Summary: Orphans of war, twins Harry and Alyssa Potter don't remember ever having a loving family that cared for them, they've only ever had each other. Going to Hogwarts widens their horizons and they come to realize that they're going to have to fight if they want to stay together.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter One: A New Chapter
Sunlight shot through the small attic window with no curtains blocking the shine. Alyssa rolled over trying to not think about the inevitable of the real world. The feathers of the old pillow poked her in the cheek making her twitch.
"Come on, let's get this over with." Harry nudged her arm; she opened her eyes to see her brother looking down at her in amusement. His green eyes were piercing through his glasses and his messy black hair looked mused from sleep. He was already dressed in overlarge clothes.
"Can I poison them today?" she asked as she sat up and looked at the boxes around them. Their relatives had dumped them in the attic once they both couldn't fit the cupboard under the stairs. They slept on two old mattresses and wore their cousin's used clothes. The attic was relatively dust free because Harry didn't want them to have breathing problems, he'd snuck some clean products up here to clean it whenever they were told to dust the bedrooms on the second floor. They stored the only clothes they had in one of the boxes and occasionally whenever they had free time they would search through the other boxes up here.
"Not today, I don't want the hassle of having three dead bodies in the house." Harry laughed as he rearranged his ratty blanket. They'd had one of their only arguments about which one should have the blanket with fewer holes; she'd only agreed to have the one with better condition if they used both together in the winter months. She didn't often give up, but where her twin was concerned, Harry meant everything to her. "Especially when we wouldn't have the strength to move two of them."
"We could just leave." She brushed her hands through her wavy auburn brown hair, thinking about the hairbrush downstairs that she'd never been allowed to use. Harry occasionally brushed his fingers through her hair when she couldn't reach the back or when there was next to nothing for them to do.
"You know my feelings on that." Harry whispered, his head down as he folded his overlarge nightshirt.
She sighed as she changed into her own overlarge clothes. The twins hardly owned anything that was theirs. There was only old baby blankets that they could say belonged to them; they had their names stitched on the cream wool and red ribbon woven through. They had a couple of books they had sneaked away from Dudley's second room because he'd never even touched them so he was unlikely to notice them missing.
The most treasured items were a box of letters that their mother had written to her sister. They had found them when they'd been moved up to the attic, and that was when they found out the biggest secret that their relatives were keeping from them. Their mother had been a witch, she'd studied magic and there had been a war. They had kept their knowledge of this from their relatives and hidden the box of precious letters so they wouldn't be burnt. They'd often spent afternoons rereading them and touching the words written in their mother's hand. It was the only connection they had to their parents.
They'd also found a box of photo albums with what must have belonged to their grandparents. Their eyes had been immediately drawn to the young girl with red hair and bright green eyes that looked exactly like Harry's this had led them to the assumption that their father must have had black hair like Harry's and either brown or hazel eyes since Alyssa's eyes were a hazel-green.
Harry had promised that as soon as they got their letters to Hogwarts they would leave this house and never come back. They had already started packing in secret at the start of the year, as it would look less suspicious. They visited the library on occasion to see if they had any books about magic but were always left disappointed.
They had an old rucksack that used to belong to Dudley until he'd got a new one was hidden behind some of the boxes, it was already filled with the letters, precious photos and a couple of books that their mother must have owned and then left with her parents, such as an old 'The Muggleborn Guide to the Wizarding World' book that was worn and folded, a book called 'A History of Magic' which held some of the history of the wizarding world and 'Magical Theory' what was about how spells worked. This had helped them understand their accidental magic and how to better control it, knowing that their emotions played a big part in the magic, they had read some meditation books from the neighborhood library for breathing exercises and clearer minds.
A couple of years ago, she had the bright idea to nick the change in the dirty laundry that they were made to do, this had given them enough money to occasionally buy food when they weren't given meals. They kept the rest of the money so they would have it to escape, they would need it to get the tube to Charing Cross to pass through to Diagon Alley.
"Ready? It's the fat pig's birthday." Harry smiled as she tapped him on the shoulder to turn around.
"Don't remind me," she rolled her eyes, as Harry reached for the attic's trap door.
"I think they mentioned taking him to the zoo today, did you want to sneak away to the library for a couple of hours?" Harry smiled as he turned away from the door.
"Really?" she quietly squealed, the library was their only safe place. They tried to escape there as often as they could. The school library was similar, in that it was a safe place for them whilst on school breaks, Dudley wouldn't find them there and as they sat near the librarian he couldn't get away with bullying them with a witness there.
"Yeah, unless they drop us with Mrs. Figg." Harry's face scrunched up, she could tell he was thinking of the old cat smell that the whole house smelt like.
"I hope not, it would be harder to sneak away from there." She smiled as Harry nodded in confirmation, then they both went quiet as Harry tried to open the door as quietly as possible. Their relatives liked them to be as quiet, so they tried not to wake them up when they went down to cook breakfast. If they got away with it they could eat some of the food they cooked, since they were only allowed a piece of toast each.
Harry lifted the hook away from the door, and lent out the hole as it opened. He pushed gently on the foldable loft ladder and the wooden stairs collapsed just above the floor below. They sighed quietly in relief as no loud sounds were made. From there they climbed down the ladder and Harry pulled on the string so it would reclose the attic door. They tiptoed across the landing and to the stairs, where they stepped over the ones that creaked and walked into the kitchen. They brushed their teeth over the kitchen sink and washed their faces in turn.
No words were exchanged as they went about their jobs as quietly as possible. They cleaned the counters and the table and set out the plates, cups and cutlery. They pored the drinks and got the ice cubes from the freezer. Then they opened the windows to let the summer air in, their aunt always complained if the air felt too stuffy. Not having to do anything else until they heard a noise from upstairs they looked through to the living room to see the mountains of presents for Dudley. They laughed quietly as they conversed about how many tantrums their cousin would make today, and if they would be required to clean up all the wrapping paper.
Heavy footsteps sounded above their heads and they rushed into the kitchen space, frying the eggs and bacon and putting the bread into the toaster. She took charge of cutting up the fruit that their aunt would eat. By the time footsteps were heard coming down the stairs food was already been put onto their uncle's plate and they had began washing up the stuff that was no longer needed.
"The bacon better not be burnt, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." Aunt Petunia snapped as she stood in the archway, she looked down her nose at the food on the table and turned around to go and wake Dudley.
By the time Uncle Vernon entered the room they had the second batch of bacon cooking, she was frying it this time as Harry put the morning newspaper next to Uncle's plate.
"Comb your hair!" he barked at them, which was ironic because they didn't even give them a comb or brush to use. She rolled her eyes as she looked at the food frying in front of her. Harry served out the cooked food onto the plates, while she hand dried the utensils.
Dudley arrived into the room with his mother and waddled over to the stack of presents, he immediately started counting them, but after a couple of minutes he turned around with a disappointed face. Her eyes connected with Harry's telling him to quickly make his way over to her side of the room, she didn't want him in hitting distance.
"Thirty-six, that's two less than last year," Dudley scowled at his parents as the twins tried to be unseen.
"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy." Their Aunt pointed to the large present that looked like a badly wrapped bike.
"All right, thirty-seven then," The twins sat down in their seats sensing the tantrum that was very likely going to happen. They tried to quietly and quickly eat their food without drawing attention to themselves.
"And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?" Their Aunt quickly said, as she patted her son on the shoulder.
"So I'll have thirty… thirty…" Dudley frowned in thought, and she couldn't help silently giggling as he struggled. She bit her lip to keep the laughter in, noticing that Harry was also having trouble.
"Thirty-nine, sweetums,"
"Oh, alright then." Dudley sat down and grabbed the nearest present dragging it towards him.
"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" Uncle Vernon chuckled as he began eating again. The twins exchanged looks, glad that hurricane Dudley hadn't hit.
The telephone went off, and she began feeling uneasy as soon as their Aunt went off to pick it up. She tapped Harry's hand twice, in silent communication as Dudley unwrapped his presents.
It didn't take long for their Aunt to return, she looked both angry and worried, they didn't have to guess that it had something to do with them.
"Bad news, Vernon, Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take them." Harry's hand tightened on her at the news, even though they'd been hoping for this it suddenly occurred to them that their relatives didn't like leaving them alone in the house. "Now what?" Their Aunt glared accusingly in their direction as if they had made this happen. Dudley looked at them in horror, and she felt dread fill her stomach. Something was about to happen.
"We could phone Marge," Their Uncle suggested, and Alyssa shivered in terror. That woman, if you could call her a woman, was terrible. She had nightmares about Marge drowning Harry and her.
"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates them."
"What about what's her name, your friend Yvonne?"
"On vacation in Majorca." Aunt Petunia snapped, Harry looked up hastily and she could tell he was about to say something.
"You could just leave us here."
"And come back and find the house in ruins?"
"We won't blow up the house," Harry said, but they weren't listening.
"I would," She murmured, she twitched as Harry elbowed her.
"I suppose we could take them to the zoo… and leave them in the car…"
"That car's new, their not sitting in it alone…" The conversation carried on till Dudley began fake crying, drawing his parents attention to him.
"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry! Mummy won't let them spoil your special day!" Aunt Petunia flung herself at Dudley who was still sitting with his opened presents laid about around him.
"I… don't… want… them… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled as he grinned at them over his mother's shoulder. "They always sp-spoil everything!"
Alyssa glared at Dudley; hopefully she'd achieve the power to kill with a look. She wanted to pounce and kick the stuffing out of that fat pig. He constantly bullied them and never got into trouble. He should count himself lucky that they wouldn't see him ever again in a month or two. She was determined to study as many curses as she could so that one day she could pay him back for what he put them though, all those times which Harry held her back and been made to watch as Dudley beat up her brother.
The bell rang, and the family raced about. Aunt Petunia went to the door and Uncle Vernon put down his newspaper. Dudley put on his new gold watch, and the twins began putting the plates in the dishwasher.
Half an hour later, they were all siting in the car. Cramped because Dudley's friend Piers Polkiss who looked like a rat was sitting in the back of the car as well. Because of their relatives practically starving them they both managed to fit into the same seat. Alyssa had the spot next to the window because Harry didn't trust the other boys not to do something to her.
The twins were being as quiet as possible as Uncle Vernon complained and Dudley and his friend talked. Mourning the books they could have been reading at the library.
The day was sunny and the zoo was crowed with families. They managed to get Lemon ice pops and were feeling apprehensive at this oddly good fortune. They stayed away from the others as they walked around the zoo, looking in wonder at the animals around them. They'd never seen them in person, only in books. After lunch they went into the reptile house.
"They're really eerie," she looked at the Sidewinder snake in front of them.
"Make it move!" Dudley shouted at his father. They both looked over to see him in front of the largest snake. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass but it looked like the snake was asleep. "Do it again!" Dudley ordered, and Uncle Vernon banged on the glass. "This is boring," Their cousin moaned and turned away.
Harry laughed, and dragged her over to the snake their cousin had been looking at.
"It's a Boa Constrictor, Al. one of the largest snakes in the world! They aren't poisonous, but are still really deadly; they can wrap themselves around their prey and squeeze until they no longer breathe." Harry said excitedly, she smiled in amusement at his enthusiasm. She heard Harry hiss under his breath, as she glanced over to see where their relatives were. Looking back at the snake she saw it turn around and stare at her brother. Her eyes widened as the snake jerked its head in the direction or their cousin and raised its eyes to the ceiling. Harry hissed at the snake and Alyssa's jaw dropped. Her brother and the snake appeared to be in conversation, and it was scaring her. If anyone caught him!
"Harry! Please stop!" she whispered frantically to him. Harry looked round in confusion. She glanced over at their relatives to see if they'd noticed, and breathed a sigh of relief at their turned backs.
"What?"
"You were talking to the snake!" she tugged at his hand and looked at him in concern.
"Yeah, and?" Harry asked, an eyebrow lifted.
"You were hissing!" she hissed at him, nervously twitching at the thought of him being caught.
"No I wasn't, I was just talking to it." Harry frowned, looking back to the snake in confusion. The Boa Constrictor still had its eyes on him.
"I swear, Harry. You were hissing at it!" she bit her lip, confused at why Harry thought he'd been talking to the snake. "Maybe its magic? It could be a magical language, you can't let them hear you."
"A magical language?" Harry ran a hand through his hair, and she tugged at his hand wanting to get as far away from the snake as possible. "But wouldn't you have understood it? It's not like I learned how to speak snake, so how can I?"
"I don't know, but I don't want you near it. We should leave." She turned around to see Dudley's friend glance over at them, his eyes widened as he noticed the snake awake.
"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Piers shouted and had Dudley come waddling around the corner as fast as he could.
"Move, move quickly." She hissed, and dragged them both away from the snake and up the stairs next to them, hopefully Dudley wouldn't notice them.
They watched as Piers and Dudley leaned up to the glass, their faces pressed on it as they stared.
"Come on, before we do something that could get us in trouble." She murmured. Harry nodded and they began walking away. Living with the Dursleys for almost ten years had sharpened their survival instincts and they knew that going near the glass would result in something happening.
The rest of the day passed without incident, and ended with them safely back in the attic away from the people who would look for any excuse to harm them.
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