A/N This is my first fanfiction. I have been a long time reader though and I have a few original fictions under my belt. I thought I would start with something everyone knows - the Harry has a twin plot. Hopefully my story differs enough from all the others to make it interesting, but that is something you will only find out if you read it.

Enjoy!

Storme

Disclaimer - Anything you recognise does not belong to me.

The Way of the Future: Splintered Souls, Broken Spirits

Chapter 1

'Get up you lazy brats!' A shrill voice sounded breaking the tranquil morning air, its owner banging her hand on the door as she did so. Harry jerked awake and sat up, knocking his head on the bottom of the staircase as he did so. The thump shook the crooked roof and coated everything with a light cover of dust and spider webs. He grumbled quietly to himself and rubbed his head with one hand and shook his sister with the other. 'What did you say?' the female screeched, causing the girl occupying the same bed as her brother to mumble 'nothing Aunt Petunia.'

Aunt Petunia huffed on the other side of the door, 'you two had better not ruin Dudder's special day with your freakishness.' With that she walked away, heading towards the kitchen to begin preparing the mornings meal, leaving the two small children to scramble about, getting in each other's way as they tried to get dressed and get out the door. They were both used to the cramped space though, having shared the same bed for as long as they could both remember.

Finally, both Harry and his sister Lucia managed to finish dressing and leave the cupboard they called home, but not after a scuffle over who got to wear the better pair of socks that day. Harry won that argument by hiding half of the pair in his worn-out pillowcase until Lucia gave in. It didn't take long; Lucia didn't have the same patience as her brother, when it came to that kind of thing. 'Trivial stuff isn't worth it', she had said to him, numerous times, 'leave your patience for the stuff that matters'. Her brother had come back with 'everything matters, whether you think so or not'.

The black-haired boy exited the cupboard first, leaving his sister to brush her hair with an old comb that was missing half its teeth. She was the only one that tried to use it, both her and her brother had given up trying to tame his messy locks, no matter what they did, his hair just wouldn't lie flat. Both children looked as similar as brother and sister could, they both had knobbly knees and thin faces. Apart from their gender the only other differences they had were the colour of their hair and eyes. Harry had black hair and bright green eyes behind his glasses while Lucia had red hair and sparkling blue eyes. Even though they looked alike, they were often mistaken as cousins because of their colouring but that was something they were quick to correct, neither wanted to give up the only person each considered actual family.

It only took her about a minute to roughly pull the comb through her mid-length auburn hair but that was all the delay her aunt would tolerate and before long the piercing voice of Aunt Petunia could be heard once more urging her to hurry up or the bacon would burn. Lucia sighed quietly and rolled her eyes as she left the cupboard and made her way to the kitchen. Halfway up the hallway she was shoved aside into the wall as her cousin pushed past making a beeline for the kitchen. He stopped suddenly, turning around with a smirk on his face and a gleam in his eye. He crouched down and held his hand out as if to offer help to the girl but at the last minute he twisted his wrist and cruelly tugged on the hair that had covered Lucia's face when she fell.

Just as quick as he stopped, the large boy, Dudley, stood up and made his way into the kitchen loudly complaining that he was hungry and why wasn't breakfast ready yet? He was the same age as the twins but was considerably larger than both of them put together. That wasn't hard though, considering he the amount he ate each day most likely totalled the weight of his cousins.

The kitchen table was covered with presents and Dudley's greedy eyes quickly took that in while his chubby hands reached for the first one and started to rip it open. Lucia had followed her obese cousin into the room, his mass hiding her from view momentarily from the other occupants. She quickly made her way over to her brother and took the tongs of him, taking charge of the bacon cooking on the stovetop.

As she passed her brother she whispered quietly into his ear, 'watch your sleeve.' Harry looked down and saw that his sleeve was very close to the hot plate, millimetres away from catching fire. He stooped what he was doing with the eggs and rolled his sleeve up out of the way. He shot a grateful glance at his sister, knowing that if his shirt had caught on fire he would have been in a lot of trouble. Both his aunt and uncle would have yelled at him about how ungrateful he was; ruining perfectly good clothes like that. It didn't matter that they were Dudley's hand-me-down's and were 4 sizes too big. Lucia was a little luckier in that respect, her clothes were still used however they had previously belonged to Aunt Petunia and even she had to admit that there would be suspicions from the general public if she hadn't reluctantly taken them in to fit her niece.

'Where is my special guy?' the only other male, Uncle Vernon, in the house questioned as he made his way into the kitchen with the newspaper tucked under one arm. He ruffled his son's blonde hair as he rounded the table and took his seat at the head.

'Dad, when is Piers coming?' Dudley managed to say through a mouthful of bacon and grease.

'He will be here in about an hour, son.'

Piers was a part of Dudley's gang at school. When they decided to beat someone up he was usually the one that held the hands behind the back of the unlucky guy they had managed to catch that day. Needless to say Dudley's favourite person to beat up was his own cousin, Harry. Fortunately for the smaller boy, Dudley wasn't a very fast runner and Harry quite frequently succeeded in escaping. When that happened Dudley's second thought was to do the same thing to Lucia. In the time it took Dudley to make that decision though Lucia had, more often than not, made herself scarce and hidden from the bully and his gang.

Regrettably, though there was nowhere to hide in their own house and Dudley knew that his cousins had to come home sometime. It was those times, when both Harry and Lucia had evaded Dudley during the day, coming home just after dark was the only option they had, that was when it hurt the most. Dudley would take his frustrations out on both twins, locking them in the basement when he would finish. It was cold and dark and damp down there and spending the night bruised and bloody usually led to one or both of the twins becoming sick and not healing properly.

The phone rang halfway through breakfast and Aunt Petunia left to answer it. In the time she was gone Dudley finished his bacon and eggs and started counting his presents. Harry noticed quickly how much trouble his cousin was having and nudged his sister in the side to grab her attention. When she looked up, the look of confusion on her face rapidly changed to amusement and they both sat there trying very hard to keep the smiles of their faces and their laughter silent.

That plan blew up in the twins faces when Harry muttered, 'who knew pigs could count?'

Lucia burst out laughing, unable to hold it in after that, her brother following shortly after. Uncle Vernon's face purpled as he stared at the two laughing their heads off. 'What are you laughing at, Boy?'

Just as Harry calmed down enough to answer, Aunt Petunia bustled back into the kitchen, her brow furrowed and lips tightly pressed together. 'Mrs Figg can't take them. She broke her leg.'

Vernon's head snapped up from his breakfast plate. 'What?'

'What do we do now?' Harry and Lucia looked at each other in anticipation. Whatever was about to happen was something out of the normal for the pair, something different and that would hopefully mean something good. Usually on Dudley's birthday or when the Dursley's went away on holiday, they left Harry and Lucia with old Mrs Figg, who lived just down the street.

Mrs Figg was a nice enough lady but Harry hated going to her house, everything was old and smelled funny and Lucia spent most of her time there sneezing. Harry believed that it was the cats that made her do so. Lucia was adamant that is was the old lady herself that she was allergic to. Nevertheless, both Harry and Lucia would be miserable by the time they were allowed to go back to Number 4 Privet Drive.

'You could just leave us here,' Harry piped up hopefully.

'We could phone Marge,' Vernon stated, completely ignoring Harry. The boy glanced at his sister as if to say 'Well what do you expect? It's not as if they have listened to either of us before.'

'She hates them, Vernon, and Yvonne is on holiday so she can't take them either.'

'We may have to take them with us.'

That statement had some mixed reactions in the kitchen of Number 4 Privet Drive. Dudley's mouth dropped in horror, showing a mouthful of half-eaten food to the rest of the house hold. Vernon's face once again turned a mottled shade of red and purple. Lucia stared at her Aunt in disbelief, shocked that they would even think of doing something that would benefit her brother and herself. Harry straightened almost imperceptibly in his chair, his vibrant green eyes shining as he waited for an answer that he hoped would be positive.

His hopes were dashed however when Vernon calmly said 'The car's brand new, I'm not having them sit in it. Besides they won't fit in the back seat with Piers and Dudley. The car only fits three in the back and I'll be damned if I break the law for those freaks.'

After a little more discussion, Vernon and Petunia finally decided to leave Harry and Lucia behind, albeit locked outside the house and unable to get back in until they had returned from the zoo. Dudley grinned in pleasure and whooped out loud when he heard the verdict, then poked his tongue out at his cousins.

Neither twin was very surprised when they were told they were being left behind again. It was a regular occurrence when it came to the decisions of their extended family. Most often they were only given a momentary thought which usually consisted of the phrase 'Be quiet, stay out of sight and for your own sake, don't do anything freaky!'

Not long after breakfast was finished and the twins had cleared away everything that was used in the kitchen, Dudley's friend Piers showed up with his mother. Shortly after that Piers' mother left and the two boys rounded on their smaller counterparts as the two were making their way to the cupboard under the stairs.

'Poor freaks, bet you thought you were going to get to come with us, didn't you?' mocked Dudley.

Harry didn't say anything in response, shrinking a little, as if trying to escape notice. He had no such luck however and Dudley didn't respond well to being ignored. His already meaty fist slammed into Harry's stomach, doubling him over. 'Answer him, freak.' Piers sneered, grabbing a hold of Lucia's arm so she couldn't get away. She tried anyway, twisting in his grip, but that only succeeded in Piers gripping tighter.

Harry tried to gasp out an answer, failing to do anything more than whisper a strained 'Yes.' Dudley leaned forward to catch the answer and when he heard Harry, the smile on his face patronising.

'Aww, the little baby wanted to go home to his mummy, the gorilla. Pity your real mum's dead, huh?'

'Don't you talk about our mum!' Lucia cried out. Harry was still trying to catch his breath after Dudley's punch winded him. Dudley whipped around to face the girl still trying to get her arm out of Piers' clutch. 'Or what?' he stated coldly, 'There's nothing you can do to me without getting into trouble. Neither of you are wanted here, you are nothing but useless freaks, so why don't you do us a favour and not come back tonight!' Dudley growled in Lucia's face.

Lucia was taken aback. Sure, her cousin was mean and beat them up but he had never told them that they should leave. Both Lucia and Harry were told frequently that they were useless or good-for –nothing, years of that type of treatment had hardened both to the insults coming from their family.

With that final statement, Dudley pulled Lucia's hair for the second time that day, a bit more severely than the first time. He punched Harry one more time, winding him further and then left the house with Piers to get into the car.

Lucia knelt to help her brother Harry up. Just as she had gotten him upright, their Aunt and Uncle came through from the back of the house. 'Why haven't you two left yet?' Vernon snapped at them, 'You're blocking the hallway, get a move on!' He barged past them roughly, followed by Petunia, leaving the two to walk unsteadily out the front door, with Lucia trying not to trip her brother up by getting tangled in his feet. As soon as they had crossed the threshold of the house Vernon slammed the door behind them, locking it.

The twins moved to the side of the driveway and watch as their family piled into the car without them. Vernon wound down the window and shouted out to them 'If we come back and the street is in shambles, the pair of you won't see the light of day for a month!'

He wound the window up and reversed the car out of the driveway, leaving the two pre-teens standing there, staring at the back of the car as it pulled away, Piers and Dudley in the back seat pulling faces at them. As soon as the car turned the corner and disappeared out of sight Harry turned to his sister and said 'So what do you propose we do now?'