrangements. But if I find out that you've abandoned him…" he let the threat trail off.

"How dare you —" James calmly but quickly shoved his wand under Mr. Dursley's nose, effectively cutting the large man off. He was in no mood for the rotund man's pathetic blustering.

"Like I said, if I found out you've abandoned him on the street or in an orphanage, then the whole lot of you will wish you were never born. Understand?"

The two Dursley's nodded frantically, fearing that anything else they could've said would probably only insight his "freakish" wrath. "Wonderful. Have a good evening." He took one last look at Harry. The baby was wide awake now, whimpering slightly in Petunia's vice like grip, and was staring directly at him with his big green eyes. Eyes that just seemed to beg "please don't leave me hear".

James shook his head and resolutely marched towards the door. He had to hold in a bout of nausea when he heard Petunia mutter: "you'll shut up this instant you little monster!" when Harry's whimpering increased in volume. But he didn't look back, and minutes later found himself apparating back to Godric's Hollow. It would be the last thing he ever heard from his son and his new "family" for a long while.

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A/N: Plot holes that need to be filled so that I don't get any flames:

1) How could James and Lily have just scooted out after Lily had just given birth you ask? Well, magic is a spiffy thing you see. A couple of potions here and a few wand waves there and Lily's off to explore the world once more, Yay! Of course, it's likely recommended that they stay over night cause they're obviously pooped, however after erasing several hours of events from one's mind, I'm sure James thought it prudent to get the hell out of there.

2) Now I'm sure this is the million dollar (or pound) question, how on earth could Lily and James give up their own child, who is merely suspected of being a "dark" creature, when they're bestest buds with Remus, who is accepted by the general public as being a "dark" creature. Because frankly…that would be hypocritical wouldn't it? DING DING!! That's the magic word; hypocritical! James and Lily are being hypocritical! Of course, more of this will be explained in later chapters, but that shall do for now. Those of you who think that honorable James and Lily could never be hypocrites, meh, your reading the wrong story. I would suggest one of those Marauder era fics, where James and Lily can do no wrong, Sirius is sexier then a million Johnny Depps combined, Remus is paired with some Mary Sue insert, and Peter is forgotten completely. LOL J/k!

Hope you all enjoyed things so far.