This is the second part of the story of Danny Potter's life. If you haven't read 'Parallel lives' I strongly suggest you do, it might make more sense out of other things in this story.

I won't be updating this story as frequently as maybe you are used of me. I don't have a lot of spare time with school and everything. But it will be big chapters, 5000 words. And when I say less frequently, I mean you'll still get at least a chapter every 2 weeks. And no matter what I do not abandon a story.

I hope you'll like it. Feel free to tell me what you think of it.

Chapter 1

Last year had been a complete disaster. I been conflicted between my life in France and my life in England, but Harry had also seen Voldemort return and fought against him. That leads us to the biggest problem yet. Voldemort was back. And the worst part was, no one knew. Why is that? Because our stupid Minister of Magic refuses to believe my brother. Even though Dumbledore stuck up for him and told the press the exact same story, people are under the assumption that my brother and Dumbledore are lying. You should see the headlines in the Daily Prophet these days. It's always about this stupid theory that Harry is a liar who might be losing his mind.

When the articles first appeared, I told my dad that they should let me tell my side of the story. I had seen everything that had happened in the graveyard that night. But my dad, and Dumbledore, agreed that it would be a bad idea to speak of the strange connection I have with my brother. They say they don't want Voldemort to be aware of it because he might use it to his advantage but frankly, I think dad just doesn't want another child called a liar in the newspapers. It would make me sound like a lunatic as well.

England was hit with a heat wave this summer and it made it almost impossible for us to do anything that required energy. Me and Harry mostly filled our days lying around. My parents however were always busy doing something we weren't allowed to know. My dad said it was about his work so it was confidential but if that was the truth, my mother had no business with it either. She, uncle Remus and uncle Sirius were definitely involved in whatever it was. I had once asked my mother to tell me the truth but she had told me she couldn't tell me, not because I wasn't allowed to know but because Harry shouldn't know and I could not keep anything from him. So I told her to not tell me. That doesn't mean I haven't been helping Harry trying to figure it out. The only thing we've come up with so far is that it must have something to with Voldemort and… that's about it.

"Do you want to go to the park or something?" I asked my brother after lying around for a few hours.

He shrugged so I pulled him to his feet and outside. Harry has been rather depressed lately and I knew exactly who to blame for it. His two great friends hadn't written to him once all summer. Harry felt alone. Not just because our parents had hardly been home this summer or because his friends had forgotten to write to him but mainly because the world who had adored my brother as their hero for the past fifteen years had suddenly made him the outcast of society.

"Did you tell mom and dad yet?" Harry asked me when we made our way over to the set of swings in the park.

"Not yet. They've been really busy lately." I shrugged.

"You'll have to tell them soon because you'll still have to ask for Dumbledore's permission." Harry said.

I didn't think that would be the hard part. Surely Dumbledore would also see the advantage for Harry if I would attend Hogwarts with him. I could be his own personal body guard.

Me and Harry sat down on the swings, watching the muggle children play in the park. Sometimes I wonder if maybe things wouldn't be easier if we were muggles. But then we wouldn't have magic and I don't think I'd ever want to give that up. We were looking at a few kids who were messing around when suddenly the sky went dark.

"Finally, a little rain!" I said relieved but Harry didn't join me.

He was staring at the sky as if he expected Voldemort himself to drop down.

"Harry? What's wrong?"

"I don't know, I just have this feeling that something is off." He mumbled.

Things couldn't be that bad since I didn't feel any danger at all. Or maybe the incessant heat had confused my sixth sense.

I was able to get Harry so far to leave the park. It was probably going to rain soon anyway and even though I've really been waiting for that moment, I didn't feel like getting caught in the rain.

I had been trying to distract my brother with a few anecdotes of last school year but to no avail. He seemed very on edge as if he really did expect some Death Eater hiding in the bushes, ready to scare the hell out of us. Finally I kind of gave up on my mission and we walked in silence. When we arrived at an abandoned part of the town, Harry suddenly stopped.

"Do you feel that?" Harry whispered to me.

I was about to ask him what he was talking about till I felt it as well. I was suddenly incredibly cold but the strange thing about it was that it felt as if the coldness was coming from inside of me. I also felt sad, so incredibly sad all of the sudden. It was like I was having an acute depression and boy, was I depressed! It felt like there was no reason in the entire world to even feel a shred of happiness anymore.

"Dementors." Harry whispered.

What? That's not possible! Dementors aren't allowed anywhere out of Azkaban with a few exceptions like Harry's third year at Hogwarts. But what would dementors be doing in Godric's Hollow?

But Harry was right. When we arrived at an abandoned tunnel we had to go through to get home, I was so cold my blood was almost turning into ice. And that's when I saw it. A dementor. I had never seen one up close and I suddenly remembered why I never felt the need to either. The thing was hideous and I immediately associated it with death. It really just consisted out a black shredded cloak and a lot of unhappiness. I had my wand in my pocket but there is no way I could ever summon a patronus and Harry was just as frozen to the spot as I was.

It had noticed us. It came towards us at such a high speed, I didn't have the time to grab my wand. I tried but it fell on the floor in my attempt. The dementor flew right by me and went straight to my brother. The cloak revealed a hideous grey hand that grabbed my brother's throat and lifted him in the air. I dropped to the floor to find my wand but it took me a lot longer because suddenly there was another dementor hunched over me. It didn't just look like death, it smelled like it as well.

Everything around me became a blur. All I could focus on was the hideous creature trying to suck all the happiness and warmth out of me. I had my wand in hand again but there was nothing I could do.

"What is going on in here?" A voice called out from the distance.

I had tried to open my eyes before but the dementor's presence had made that nearly impossible. I was able to do it now though. The dementor was suddenly gone. Well, not completely gone. It had just moved on to another victim. The voice that had called out to us belonged to the muggle boy lying on the floor right now, shivering and not knowing why he suddenly felt like all the happiness was being sucked out of him.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Harry had finally found his wand and summoned a patronus. The stag had already chased away the dementor that had been gripping Harry's throat and was now charging towards the second dementor. This one let go of his grip on the muggle boy and fled as well.

"Don't put that away." I told Harry when I noticed him trying to put his wand back in his pocket. "They might come back."

I made my way over to the shivering muggle boy. He was still lying on the floor as if the dementor had not left. I put my hand on his shoulder but it's like he couldn't feel it because he didn't even respond in the slightest.

"We have to get him out of here."

Me and Harry pulled him to his feet but damn, that was one heavy boy. I threw one arm around my shoulder and the other one around Harry's. We didn't have any idea about where this boy could live. We didn't have any contact with the muggles in the neighbourhood and for all we knew he could be from anywhere. We decided to take him to our house. Dad would know what to do next.

"Why didn't you summon your patronus?" Harry asked me on our way back home.

"Because I can't summon one yet, Harry. It's just fog and I was having a hard time concentrating on a happy memory."

"You can summon one! I've seen it myself, it's the form of an eagle."

"Cut it out, Harry. I've told you before that it wasn't me." I snapped, annoyed that he still thought that his hallucination had been true.

We walked in silence to our house. I just hope our parents will be home because that has been rare lately. They were always off doing some secretive things that we weren't allowed to know about.

I had been right. When we got to our house, all the lights were off and no one was there. Shit, what were we going to do now?

"Put him on the couch." Harry told me when we entered the house.

Harry went to the kitchen and left me all alone with the muggle. It was quite the struggle to carry the boy all by myself to the couch but somehow I managed. It did make me kind of pissed off at Harry though. He's a guy. He should be doing the heavy lifting instead of putting all our stuff in an endless bag. Wait, he's doing what?!

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"I'm hiding some stuff."

"Why?"

"He's a muggle, Danny. I don't want to explain to him why we have brooms hanging on the wall or what a Probity Probe is."

"A dementor just tried to suck the soul out of his body, I'm pretty sure that will be his first question."

"Muggles can't see dementors. We'll just tell him that he slipped and hit his head."

Even though I wasn't sure if that would actually work, Harry had obviously put some thought into it. It might work. I just hope our parents will be back by the time the boy wakes up.

"What were dementors doing there anyway?" I finally asked Harry once he hid all the magical objects in our house which was more than I suspected.

"I don't know. It doesn't even make any sense. Dementors aren't allowed to leave Azkaban."

He was right. It made absolutely no sense that two dementors went for a stroll and just happened to run into Harry Potter. That was no coincidence. Those dementors were there for a reason and I'd bet my life on it that the reason for their presence was the boy sitting in front of me. But what had been the point? What could the ministry have to gain with giving Harry the dementor's kiss? It is the ministry who controls, or is supposed to control them. He might have made things a little difficult for them with telling everyone the truth when they are persistent on living a lie, but they would never try to kill Harry. The whole situation didn't make any sense.

After sitting there for a few minutes, thinking of all the possible reasons two dementors had shown up in Godric's Hollow, we heard the front door open. Harry jumped up immediately and rushed to the door. I heard him telling our parents what had happened but I was distracted by the moans coming from the boy on our couch.

"Euhm... I think he's waking up!" I called to my family.

My mother was the first to enter the room and quickly sat down next to the boy who was stretching out right now. Thank god, mom was here. She speaks the language of muggles, to me and the rest of my family it's just plain gibberish.

"Where am I?" The boy blinked at his surroundings.

"You're at our home. My name is Lily Potter and these are my children." Mom pointed to me and Harry. "They found you on the streets. You apparently slipped and hit your head quite hard."

So I guess we were going with that story. Let's hope the boy's not too clever.

"I saw you." He looked at me now. "You were lying on the floor."

"Oh, you must have hit your head pretty hard." My dad played along.

"But I saw you." The boy insisted.

"Yes, you did. I found you, don't you remember?"

The boy was really confused now. He didn't seem to believe either of us but his head was hurting due to falling on the floor when the dementor attacked him. He could only assume we were telling the truth.

"Where do you live? I'll take you home." My dad proposed.

The boy gave my father the address which was only a few blocks away. When my dad opened the front door to the boy, he asked my dad where our car was. Well, we don't have a car. Who needs muggle transportation when you have things like flu powder and apparition? My mom told him it was being repaired and we should all be grateful for his headache making him buy it so easily.

My dad had only been gone for two seconds when an owl knocked on our window. That would have been hard to explain, even with the boy's head ache. My mother went up to the window and let the animal in. To her, mine and Harry's surprise the owl didn't drop his letter in front of her but flew to my brother.

"Whose is it?" I asked eagerly.

I was kind of hoping that one of his friends had finally decided to write to him though I can't say I recognise the owl from former years.

Before Harry could pick up the letter the owl had dropped at his feet, the envelop started trembling. What's up with that? I've only seen a howler do that but since my mother is standing right here, who would send Harry a howler?

"Dear Mr Potter..."

The freaking envelop had a face! Like literally a face! It had eyes, a nose and deep purple lips. The letter was talking to Harry. So not really a howler but a similar concept.

"The ministry has received intelligence that at 6.23 this evening, you performed the Patronus charm in the presence of a muggle. As a clear violation of the decree for the reasonable restriction of underage sorcery, you are now hereby expelled from Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hoping that you are well, Mafalda Hopkirk."

And then the letter fell to the ground. Just like that, as if it had not just brought to Harry what might as well be the most devastating news in his life.

"Can they do that?" I asked my mom.

Harry wouldn't ask her. He was too busy staring off into space, probably imagining what his life would turn out like without a proper magical education.

"They most certainly can." My mother sighed.

"But Harry only did it because he was trying to save us, including the muggle."

"I know that, sweetheart, and we'll make sure that Harry will go to Hogwarts in September."

"How?" Harry suddenly turned to us.

"Your father will fix this. Just wait and see."

I wanted to believe that. My dad was a great man, he would get Harry out of this mess.

"But for now, you two go pack your things."

"What? Why?" I asked her.

"Just do as I say, Danny." She sighed.

There was no point arguing with my mother if she didn't want to. I pulled Harry with me up the stairs to go pack our things though I have no idea where we're going and what to take with me.

"I'm not going to Hogwarts." Harry whispered in his zombie state once we reached his room.

"Of course you are! Didn't you hear what mom just said? Dad will fix this."

"What if he can't?"

"He can. I am not transfer schools so I can go to Hogwarts alone this year. Now snap out of it and pack your things. I am not going to do it for you."

Harry eventually started packing his things and I could go to my room. I pulled my empty trunk from underneath my bed and started throwing all kinds of things in it: clothes, books, parchment and quills. Since I had no idea where I was going, I decided to practically take everything with me. All the running around in my room would not be necessary if I could just use magic. It's such a stupid law that underage wizards can't use magic outside of school. If that law didn't exist, Harry wouldn't be in trouble now and my trunk would have been packed in a second. The ministry just wants to make teenage life as hard as possible.

"Harry! Danny! Are you ready?" My dad's voice called us downstairs.

I didn't know about Harry but I was done. I had somehow managed to get all my stuff in the trunk without using a shrinking spell. That is quite the accomplishment. When I practically tumbled down the stairs I saw that the other members of my family were already waiting for me. How come Harry was here? I came down as quickly as possible. Well, maybe I shouldn't have stopped to put on some make-up. But I didn't know where I was going, there might be cute boys. Oh yes, I am single and ready to mingle. Isn't that a muggle saying or something like that?

"Are we using flu powder?" Harry asked, dreading the possibility of having to side-apparate with our parents.

"No, we're apparating." My father told us while he was already making his way over to the door after he shrank all our trunks so they'd fit into his pocket.

Harry almost paled visibly. I'm not a big fan of apparating either but after a while I got used to it. I don't know why but somehow it keeps feeling like the first time for Harry. Needless to say he doesn't like apparating one bit.

"When will you tell us where we are going?" I asked my parents when we all stood outside.

"Soon." My dad shrugged off my question.

I knew I'd probably know where we were going when we were actually there. I wanted to know it now. But my parents both didn't seem willing to give me an answer so there was nothing left to do than just take my mother's hand and apparate with her.

Our parents finally stopped at suburb in London, or at least that's where I'm guessing we are. I might have an idea where we are but I'm still clueless on the why. Harry looked almost green by now so there's no way he'll ask our parents the reason we're here. My dad pulled a note out of his pocket and handed it to me.

Headquarter of the Order of the Phoenix,

12 Grimmauld Place

Albus Dumbledore

Okay, the note wasn't a great help either. There wasn't even a number twelve at this place which I assume is Grimmauld place. But before I could even say any of that stuff to my parents, the houses started moving. No, I'm serious. Number eleven and thirteen seemed to be making way for another building.

"What the-" I started but never finished that sentence when I noticed the look on my mother's face.

I take it back. There is a number twelve, it's just really well hidden with a magic I do not know. My father pulled me and Harry along to the front door of the house. I might be a little paranoid but going in the magically hidden and very gloomy house, does not sound like a very good idea. Who knows what gruesome things it holds? I'll pass.

Unfortunately that didn't seem to be one of the options. My dad went up to the scary house to ring the door bell. What kind of messed up plan does he have?

It took a while before someone came to open the door and to my surprise that someone was uncle Remus. Now I'm pretty sure he didn't live here the last time we went to visit him.

"Come on in. Everyone is already here."

Both my parents quickly entered the house but me and Harry still didn't seem too excited about entering the spooky house. There have got to be some nasty and pissed off ghosts in this building. It definitely looks that way.

"What are you two waiting for?" Uncle Remus asked before pulling us inside.

I felt kind of trapped once he closed the door behind us. It was very dark and narrow in the hall of this house. It also smelled of old people. Where had our parents taken us?

"Mudbloods! Half-breeds! Blood-traitors! Dishonouring the house of my fathers!" A loud voice screeched through the almost abandoned hall.

It scared the wits out of me, especially because I had no idea where the wailing voice came from. Suddenly a door at the end of the hallway opened and revealed uncle Sirius. What, he's here too?

"Oh, shut up, you old bat!" he shouted angrily.

For a moment I actually thought he was screaming at my mother in such an awful way but of course he'd never do that. No, he appeared to be shouting against a portrait on the wall. The portrait showed an ugly and indeed old woman who looked slightly crazy by the way she was screaming.

"You!" The woman screeched at uncle Sirius. "You brought these traitors and mudbloods in my house! How dare you!"

Her voice faded out once uncle Remus, uncle Sirius and my dad were able to close the curtains covering her portrait. What the hell just happened here?

"What was that?" Harry spoke.

"That was my charming mother." Sirius sneered.

Mother? Sure, I know everyone has a mother but I've never heard him talk about her. For a good reason probably because I know he left his home when he was sixteen and moved in with dad's family. By the looks of it she wasn't too keen on him either.

"Harry!"

A chubby woman came out of the same door as Sirius had with a big smile on her face, opening her arms to my brother.

"Mrs Weasley." Harry smiled at her before he let her hug him.

I knew there was something familiar about that woman. I did only meet her once so it's normal I couldn't immediately place her face.

"Your parents warned us that you were coming so we prepared rooms for you. You'll be sharing a room with Ron since there aren't that many rooms left."

Please don't tell me the entire Weasley family is present in this house as well. The twins I can deal with but not all the other members.

"You'll have your own room, Danny." She smiled at me.

Good, at least I wouldn't have to share a closed off space with Ginny Weasley. The girl is absolutely dull and the way she stares at Harry all the time is also kind of creepy.

Before we could ask anyone where the hell we were, Mrs Weasley shooed us upstairs. All the adults were entering the room she and Sirius had come from as if they were going to have some secret meeting. There's a big chance that's the truth.

Harry entered the first door on the left on the second floor while I took the third one on the right. It was a small room with nothing more than a bed against the right wall and a closet opposite of it. I can understand why uncle Sirius left this place. It's absolutely depressing.

Somehow my trunk had made it in this room and for that I was grateful. Puengi, my owl was also present in this room. How had she gotten here? I was taking all my clothes out of my trunk and placing them in the closet when I got interrupted by a screaming voice.

"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK IN MY HOUSE FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT – WHO SAVED THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?"

Harry was shouting at the top of his lungs. I was surprised my mother hadn't come up yet to silence him. I was glad he was shouting at them though. They hadn't been very good friends to him this summer and they totally deserved to hear it from him. But the fact that he just said how awful it had been to be stuck in a house with me all summer, stung.

I dropped the rest of my things and made my way over to the room Harry's shouts were coming from.

"WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"

I had reached the door but I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go inside. Harry hardly gets mad, I've never heard him shout at someone like this before. I'm the one with a temper in the family. I have that from our mom but apparently Harry has it too.

"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"

"Harry, we wanted to tell you, we really did-" Granger tried to get a word in between but there was no stopping Harry.

I just stood in the doorway, watching my brother yell at his friends. I did not want to interfere with that.

"CAN'T'VE WANTED IT THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR-"

What did Dumbledore have to do with all this? Was he the reason Harry's friends didn't write to him at all this summer?

"Well, he did-"

Weasley should really learn to keep his goddamn mouth shut because it's not helping with Harry's rage at all.

"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK AT MY HOUSE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON - "

Harry did what?!

"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER – "

I was starting to actually feel bad for his friends because the girl was almost in tears. Maybe I should tell Harry to calm down. I had been just as clueless about everything as he had been and you don't see me making people cry. But it were two pops that silenced him. Fred and George had appeared completely out of the blue on Harry's both sides and almost gave Granger a heart attack in the process.

"Hello, Harry," George grinned. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out." Fred grinned as well. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."

I almost snorted but figured out in time that Harry wouldn't appreciate it. I didn't want him to start yelling at me.

"I'm guessing you both passed your apparition tests?" I made my presence known.

"Yes, we did, Danny." They both grinned at me.

"And they use it for everything. You could have just come down the stairs, it takes only half a minute." Weasley sighed. Clearly he was already tired of them apparating all the time.

"Anyway, if you're done with shouting," George began.

"Want to hear something a little more interesting?" Fred finished.

They told us about expendable ears. They're like ears on a string and they've all been using it to listen to the meetings of the Order of the Phoenix. That's apparently where we are, at their head quarters. It's an organisation they also formed during the wizarding war, to fight Voldemort. It made only sense to start it up again once Voldemort returned. I guess this is where are parents had been going to the entire time.

Fred and George treated us to a little demonstration about how they've been eavesdropping on the meetings. They used one of those expendable ears and lowered them down from the staircase to the door all the adults were behind, doing God knows what.

"If anyone has the right to know, it's Harry. If it weren't for Harry, we wouldn't even know Voldemort was back." We heard a voice say through our end of the expandable ear. I recognised the voice as uncle Sirius'. This invention is amazing. "He's not a child, Lily."

"He's not an adult either." Our mom spoke.

Someone else got involved in the conversation but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I didn't recognise this voice, but Harry did.

"Snape's part of the order?" He asked the twins.

How can that be? Only last year me and Harry found out that he had been a Death Eater. Oh, but we also found out he had been a spy for the light side during the wizarding war. I guess he was doing that once again.

"What's that cat doing?" I suddenly asked.

This big red cat with a flat face was sitting at the bottom of the stairs and was showing an unhealthy interest in the ear.

"Crookshanks, no!" Granger tried but to no avail.

The cat had ripped the ear of the cord and was chewing on it as if it were some kind of toy. There goes the eavesdropping plan.

"Granger, I hate your cat." I said.

"Bad Crookshanks." She told her bloody cat.

And that was that. The twins were going to make a new one but that would take time so we couldn't hear what they were saying downstairs anymore. I guess we'll just have to wait until they come out and tell us. Because they bloody well should tell us.