Brothers Divided

by bast4

For as long as he could remember, Harry Potter hadn't been alone. By his side had been his twin Jason. Then they arrived at Hogwarts and were Sorted into different Houses. Suddenly, a chasm lay between them, one Harry couldn't cross and Jason refused to. So Harry had to learn how to stand without his twin, finding friends and fighting a war along the way. - cross-post from AO3 -

Disclaimer - Harry Potter and his world belong to JK Rowling and other people. I make no money off of this fan-work.

picked a cliche prompt out of a proverbial hat - got "twins".

As fun as the prompt can be, I didn't want to write multi-chapter works of each Hogwarts year in the twins' lives. Instead, I made this oneshot that covers the changes in several of the major events.

hope you enjoy.

---

Harry slanted a glance back at Jason, his twin chattering happily away with a red-haired boy with blue eyes and a multitude of freckles. Biting his lip, he looked away at the other first years as a distraction. His twin was enjoying himself, having made a new friend.

Why did that feel like a betrayal?

All those years at the Dursleys, it had been HarryandJason. JasonandHarry. Two boys against the world, against their relatives' neglect and abuse, against their classmates' ostracization and neighbors' scorn. Squeezed together on a too-small mattress in the cupboard under the stairs, whispering hopes and dreams of a better life. Learning of the magical world had been a wonder they shared, even if people seemed to idolize Jason for the X-shaped scar on his forehead.

They called Jason "the Boy Who Lived" and ignored Harry standing right next to him.

But surely that didn't matter? Surely they would stay together as they explored this new world and made real friends? Surely everything wouldn't change?

Right?

When they entered the Great Hall, when the Sorting Hat chose the House of student after student, when the magical object called out "SLYTHERIN!" atop Harry's head...

His emerald-green (green as the light in his dreams striking down the red-haired woman as a high cold voice laughed and laughed) eyes met Jason's hazel where he waited with the other unSorted firsties.

Saw the denial, the horror in his twin's face.

Saw the redhead whispering something in his ear.

Saw Jason step back, step away from him.

Then Harry knew nothing would be the same.

- HP -

The bed was too big.

Laying under green blankets and silver-grey sheets, Harry stared at the hangings of his four-poster bed.

The bed was too big, the covers too cold, the space beside him too empty.

His head ached.

His heart hurt more.

His new Head of House had been cold and dismissive. His dorm mates were a mix of scornful (Malfoy) dismissive (Nott) and blank (Zabini). His House mates were wary and distant.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

But these were his new circumstances. He couldn't go back and change the Hat's mind (you'll be great in Slytherin, prove yourself as your own person). He would just have to keep his head down and make the most of it.

Even if the bed-room-world was too empty.

- HP -

The Halloween feast was being celebrated in the Great Hall.

Harry wanted nothing to do with the festivities.

Blaise Zabini are become a distant but polite friend, better than the rest of his Slytherin yearmates. Harry had learned several detection spells and counter-curses, protective wards and defensive shields to protect himself and his belongings. Too many pranks had been set around his bed, too many spells had been thrown at him in the privacy of the Snakes Den.

He may not be the famous Boy Who Lived, but he was his blood-kin, his brother, his twin. Apparently that was just as bad.

The day's celebratory air put a bitter taste on Harry's tongue. Everyone was eating sweets, laughing and enjoying themselves, pleased to be alive and well on the anniversary of the Dark Lord's defeat. Even the Slytherins whose parents were followers of Voldemort (imperious curse, his lily-white behind) had been in a good mood at the promises of candy and a extended dessert course.

How could they forget the cost?

James and Lily Potter were dead dead dead.

Harry had found a picture of his father in the trophy room, had seen his mother's face in a yearbook.

They matched the man and woman in his memory-dreams.

The man who played with him, who turned into a stag to nuzzle his face, who made sparks with his wand to his laughter, who told his mother to run, who stood at the bottom of the stairs back straight and wand ready to buy a little more time for his family to escape, who had lain too silent on the living room floor when his sons had been carried out of the destruction of their house.

The woman who smiled down at him, who let him play with her soft red hair and sang to him, who made silverware dance and dishes sing, who tearfully touched his face before placing him alongside Jason in their crib, who had pleaded the enemy kill her to spare her sons, who had been struck with green light and fallen to the floor and not responded to his cries as she stared upward with green-green eyes.

He remembered them, he missed them, and now he mourned them.

Tonight, despite risk of detention or other punishment, Harry would sneak out to the lake and hold a ceremony for them. He'd light candles and tell their spirits of his day and believe they could hear him and loved him even though he wasn't in the red and gold they had worn during their school days.

He would honor them, even as a Slytherin.

Most of all, Harry was avoiding Jason.

He hated that, but couldn't bear to see him again.

Not next to that redhead menace who always whispered in his ear. Who was poisoning Jason against him with his slimy-evil-Slytherin beliefs.

Why else would his twin have been drawing away from him these two months? Not replying to his notes, not pausing when he called his name in the hall, not wanting to see or speak to or be with Harry?

Why else would Jason have said that to him today? Called him such cruel things? Said the parents his twin didn't even recall would hate him?

Why else would his brother claim to hate him, to be disgusted by him, to wish Harry had died with their parents?

No, this must be new. This couldn't have been hidden in his twin's heart all this time. This was a mistake that Jason would apologize for.

Wasn't it?

Rather than deal with all that mess, Harry wandered the halls, poking around in different rooms and learning new secret passageways. It pleased him to think that his mother and father had done the same years ago. Plus, the walls were warm under his hands, seeming to hum in welcome and comfort to the lonely boy.

A scream broke the quiet as he meandered along. The green eyed boy froze a moment before sprinting toward the sound. Running toward a girls bathroom, the door opened on its own before he could touch it.

Inside, Harry stared in shock at the huge troll swinging its club at the sinks. The stalls were a scattered mess, water was splashed everywhere, and a girl in blue and bronze huddled terrified in a corner. Seeing her, something cold and resolute filled the young wizard, pushing away his fear and dismay and confusion.

He couldn't let her die.

Distracting it wasn't too hard. A few thrown bits of masonry, a handful of spellfire against thick skin, and the beast was lumbering in his direction.

Now, what to do with it?

Leading it back out to the corridor, Harry was distantly surprised when two suits of armor stepped off their stands. The collections of plate mail hefted their respective spear and battle ax, standing between the boy and the troll. A griffin statue had left its pedestal to hover in front of the doorway, keeping the creature from returning to its original target.

What followed was a blur yet crystal clear in his mind. Dodging the club's swings, luring the troll higher in the castle, suits of armor and statues lashing shallow cuts in its thick hide. Harry had been slammed into a wall by a glancing hit, his side and left arm aching as blood dripped from a cut above his left eye, but he couldn't stop. Not yet.

A wave had the castle's guardians reluctantly stepping back. A carefully chosen curse enraged the troll. A well-timed final lunge to the side got him out of its path at the last second.

A helpful staircase moved at the right moment, sending the troll careening into open air.

They would have to clean quite a mess on the ground floor. Troll falling from the sixth floor - not pretty.

Slumping against the wall as adrenaline wore off and his injuries clamored loudly for attention, Harry watched the professors (adults - always too late, freaking useless) ran toward him. They passed by the Granger girl with the griffin statue still protectively by her side (the stone creature actually looked annoyed as if displeased she hadn't stayed in the safer bathroom), her eyes wide and knowing on him. Suits of armor and statues hovered in a ring around him, some shaking troll blood off their claws or weapons while a pegasus offered its shoulder as a crutch for the boy.

In the end, Harry gained three things from the Halloween Troll Incident - detention for a week with Snape, the reluctant and at times wary admiration of the school, and a new best friend.

- HP -

Snape had been his mother's best friend.

That made so much sense yet didn't at the same time.

On the fourth night of detention, Harry had gotten fed up with the man's diatribe and snapped back in return. It lead to a shouting match, a dozen broken potion vials (thankfully empty at time of shattering via Harry's lashing magic), and a few confessions.

The two parted with a new understanding and tentatively amicable relationship behind closed doors where no eyes or ears could spy on them.

In the coming years over detentions and supposed potions tutoring (okay, there was potion tutoring but also defense and what little arthimancy and runes call-me-Severus-in-private Snape knew), they learned a lot about each other.

Both had been abused and suffered the scorn of others for things they couldn't choose.

Both wished to prove their worth not just to the world but to themselves.

Both loved Lily Potter nee Evans and would one day avenger her death.

It was the start of an at-times-rocky but solid mentorship slash friendship.

- HP -

The wizarding world was wrong.

Harry was the one Voldemort had cursed that night.

The Dark Lord himself had said as much in that room with the mirror, glowering at the young wizard from the back of Quirrell's head.

Just because Jason loathed Harry's existence nowadays didn't stop Harry from loving his brother.

Even when said brother did incredibly stupid things like head down the third floor gauntlet to stop a Dark Lord from stealing a magical rock.

Ok, it would have been very bad if the rock was held by Voldemort, especially with what Hermione told him about the Philosopher's stone, but still. It was a rock.

And Jason, epitome of Gryffindor, had to go charging in with only Ron fucking Weasley as backup.

Neville had overheard and run to tell Harry. After becoming assigned partners in November, the shy Hufflepuff had quickly learned that Harry wasn't mean like the other snakes. And anyone who teased Neville in any house soon learned that Harry had some nasty fangs. Bit by bit under Harry's gentle coaxing, Neville's confidence and skills were growing.

(Harry just knew Neville would be great one day, and he was proud to be able to help him reach that.)

Loyal as ever, Neville had told Harry about Jason's foolish not-plan. Everyone knew something was in the third floor corridor and older students from all four Houses had been working their way in teams through the traps. Really, telling a castle of teens not to go somewhere or do something would get the exact opposite.

Harry sometimes wondered if the Headmaster was senile or just playing a very dangerous game.

He had the suspicious feeling it was the latter, and his twin was one of the important pieces to be used and thrown away.

Over Harry's dead body.

The only teacher Harry had any trust in (Snape) was out of the castle that evening, so the green eyed boy had bribed slash threatened every bit of information he could about the traps from a pair of seventh year Snakes. By this time at the end of the year, even the oldest students knew Harry Potter was not someone to be screwed with lightly. And desperate to protect his fool of a twin, he could get very damn nasty and creative.

So he'd had house elves fetch a music box to put the cerberus to sleep, slipped through the devil's snare, outflew rabid keys, slipped past the troll corpse, been bowed to and allowed to pass by the chess pieces at the start when a statue in the room had stepped in front of him and apparently had a conversation with the things (Harry was merciful enough to scan and heal the Weasley boy - he didn't like him but didn't want him dead either), and easily worked through the logic problem.

Then he'd seen Jason unconscious and bound on the floor, Quirrellmort standing above him and, as a protective older (by seven minutes) brother, snapped.

Between flinging spells and blocking Harry's, Voldemort had tried to lure the green-eyed wizard to his side. He had praised his power, had approved of his knowledge, and promised a place by his side second only to himself.

When Harry had flung back how the bastard had murdered his parents and cursed his brother, Voldemort dropped the bombshell.

Harry had been the target of the attack upon the Potter family.

Harry had been the prophesized one (and the boy had to find about this supposed prophecy asap).

Harry had been the one who survived the Killing Curse that night.

In the seconds Harry hesitated in sheer shock, Quirrellmort had made their last mistake.

They had grabbed Jason to use as leverage.

The rest had been a blur of screams, fire, and Harry's sheer refusal to die even as his magic and very life force drained away.

Harry had woken over a week later to learn that Jason (and Ron) was fine, the Stone had been returned to the Flamels, and exams started the next day.

Now, on the train with Hermione reading and Neville napping, Harry turned over the new information.

He was the Boy Who Lived, even if only he and Voldemort knew it.

And Voldemort would return to finish what he started.

Well, Harry would be ready.

- HP -

The Heir of Slytherin thing was getting really old really fast.

Oh, suddenly his housemates were more respectful upon the revelation that Harry was a parselmouth. The other Houses were terrified of him save a few individuals who actually knew him. All around, Harry was getting fed up with all this shit.

It was talking to an animal! Kinda cool, but not something to freak out over. And just because bloody Voldemort and a few other wizards had misused the ability didn't make it evil. In fact, Hermione had found information on parselmouths being highly respected just about everywhere other than Europe (with the United Kingdom being the more extreme).

Maybe he should just move to Japan. He heard they had some really neat spells.

- HP -

As the Dueling Club was dismantled after that fraud Lockhart ruined it, Harry ended up accidentally creating one of his own.

It started with Hermoine, Neville, and Blaise (who had respected his power and wanted to be on the winning side - Harry figured he'd win him over in time), friends Harry wanted to teach how to defend themselves. Luna was brought under Harry's wing after seeing her being bullied with Hermione her defender in their House. Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Su Li, and Terry Boot tagged along with their respective Housemates after noticing Hermione and Neville's increased magical skill. They soon decided the green-eyed wizard wasn't a bad person and started being friendly even outside their dueling room slash abandoned classroom.

Then Snape had showed up one study session slash lesson. Everyone had stilled as the man studied them. Even Harry who knew the man better than most had feared he'd be displeased. Instead, he had ordered that Harry see him this evening and stalked away. After an unsure moment, Harry continued explaining shield charms (he wasn't quite sure how he became the teacher slash leader, but whatever).

Over tea and chocolate biscuits (they both were addicted to chocolate and they'd hex into silence anyone who found out) that night, Snape had simply asked to see Harry's lesson plans. He'd suggested several spells and gave titles of useful books Harry owl-ordered. The pair even practiced some of the spells, the potions master wanting to make sure Harry had a good grasp on the material before he taught it to his friends.

As the years passed, a few more people would join Hogwart's Army (or Harry's Army as some called it out of their leader's hearing). The Weasley and Patil twins, the Creevy brothers, Ginny, the Greengrass sisters and Tracy Davis, and a triple handful of younger years.

Thanks to those younger students, the tradition of Hogwarts Army would be passed on to new generations. At the end of his seventh year, Harry even passed on his lesson plans to Henrietta O'Malley as the new leader of the group, the third year having impressed him with her command ability and spellwork in the Final Battle.

It would be a solid line of defense for the school, standing between their fellow students and numerous Dark Lords and Ladies in the coming centuries.

Hogwarts herself would be quite pleased.

- HP -

The Potter twins tended to avoid each other after that first Halloween. Jason's cruel words had left their mark on his brother's heart and the fact he continued to spew vitriol at his twin didn't help. Instead of listening to the verbal abuse, Harry kept his distance and watched over his brother from afar.

Jason was still his beloved twin. Harry couldn't flip a switch like his twin apparently had and just stop caring for him.

In his spare time, the green-eyed wizard quietly researched spells and potions that could alter one's mind. A part of him (growing smaller by the year under the weight of more cruel words and nasty looks) still held to the hope that his twin didn't really mean it, that someone had turned Jason against Harry and, if he found the right counter, he could get his brother back.

(It would crush Harry one day when it all came to a close. His friends and mentor would be there to help him pick up the pieces of his broken heart.)

In classes with the divide between Gryffindor and Slytherin kept the boys apart. In the halls the green-eyed one kept his distance while the hazel-eyed one sneered. In the skies, however, they had to interact.

Harry shifted slightly on his broom to avoid the elbow Jason threw his way. His twin could do dirty tricks like that if he wished - Harry had more honor despite being a "filthy cheating snake". Both seekers were neck and neck, diving and weaving around other players on the heels of the little golden ball.

Jason may have been on the team since their first flying lesson in first year after a confrontation with Draco Malfoy, but despite having only joined the team this year, Harry was just plain better.

He inched forward, fingers outstretched when he spotted a familiar bludger from the corner of his eye.

Jason was completely oblivious to the rouge ball that had been harassing them both all game headed straight for his head.

With a curse, Harry rolled to his twin's other side and knocked him off-course. The bludger slammed into his upper arm, he heard something crack as that entire limb went limp. Dammit, that was his wand arm too.

Head hazy with pain, he squinted through the rain and saw something gold flickering near the ground and shot forward. Somewhere to his right, he heard Jason yelling curses at him, but he ignored them. They weren't anything new. He really had to soap out his brother's mouth soon.

Harry managed to catch the snitch before crashing to the ground. Looking blearily up at the rain clouds, he sighed.

Jason wasn't going to forgive him for this any time soon.

Then he, thankfully, passed out.

- HP -

Lockhart was going to die.

Harry couldn't remember why, but Lockhart was going to die by his wand.

And the fact he couldn't remember really worried him.

Body aching and mind fuzzy, Harry stumbled to a halt in front of the common room entrance. He wavered there, eyes drifting down the hall toward his Head's office. Maybe Snape could help him...

Then he shook his head and muttered the password. He was getting to know the man better, but he didn't trust an adult to actually help him yet.

Instead, he showered (wondering over the bruises on biceps and hips and back) and went to bed. His dreams were haunted with tea cups and gold hair, unwanted hands and pain.

(Lockhart ended up accidentally obliviating himself in a pair of mirrors one day at the end of the year and was packed off to the hospital. The spell bouncing off the mirrors had pulled energy from the enchantments on the glass and wiped out the man's entire lifetime of memories.)

(Two years later, Harry would remember the events of Lockhart's detentions under the tutelage of Snape's occlumency lessons. He would puke and shake and have nightmares for the rest of his life. Snape would snarl curses between soothing words. They would work together on a particularly nasty slow-acting poison that Tracey's mother as a healer at Saint Mungo's would slip the pedophile in drips and drops over the next two painful years before Lockhart finally died.)

- HP -

Harry wasn't sure he liked snakes anymore.

Given the fact a very large one just did its damnest to kill him, this change of opinion was understandable.

Luna had come to him with worries about her childhood friend, Ginny Weasley. While Harry didn't like the youngest carrot-topped boy, found the prefect brother to be a brown-noser, and was warily admiring of the prankster twins, he didn't have anything against the family as a whole. He didn't defend them outright from Draco only because he didn't know any of them well enough to feel protective of them as he did his actual friends.

Anyways, Luna had been concerned for Ginny. She related how the girl had changed, had become distant and moody, and was obsessed with a diary. The blond Ravenclaw had even gotten her hands on said diary from the redhead's bag once and shown it to Harry.

Said diary had felt slimy and wrong and made something foul inside him perk up in interest. He shuddered at the mere memory of that revolting other that he had sensed for that split second before literally throwing the book away.

(Luna never told him, but for that moment holding TMR's diary, Harry's eyes had turned red. It was the only instant in her whole life that she ever feared Harry Potter.)

After having Luna put the book back into the silk-lined box she'd (wisely) brought it in, he had gone to research cleansing rituals. He even had had thoughts of bringing Snape into the matter.

Then Luna had been petrified alongside Hermione, and Harry had been distracted.

He'd forgotten all about Ginny in his worry for his girls. Then the youngest Weasley had gone missing and Fred and George Weasley of all people had come looking for Harry.

Instead of accusing or hexing him like the green-eyed wizard expected, the twins asked for his help. It turned out that Jason had brushed off Ron's concerns for his little sister and the eavesdropping twins had no clue where to start looking for their ickle Gin-gin. Unlike their youngest brother, the twins knew that Slytherins had useful qualities and would admit that Harry Potter was one of the most powerful and talented wizards in the school.

If anyone could help them find and save Ginny, Fred and George figured it would be the green-eyed boy.

They offered to pay either with gold or a service or even swear a fealty oath (a year down the road, they'd do the last one anyways), but Harry had waved it off, merely saying the pair would owe him a favor one day if the redheads were going to insistent about a cost.

Harry had known it was a snake even if he wasn't sure how it cursing the students. Luna and Hermione, bless them, had left him a coded note of clues that lead the boys to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and a snake-marked faucet. Neville had - again - found out about the adventure and this time demanded to come along. The tunnels to the Chamber were unfortunately unstable and the twins were separated from the younger boys by a cave-in, the red-haired duo staying behind to clear out the exit route.

Facing the memory-Tom had been unpleasant. Trying to blindly dodge a basilisk was worse. The Sorting Hat had popped out freaking nowhere (the castle was trying to help her boy) only to land on Harry's head, blinding him at just the wrong moment. Only Nevillle's quick spell saved Harry from a whole mouth of fangs - he just got the one instead.

Harry had landed next to the diary, yanking the fang the snake had left in his arm as he sat up. Feeling the foulness of the cursed book far too close for his comfort, he blindly lashed out and stabbed the poisoned tooth deep into the journal. There had been a scream even as double somethings thumped his head while the most glorious music he'd ever heard rang out over his head.

Something wet (Neville later told him a bloody phoenix had shown up to cry on his bite wound) splashed onto his injured arm, re-energizing him. Tearing the hat off his head, he found that the thumps had been the handles of two knives as long as his forearms with emeralds at their pommels.

When the giant snake next dove at him, Harry had done something crazily Gryffindorish - he had charged forward. The blades (obviously enchanted) had done some damage to the snake's throat before the green-eyed boy had to leap to the side. Neville had shown his own Gryffindor side by not only replicating his friend's fool-hardy attack but wielding a longsword dotted with rubies he later revealed he'd pull from the Sorting Hat Harry had thrown aside. The next few minutes were a hectic game of slash and dash until Harry got a lucky shot by almost getting eaten (again) and using the opportunity to shove his blades deep into the roof of the serpent's mouth. Then he'd been thrown into a wall and stared dazed at the ceiling while the basilisk thrashed its death throes from a punctured brain.

Now, he stood wearily before its corpse while the twins who had joined them tried to calm their weeping sister and Neville carefully picked up the destroyed diary. The Sorting Hat was in his pocket, the phoenix cooing to the redheads, and the knives with 'Slytherin' in graceful parsel writing on the oddly free-of-blood (self-cleaning maybe?) blades were in his hands.

So, yeah, Harry wasn't sure he liked snakes anymore.

- HP -

Finding Moony sitting in his usual train compartment had been a shock.

Like his parents, Harry remembered the man (who turned out to be his godfather). The memories were fewer but still full of love. The sandy haired adult had been gobsmacked to learn the green-eyed boy recalled anything of those early years.

(Such as a familiar rat-like man standing the corner of the nursery as his mother was struck down, but that would be revealed much later.)

Between stories of the Potter parents and their friends (which included Alice Longbottom nee McKinnon, Lily's close friend and Harry's godmother), Harry coaxes out of Remus the reason he's on the train - both of them.

One, to be the year's Defense professor.

Two, to help guard against Jason's godfather, escaped convict Sirius Black.

Learning that the supposed murmurer was after his twin made that cold resolute side of him take keen interest even as the subject was changed.

Jason had been insufferable this past summer, had been horrible ever since their separate Sortings, but Harry would be damned if he let him be killed by anyone, much less this madman.

- HP -

That Halloween was the first time since the start of first year that Jason voluntarily approached his twin. Harry had been at the lake doing his usual remembrance ritual (after Snape had caught him that first year after the troll incident and learned what he was doing, the man had silently looked the other way) when his brother sat beside him.

Instead of foul words, Jason had talked quietly about the effect the dementors had on him.

Harry wished he could destroy every last one for forcing his brother to recall their parents' deaths. He hadn't wished that pain upon his twin.

Knowing Jason would feel jealous and angry if he learned Harry remembered more of their year and change of happy childhood, Harry causally mentioned that their Defense professor was their father's best friend and would probably be happy to share stories.

Without another word, Jason lit a pair of tea lights and set them onto the lake in a little wooden boat before walking back to the castle.

The next morning, his hazel-eyed twin was his usual nasty self. Nonetheless, Harry made sure to send Remus a note via Hedwig to not mention anything about Harry's memories of his parents.

Two days later was a Saturday and, when Harry spied his brother entering Moony's office, he smiled and walked away.

(Remus never did understand the bad blood between the boys. He tried to coax it out of Jason as he could see how very hurt Harry was by the subject the one time he brought it up with the green-eyed boy. Jason never gave him a straight answer - In the end, it would be a secret only Jason and Harry knew and would carry to their graves.)

This became the most amicable action of the twins during their Hogwarts years. If one found the other had beaten him to see Remus, he would silently back out. They would mainly visit on weekends and would leave the second day to their brother.

(It was too bad it wouldn't last.)

- HP -

Harry and the Weasley twins had formed a tentative truce that quickly grew into a solid friendship. The younger boy had been amused by their pranks and even helped them with a few against his Housemates. The twins had been indebted to and intrigued by the little snake and, even if they only admitted it to each other, his sense of right and wrong helped curb their more vicious prank ideas. With him and his warm regard of them acting as a leash, the duo held themselves back from the line that separated a bit of mischief from outright and cruel bullying.

So when he saw the younger brother of the twins being dragged by a large black dog toward the Whomping Willow with Jason in hot pursuit, Harry had followed with Hermione and Neville on his heels. He still didn't like the prat who played a part in corrupting his brother, but Fred and George would be upset if something bad happened to Ron, and Harry hated to see his friends in any kind of pain. Crookshanks, the Ravenclaw girl's ginger cat, was apparently in cahoots with the beast as it pressed a knot to still the punishing branches.

Remus and Severus following had been a bit of a shock.

The dog being Sirius Black more so.

It had taken some fast talking from Harry to keep Snape from cursing the man into little pieces. Harry wanting to know for certain the truth of the matter had the potions master pulling out Veritaserum.

So the whole story was laid out in Padfoot's emotionless due to potion voice - the Fidelius charm, switching secret keepers, the confrontation on the street, all of it.

Ron's rat being the traitor had taken the cake.

It was Harry's turn to be restrained as he snarled at the cowering rodent-like wizard. His admittance at remembering quite clearly the events and details of that Halloween night had shocked (and horrified) everyone. It was only Neville's reminder that Pettigrew should get a trial before Harry killed him that made the green-eyed wizard back off.

Things had gone wrong from there - Remus having forgotten his potion, Peter changing and slipping free of the ropes, dementors closing in. A tigress patronus had chased the demons off just in time.

Then Sirius - innocent Sirius, Sirius who had played with baby Harry in his grim form, Sirius who didn't hate him for being a snake and later confessed to being disgusted and ashamed of both his previous attitude concerning Slytherins and Jason's current one - was to be dragged off and probably executed by the Ministry.

Harry wasn't going to allow that, and his best friends were in agreement.

One time turner trip (courtesy of Hermione) later - during which Harry confirmed the saving tigress patronus had indeed been his (it was in Lily's memory) - and the inter-house trio was waving goodbye to Sirius as he flew to freedom on the back of a thestral.

(It had been a bit of a shock to see the black skeletal horses when Harry approached the carriages at the start of his second year. Some research later and he wondered if it was his mother's death or Quirrell's that allowed him that sight.)

- HP -

Harry's name rose from the Goblet of Fire.

Snape had to fetch his wayward snake from his seat on the lake shore (he understood and accepted the boy's refusal to attend the Halloween celebration - if teachers didn't have to be there, he'd be hiding in his quarters reminiscing about Lily too) and stood in stalwart support beside the boy in front of the other adults.

The next morning found Neville arriving to breakfast with a few bruises as he'd gotten in a fight with several of his Housemates when they said nasty things about Harry. Hermione and Luna were also a bit ruffled from their own defense of their friend. Ginny Weasley had stood up to Gryffindor for the boy who had lead the charge to save her life (and who she found much nicer than his twin, Boy-Who-Lived or not) and who she had become friends with in her second / his third year. Her older twin brothers had been right there along side her - they'd also gotten to know Harry the previous year and joined the HA with their little sister. (All opponents were in the hospital wing - the group had learned well under Harry's tutelage.)

Between his friend's efforts and Harry's wizard oath claiming he did not place his name in the Goblet nor bribed or coerced anyone else to, the students of Hogwarts were fairly alright about having two Champions rather than scorning the fourth year for cheating his way in.

The envy and loathing in Jason's eyes made Harry realize what little progress the twins had made mending bridges the previous year had been thoroughly undone.

(The bridges were gone entirely as far as Jason was concerned.)

- HP -

Harry had always thought dragons were amazing creatures.

When he and Jason had hidden in the library to avoid Dudley and gang as primary schoolers, Harry had gone straight for books involving fantasy and especially dragons. (Jason was more the spy or adventure genres) After learning about Norbert from Hagrid one tea time afternoon, Harry had been more than a bit envious of his brother for the missed opportunity. How many people got to see a dragon hatching, after all?

Now, using a mix of runic arrays and his flying skills to steal a gold egg from a nesting Hungarian Horntail, Harry still thought dragons were amazing.

Amazingly large.

Amazingly dangerous.

Amazingly angry to have even a fake egg stolen.

It was downright amazing that Harry escaped with only a few deep gouges after the dragon broke free of her chains and chased him around a while.

Dragons were still amazing, but Harry didn't want to face one like this again.

- HP -

Harry wasn't sure who he wanted to kill more - the tournament officials or the merpeople.

They took Jason.

Took his twin hostage.

And stuck him unconscious at the bottom of the lake.

Someone, someday, somehow, was going to pay dearly for touching his brother.

Cutting through the water with a Bubble-head charm and partially transfigured feet (Luna had found how to make them into flippers), Harry was seething.

Anything that got in his way found themselves facing the spells of a rather aggravated and powerful wizard.

Reaching the hostages, he was quick to cut his twin free.

Then he hesitated looking at the young blond girl. He'd seen Fleur, the aloof slightly condescending part-veela French girl, be ambushed by grindlows. He'd been too far away for his spell to reach her and seen her fleeing toward the surface. This task was pretty unfair for her, being aligned with the elements of air and fire due to her veela blood.

And he knew quite well the fear of having a sibling in peril.

Making his decision, he released Fleur's sister from the ropes. It was a wild trip to the surface, towing two people and fending off merpeople every step of the way. But in the end, all three made it to the surface.

Jason was disgusted to be in such close proximity with Harry and stormed off as soon as he could. (Harry tried not to let his hurt show.)

Fleur hugged her sister tight then both sisters gave Harry a kiss - the younger on the cheek, the older planting a big one on the mouth. (Harry got gently ribbed by friends and Marauders for that second one.)

Two tasks down, one more to go.

- HP -

The Cup had been a trap.

Voldemort had regained a body.

The only upside, in Harry's opinion, was that Cedric had survived.

When he'd heard that familiar voice hiss "Kill the spare", Harry had pushed past the pain in his scar to tackle the Hufflepuff Champion to the group. The older boy had been knocked unconscious thanks to a rock and been left abandoned by the Cup by the enemy.

The ritual had been horrifying (though he felt it was only fitting Peter lose a hand).

The duel against Voldemort that followed had been tough and showed that Harry hadn't trained enough. Oh, he kept up and even got a few good shots in (that well-timed tickling charm followed by an exploding curse lost the snake-faced wizard a nice chunk of his left arm) but knew he was still behind. Catching up, but not there yet.

Fortunately, when the Death Eaters joined in, so did an reawakened Cedric. The scramble for the Cup had been hellish and both boys received wounds that would scar but they made it.

Unfortunately, the Minister refused to believe the Dark Lord had returned.

The Hufflepuff had listed the names of the present Death Eaters (he'd been conscious and trying to figure out a way to reach Harry most of the time) but Fudge had waved it off. A look and shake of head from Harry had the older boy subsiding before the Minister did something stupid and desperate.

Like throwing them in prison cells to silence them.

In private, Harry convinced Cedric to stay quiet about learning Harry was the real Boy-Who-Lived from Voldemort's own mouth. He said he didn't want the attention, the public would only cause trouble for him. The truth would come out sooner or later since the inner circle Death Eaters were now aware, but Harry wanted to put it off and prepare himself in secret for as long as he could.

(Cedric wasn't stupid or blind. He knew the real cause for Harry's request was the younger wizard's twin. It wasn't hard to see how much the brother envied his Slytherin lookalike. Jason Potter would be livid to learn his brother was the real savior and would no doubt find more reason to spout more hateful words at Harry. It was for this reason that Cedric agreed.)

Now, time to put in motion plans Harry had been holding back on until the Dark Lord's return.

- HP -

Potter Castle wasn't huge but it was a decent size for a freaking castle (which still made Harry reel if he thought about it too hard. He owned a castle.). There were plenty of rooms, gardens, its own quidditch pitch, and more on the large plot of land. The place was the type that could survive a siege, was self-sustaining with plenty of home-grown food plots, protected water source, potion ingredient garden, and more. Plus, it was well protected by some of the best wards money could buy and Harry had even had them updated by Gringotts.

It was a good thing the place was so big - it gave Jason plenty of room to avoid him.

His twin had been less than pleased when Harry claimed the Potter Lordship and Head of House rings.

Well, less than pleased was probably a vast understatement.

Putting aside the latest correspondence from Madam Amelia Bones, Harry sighed. The contacts he'd made through his friends and the money from the near inexhaustible Potter fortune were greasing the way for his big goal.

Revolution.

Now, Harry didn't want to be Minister of Magic or anything like that. In fact, being a curse breaker or runesmaster or teacher (or all the above) were a lot more interesting to him.

But he had looked around the magical world and been disgusted by the level of prejudice and corruption running rampant. He knew that it would be a long hard road of decades to coax the society into changing, but he was willing to put forth the effort. His friends knew bits of his plans if not the big picture and were happy to help.

First, he had to take care of the Voldemort problem. Then he could move on to reviving the stagnant British magical world and cleansing the foul birthing grounds that threatened to create more Dark Lords and Ladies. He knew it would never be perfect - utopias didn't exist for a reason, but he would definitely improve the society.

The Ministry was shackled by Fudge's refusal to see the truth. Dumbledore had a little spy group going that Sirius, Remus, and Snape all agreed were useless. (Though they did share with Harry whatever was learned in the meetings.) Meanwhile, Voldemort was recruiting and attacks were quietly happening all over the UK.

So Harry had been reaching out to find those who would be willing to fight back. Amelia had gathered all the loyal aurors and any other combatant she could find, and, with Harry supplying the funds for new equipment like battle robes and paying wages so no one's family went hungry, the lot of them were training. Snape passed on information on future attacks whenever he learned of them, Harry's alteration of his Dark Mark protecting him from Voldemort's wrath. (The potion master knew when and where the summonings occurred, but he couldn't be tortured through the Mark nor could his magic and life force be drained away. The only reason the ugly thing was still on his skin was to keep the Dark Lord unknowing of the spy for as long as they could.)

Safe houses were being prepared with enough supplies to last a family of eight a year. Healers from all over were being networked, ready to jump to a safe point and await patients as soon as they received the call. Some med-witches and wizards had even volunteered to be on the front lines with the assault groups or response groups to do battlefield triage and tend to the injured in the middle of the fight. Muggleborns and their families were given portkeys and numerous escape routes were planned for them to survive an attack. Even foreign allies were being coaxed toward sending aid through Fleur and Victor Krum - the fact both had a parent in a high ranking position in their Ministry helped a great deal.

Progress was being made, but that didn't make it any less stressful and exhausting for the newly fifteen year old.

Getting to his feet, he decided to go see if anyone at Raven's Point, the Potter property Amelia and the real Alastor Moody were using as a training ground, was up for a spar. He needed to unwind a bit.

(All the trainees including the hit-wizards and most experienced aurors were quickly learning that Harry was very skilled and dangerous in a fight.)

- HP -

When Umbridge announced that there would be no practical work in Defense, every one of Harry's friends just shrugged without concern.

They had the HA, after all.

Harry himself was surprised when the group size nearly tripled as more students learned about them. It wasn't exactly a secret, but it wasn't well-known either. With some cleverly charmed galleons and a Time Turner nicked from the Ministry by an Unspeakable that Alastor Moody was friends with, Harry pretty much taught Defense to most of the school that year.

He still received detention from the pink toad (though that was an insult to the toads, poor Trevor) for no good reason and had the line 'I must not tell lies' carved into the back of his hand. (When Snape, Sirius, and Renus learned of this after the toad left Hogwarts, they actually worked together to make Umbridge's life hell until she fled the country to be lost in the depths of the Amazon. In the end, she got eaten by a Peruvian Vipertooth - the poor thing got some awful ingestion.)

- HP -

Well, the secret of the identity of the real Boy-Who-Lived was officially out.

So was the return of the Dark Lord Voldemort.

Both had occurred thanks to a battle in the heart of the Ministry of Magic.

Harry had been studying occlumency with Snape since his fourth year, so Voldemort hadn't been able to send any dreams of corridors and locked doors. Instead, Snape learned to the strike to get the prophecy orb - a prophecy Harry had already viewed and destroyed thanks to Moody's Unspeakable contact. Upon hearing the news, a trap was set by the Rebellion (as the network of secret fighters and support staff had started calling themselves thanks to a thrown out comment by Nymphadora Tonks).

It had worked out well too.

Several Death Eaters had been captured by the Rebels and taken to special safe houses where they were pumped for information. Many were then dosed with the Draught of Living Death until they could receive proper trials when the Ministry wasn't the corrupt cesspool it currently was. Far too many plants of Voldemort's were in powerful positions. It would be a while to weed them all out, especially while fighting a war.

The British magical world was forced to admit they were in trouble when several employees arrived in the early morning to find Harry Potter and Voldemort dueling in the middle of the atrium while Death Eaters ran amuck fighting people decked out in green and gold. (It had been decided that the Rebels would be disguised so they wouldn't compromise their day jobs and to protect their families from Death Eater retribution.) Fudge was ousted from the Minister position real fast - the new guy didn't look like he'd be of much use though.

Only three Rebels were lost with a handful more badly injured. The names of those fallen were inscribed on a monument at Raven's Point which would list all those who died fighting in the second rise of Voldemort. (When the war was done, the obelisk would be duplicated and the copy moved to Diagon Alley.)

Sirius had had a very close call thanks to playing around in his duel against his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. It was only Harry's desperate magic that saved the man from falling through the Veil. The grim animagus had been soundly scolded by Remus, Amelia and Moody, even Snape, and a Harry who ended up breaking down in tears at the thought of losing more family. Very apologetic, the Lord Black (not that he could make use of the title in the wide world until he received his trial - he still claimed the ring though at Harry's urging thanks to the extra protections it had) had sworn both to the green-eyed boy and himself to not be that careless again.

Snape had been forced to reveal his true loyalties. In truth, it was a relief to the man - he'd gotten so very tired of kissing the robes of the monster who murdered the woman he saw as a sister and orphaned a boy he saw as a beloved nephew. (He never used the nephew word out loud only due to Harry's twisted conceptions about uncles thanks to Vernon Dursley and his equally cruel wife Petunia - a couple who he worked with the remaining Marauders to make suffer for harming Lily's sons.) After the fight, Harry had completely removed the Dark Mark and any ties Voldemort had to the potions master. (Severus would have accepted a Mark from Harry if the boy had been at all interested in giving one.)

All in all, not a bad way to end a school year.

- HP -

Harry's sixth year was both quiet and busy all at once. On one hand, it was quiet at Hogwarts - no deadly plot by the Defense professor or other drama. Snape had refused the position but Slughorn had still joined the staff, the pair splitting the potions classes with Snape handling only the NEWT level classes. The auror assigned to teach Defense was competent, having been vetted by Amelia, and was doing a good job to preparing the students for the war going on outside. Being one of the Rebels, he had shown due respect to Harry despite the teen's faint discomfort.

(More than one person noticed their Defense professor's deference to the real Boy-Who-Lived. A few even heard him call the green-eyed wizard General, the title said to belong to the leader of mysterious Rebels in green and gold who fought Voldemort's forces. It wasn't too long before a good majority of the students were referring to Harry as General Potter, much to his embarrassment. Well, unless it was a training session or a fight like the attack on Hogsmeade in December. Then he was too far into his command persona to care.)

Even Jason was leaving Harry alone, more often than not passing him in the halls without a word. Most people chalked it up to the hazel-eyed twin finally settling down. Harry was just relieved his brother was acting nicer.

(He should have looked closer, but hindsight is often clearer.)

While Hogwarts was fairly calm, the war was going strong outside its walls and wards. Harry was still conducting war councils with trips to Raven's Point or other safe houses used as meeting points. Some of the older members of the HA had started training under Rebels over the summer thanks to the wards around Raven's Point keeping the Ministry from tracking their magic usage. That training continued and spread to other Hogwarts students. Between homework and training, Harry was still doing some of the coordinating of the Rebel forces even if he wasn't taking part in many of the attacks or responses. While most of work was being done by other Rebels in charge of various branches, some things had to be approved by their General.

If all that wasn't enough, Harry had been helping clean up Number Twelve Grimmauld over the summer when they came across a silver locket. Sirius had (foolishly) picked it up and been ensnared by the soul fragment locked inside it. It had taken some tricky handling and careful spellwork to subdue the man and remove the locket.

Once it was no longer latched onto Padfoot, Harry had to be physically restrained from either putting the thing on or just cleansing the foul object on the spot. Instead, he was sent back to Potter Castle with Moony while Sirius called in Moody's Unspeakable contact. Some detection spells revealed the locket to be a Horcrux, Said object was then used in a ritual to find the others before being destroyed with a fang from the basilisk Harry had harvested during the summer before fifth year.

Unfortunately, the Unspeakable's detection spells on Harry revealed why he'd been both so drawn to and repulsed by the locket.

He, or rather his scar, was a Horcrux.

At the time, no one knew how to remove a Horcrux from a living being without killing said being. It was being researched by several (including Hermione and Luna when they pieced things together from the hints accidentally dropped in their latest assigned research projects) both in the UK and overseas in Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Harry was ordered by everyone in the know who cared about him to stay the hell away from the things (he had no arguments with that plan). In the mean time, groups of Rebels including curse breakers brought into the cause by Bill Weasley were tasked with finding the other Horcruxes.

(In his darkest most hopeless moments, Harry secretly wondered if this was the way it was supposed to be - that he sacrifice himself to end Voldemort's reign. Then he'd look around at Sirius and Remus, Hermione and Neville, his HA and Rebels, and shove those depressing thoughts away.

He was going to live, to survive the war, and build a future for himself and the world, Voldemort and Horcruxes be damned.)

- HP -

It was at moments like this he regretted that Severus was no longer their spy in the Dark Lord's ranks. A warning would have been really nice.

Harry was visiting Honeydukes, his chocolate stash in desperate need of refilling. (He, Severus, and Remus were agreed - chocolate was one of the greatest creations of mankind.) The stress of leading a Rebellion, his studies, and just being a teenager had him pulling out the dark goodness more often than his younger years. Good thing there were so many kinds of chocolate, mixed with mint or caramel or chili or even the smooth original deliciousness.

He had just finished paying for a large pile of sweets including a few ice mice, sugar quills, and random yummies to dole out to his friends in the first and second years when the hairs on the back of his neck rose sharply. Stuffing his sack of bounty into a pocket, he darted across the store to peer up and down the street through the doorway. His battle-ready posture wasn't missed by the other students in the shop, several hands warily going for their wands.

Then the sharp crack of apparation sounded, green eyes quickly landing on a handful of masked black-robed people. His wand came to bear, a silently cast spell leaving its tip. It was seconds too late.

A curse struck the first victim of the Death Eaters - a girl with her blond hair in pigtails, her green and silver trimmed robes quickly soaked with life blood. Her eyes were wide in shock as a soft sound slipped from her lips. The body of the third year fell to the ground in two pieces, the child cut in half by the overpowered cutting curse.

Harry's bonebreaker had the man crumbling with his ribs in splinters. Too bad it wouldn't bring back the little girl enjoying her first trip to the village.

As screams of fear rang out on the streets, the teen grabbed two passing fourth years. Dragging them inside the store, he snapped out orders for the two seventh year students to guard the door and bring in any younger students. With the owner of Honeydukes trailing behind, Harry lead them to the basement and the secret passage to the castle. Sending the dazed youngsters down the tunnel and getting the determined promise to hold the fort from the man, he quickly made his way back upstairs and out to the streets.

Battle was chaotic and terrifying, but there were spots of organization in the mess. As he cut down the opponent of a fighting Rebel (they had so much better response time than the inept Ministry, even compared to the first war against the Dark Tosser) who had been called in by a Rebel sentry in Three Broomsticks, he wove up the main avenue. The popular pub run by Madam Rosemerta was being used as another exit point for non-combatants, a trio of students including Susan Bones guarding those seeking to flee the fight.

Blood splashed his cheek from a newly amputated arm, the Rebel in question yelling in shock. The stubborn woman managed to fling a boils curse at her attacker before sinking to the ground. Harry was quick to cast a few spell to aid her before a healer-in-training in the form of Tracy Davis scuttled to their side. Standing over the pair, the teen shielded and sent spells in turn while the Rebel was stabilized for portkey travel. A word from Davis of the successful medi-evac got a nod, then the pair parted ways.

The cackle of Bellatrix Lestrange had Harry baring his teeth in a silent snarl. He kept his focus on his current fight, dodging a blood boiling curse and not quite slipping past another hex. Using an over-powered healing spell to fix his newly broken forearm (Pomfrey and the other healers would have his head later...), a blindness hex and dancing jinx took the Death Eater off guard long enough to be taken down. Without his hands, he'd have a hard time rejoining the fight.

Turning a corner, the green eyed teen found Neville in a deadly dance with the witch who tortured his parents into insanity. Harry was quick to step in when Rodolphus sought to aid his wife. The two boys who could have fit the Prophecy (few knew Jason had been born three minutes after midnight, making his real birthday be August first) were back to back, fending off the duo of sadists. Rodolphus lost most of his right leg to the same tickling-exploding combo Harry used in the graveyard duel against Tommy, but the pair got away with the intervention of Rabastan. Among burns and bruises and other close calls, Neville gained a small gash along his left cheekbone he didn't let the healers spell away, wanting to keep a scar as a reminder.

A retreat was called for, Death Eaters using special portkeys to escape. Well, not all of them. Three were captured among the dead, whisked off for interrogation by a few Rebels.

Looking around the buildings damaged by redirected spells, the few fires sending smoke into the air, Hogsmede was worse for the wear but still standing. The white snow was stained red, the crimson of blood stark from the wounded and fallen. Rebels with the white cross on a blue background on an armband triaged and tended to the injured, which were far too numerous.

Even though the country was at war, many in the village had thought themselves safe. They had been lax in preparing themselves, had been caught unawares, and had scrambled for wands and safe areas.

Many of the students were little better. Oh, the Hogwarts Army had been training, but this had been the first real battle for several of them. Their leader had done his best to make the training simulations as real as possible, but the horror of war can't be taught in a classroom.

It had to be experienced.

Other teens hadn't been taking their studies seriously enough. They had believed, like the Hogsmede citizens, that the war wouldn't touch them. It was over there, a life lived by others. It wouldn't come to them, wouldn't hurt them or their families, wouldn't sweep upon them with curses blazing.

They'd been proven wrong.

Many would make promises to themselves, ones they would strive hard to keep. They would study and train and prepare. Next time would be different.

Gently closing the eyes of that first victim of the day's attack, Harry took a moment to pray for her soul.

Then he rose and moved on.

There was clean up to do, after action debriefs to be had, and the healers would want a go at him.

Always more to be done.

- HP -

Then there was the strike against Hogwarts at the end of the year.

Someone (it wasn't learned who until the Final Battle and only by Harry) let Death Eaters into the castle through a Vanishing Cabinet that had been moved to an abandoned classroom. The two dozen skull-masked men and women along with a handful of werewolves slipped into the heart of the castle, planning to create a blood bath and lure in the Rebels so other planned targets elsewhere would be left defenseless.

They hadn't planned on two things.

One, Hogwarts being aware every since Harry Potter, the true Heir of Slytherin (unlike the non-heir and very watered down line through the Gaunts), had first stepped foot on her stones. She immediately warned her green-eyed wizard who sent the alarm through the HA galleons and house elves.

Two, the fact that Hogwarts students had been preparing for battle all year. Everyone including the teachers had started taking it very seriously after a student was killed and two others horribly maimed along with the many other injured during the December Hogsmeade Attack. The HA had countered quickly, but those who had not put in the effort before had been given a wake up call that snowy day.

The clash had been as horrible as battles usually are - no glory, no honor, just blood and death, tears and pain.

In the end, six Death Eaters and two werewolves were dead. Ten more of Voldemort's followers were sent by Harry to be interrogated in the Rebel prison. The rest escaped through the Forbidden Forest.

Of Hogwarts losses, numerous were injured. Several would carry scars for the rest of their lives.

Eight names including Headmaster Dumbledore were added the Fallen Monument at Raven's Point and a new monument placed on Hogwarts grounds.

The war had come to Hogwarts, and Hogwarts had risen to the challenge.

- HP -

The Ministry fell under Voldemort's control over the summer and the war raged in earnest.

Deciding that his education could wait (not to mention he was mostly ready for his NEWTs), Harry spent most of what would be his seventh year on the front lines. Both the Rebels and the general public took heart at the General with his twin daggers and crimson badge (the badge was at the insistence of several Rebels, Harry just got tired of arguing with them or spelling it off) battling Death Eaters and even slinging a few spells at the Dark Lord himself.

Several of Harry's friends also joined the Rebel fighters. Hermione, Luna, Neville, Ginny, the already graduated Weasley twins, the Greengrass sisters, Tracy, Susan, Hannah, and Terry all donned green and gold. Tracy lost two fingers. Hannah got some nasty scars over most of her left arm. Astoria lost her voice and had to retreat back to Hogwarts (where she became proficient enough in silent casting to take part in the Final Battle). Everyone got hit with the cruciatus at least once.

Neville and Susan spent quality time captured by the enemy until Harry lead a team to break them out. Another rescue mission was set up for Luna's father. A third mission lost the Burrow but saved the occupants (how many life debts do the Weasleys owe Harry now? Not that he cares or plans to call on them.) Hermione sent her parents out of the country like numerous others were doing. Augusta Longbottom lost the use of her legs defending the family manor and the half-dozen families taking refuge inside. Hannah lost her mother, Tracy her father, and everyone their innocence.

Between fights up and down the countryside and through the towns, Harry and his age group would join the Rebels at Raven's Point for planning sessions and council meetings. If they weren't there, Potter Castle was a good bet, unwinding a bit and resting up. And the third location would be Hogwarts herself, checking in on the students and even aiding in the training.

Not to mention there was the Plan.

Well, no, there were a few Plans.

One was still in the air and being researched - how to safely remove Harry's Horcrux.

Another was the Final Battle which would take place at Hogwarts if the Rebels had their way. The castle herself would aid them in combat. The support group would be safe in her walls and the well-defended stronghold would be a place for wounded to retreat to for healing. The youngest students were to be moved to one of the safe-houses if they could time it right.

A third Plan was more of a problem - the other Horcuxes. While the locket, the diary all those years ago (as Harry's reaction to it had concluded), and a ring had been destroyed, one was within Gringotts, another within Hogwarts that had yet to be found despite Harry wandering the place for six years, and two others aside from Harry existed that were constantly moving around. A complex spell by the Unspeakables team tracked the pieces of Voldemort's soul and while Harry and the Dark Lord himself were accounted for, these were not. Plus no one had a clue what these were and the map wasn't travel friendly being a rather large unshrinkable sheet of stone.

As the year waned and the next waxed, everyone knew things would come to a climax soon.

- HP -

Diagon Alley had seen better days.

Between two attacks by Death Eaters with a handful of Dementors accompaniment and the lack of shoppers from a public too scared to leave their homes, the usually bustling place was dark and quiet and generally run-down.

The pair of dragons tearing their way out of Gringotts bank didn't help.

Harry had the sinking feeling he'd have a hell of a time dealing with the goblins after this.

Maybe he'll just pull the Potter fortune from the bank. He heard the Swiss gnomes had better interest rates anyways.

Though, riding on the back of a dragon with a Horcrux in Hermione's pocket tempting him, this probably wasn't the time to be thinking about that.

This crazy plan hadn't been his first or even third option, but the goblins left him with no choice.

A group of Rebels including former Gringotts employee Bill Weasley had tried to negotiate the release of the Horcrux. Bits of information pulled from interrogated DEs and some luck had revealed a special cup was in the Avery vault. But, the goblins didn't care and refused to relinquish the item.

Even when Hannah Abbot, who wiped out the last of the Avery line, tried to claim the vault by right of conquest, the greedy beings didn't budge.

When Hannah and the second team didn't check in or leave the bank, the Rebels growled and eyed the establishment like hungry wolves watched a deer herd.

After the last team fled the premise flinging spells and pursued by spear-bearing guards, Harry decided the time for negotiations was over.

He was getting his people back.

Bill Weasley, missing two fingers thanks to a goblin blade, was happy to further aid them in undermining his past employers. His knowledge of the vault tunnels and Gringotts security was invaluable. He was viciously pleased to outline paths, aid in planning, and teach Harry every bit of ward-lore he could remember. The most recent DE-vs-Rebel skirmish the eldest Weasley child had taken part in left him bed-ridden for nearly three weeks and unable to take a more active role in the strike against Gringotts.

Accessing the employee passages with specially charmed badges made by Hermione and Terry, three teams split up with their maps and goals. One would find and extract Hannah and her team. A second would be retrieving the Horcrux. The third, including Harry, would be striking the goblins themselves as a distraction.

Harry overpowering and bringing down some of the wards sure got the money-grubbers' attention.

He and his group caused as much chaos as they could, each using a physical weapon alongside their wand. Thankfully, everyone in that team had received proper training, a few friends lead by Victor Krum having arrived months ago to aid in the fight. (Harry was ever so grateful he had had the sense to become friends with Victor, Fleur, and a dozen others from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang in his fourth year. The help in the war alone was well worth it.)

Of course, plans seldom survive an encounter with the enemy.

Leading a dozen goblins on a merry chase, Harry and co bumped into the Horcrux retrieval team.

Apparently, Harry had been a bad influence on the Ravenclaw. Hermione had decided to free a dragon and was using the creature as an impromptu vanguard.

He's not sure whether he should be appalled or proud.

Somewhere in the pandemonium of flying spells and raging dragonfire, deadly metal and snarled trash-talk, Harry got word through the communication device pretending to be an earring that the extraction had been successful. Exchanging signals with Hermione, both teams changed the pace of the dance. Suddenly, the goblins found themselves on the defense as the wizards doubled their fire power.

Fighting their way to the surface was a messy (blood and body parts everywhere) and long haul. A second dragon was freed, this time by Harry. (He wasn't competing with Hermione, really. He just had a reputation for crazy shit that he worked to maintain, honest!) Then both teams with all members accounted (for if a bit battered and singed) burst out of the bank, taking to the air on brooms and dragons.

Not a bad way to end a mission.

One Horcrux down, four more soul fragments to go.

Voldemort's days were numbered.

- HP -

Luna was the one to stumble upon the Hogwarts Horcrux.

Unfortunately, she also fell prey to it.

During a break from the fighting, Harry and several other students turned Rebel fighters retreated to Hogwarts for some rest. Needing something that wasn't training and planning and research, the group of teens wandered into the Room of Requirement. (The space had been found by the leader of the HA during his fourth year, a desire for some space after his triumph over the dragon prompting the castle to lead her boy to the Room. Only a few knew of it, Harry preferring it stay a secret only a few held.)

The room had been opened into the "Lost and Found" rotation, and the teens were enjoying themselves exploring the various items abandoned over the centuries. Hermione Terry and Daphne were going through old books. The Weasley twins had discovered three trunks of preserved potions ingredients and mysterious notes. Neville and several others were trying to outdo each other in the most random find of the day competition. All in all, the Room echoed with laughter and light conversation, everyone enjoying themselves.

(Too bad it wouldn't last.)

Harry had wandered a bit away from the rest of the group though not quite out of sight and earshot. He was absentmindedly checking some rather nice jewelry for curses with half a mind to sell or return them to their families.

Then his scar pulsed, hot and eager, as the other he had been suppressing for the past year cackled in his mind. Hissing sharp curses in parseltongue (which drew the attention of nearby Blaise who alerted the other teens), Harry breathed and focused.

Somewhere to his left and several stacks away, there was an answering resonance. Sharp pain stabbed his skull as his scar split open and the world faded away in a hiss of triumph.

(The others would never tell him the details of what happened next. They wouldn't speak of how his green eyes turned crimson, of the other who hissed with his voice, of his single-minded stalk through the weaving paths. The other's inattention to them, an unconscious desperate act on Harry's part to protect his friends, was all that saved them a very unpleasant fate at the wand of a very powerful wizard. Their trust in Harry didn't waver, but the research to remove the Horcrux in his scar would reach a fever pitch after this incident.)

Then he blinked and it was like he'd broken the surface of the lake, clarity and control returning in a head-spinning rush. The other snarled and fought but was pushed away absentmindedly. It didn't matter right then.

Luna mattered.

She stood before him (and their friends arrayed behind him), her wand twirling in her fingers. A intricate diadem of silvery metal with an eagle motif was upon her pale blond hair. Her eyes were a startling and all too familiar crimson.

The next few minutes were a desperate battle, the teens seeking to subdue the possessed Luna without doing her too great harm. The soul fragment of Voldemort had no such hindrances.

Piles of items were brought down like avalanches. Ancient broomsticks and shards of broken mirrors became projectile weapons. Random things burned or exploded or were flung at high speeds by evaded or redirected spells.

Knowing he was a potential liability due to the Horcrux struggling against his mental restraints, Harry retreated with a whispered plan in Neville's ear. Discreet hand signs and coded messages spread the word. When the signal of a gold and green phoenix flared over their heads, the group shifted and herded their blond foe where they'd been commanded.

A runic array awaited to paralyze her. Quick spells silenced and stunned the victim before Voldemort-Luna could recover her wits. The diadem was removed via a clever use of summoning and banishing charms, Luna being checked over by Tracy while the twins kept themselves physically between Harry and the Horcrux. The flickering glints of red in green eyes, signs of the other's continued fight for control, vanished when the relic of Ravenclaw was locked away in a quickly but thoroughly shielded hat box.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Luna was deemed alright and Harry's tense form relaxed with the retreat of the other in his scar.

The lot of them then trooped out of the room for some food and rest. The diadem was ferried by Susan Hannah and a Rebel guard in the castle to the Unspeakables in their base of a safe house. They returned with the good news of one less soul fragment in the world.

So much for a peaceful day of relaxation...

- HP -

In June of the year nineteen ninety-eight, the Final Battle of Hogwarts that brought about the defeat of Dark Lord Voldemort was won by Harry Potter and the Rebels.

But to Harry, it came at too high a cost.

The missing two Horcruxes that always moved around were found - they were the Dark Lord's familiar the snake Nagani and a Gryffindor pin hidden on the body of Bellatrix Lestrange. (No one knew about the pin, just that the soul fragment on the map vanished during the battle. Bellatrix was killed with fiendfyre by a vengeful Neville Longbottom.)

Both were wiped out during the first half of the Final Battle, word of their successful destruction from the Unspeakables and Rebels set to observe the Horcrux map buoying the spirits of those in the know.

As for the one in Harry's scar, it was taken care of when he died.

Yes, died.

Yet he came back to finish off the Dark Lord and live a long life.

(In a memory Harry only recalls in dreams, he spoke with his mother on a white train platform. She told him of his choice, of her and his father's love for him, of their hopes he would heal from the betrayal and find love and be happy. It took a while but those hopes of the parents came to pass.)

Many on both sides died. Many others would never be the same.

Ironic Harry fit both those lists.

For the one who cast the Killing Curse upon Harry (that incidentally removed the last Horcrux) had not been Voldemort.

It had been Jason Potter.

During a lull in the fighting while both sides withdrew to lick their wounds and all the Horcruxes destroyed save the one in Harry's scar, he slipped away from his comrades and sought out Voldemort on his own.

When he found his adversary, there had been only one Death Eater at the Dark Lord's side - the one person in the world Harry could never bring himself to raise his wand against.

Jason had laughed at his brother's shock and horror. With his Master's amused permission, he put up a privacy barrier and revealed the truth - he had always envied and, in time, came to loath Harry.

The hazel-eyed twin had always craved power and glory and attention. Being cast aside by the denizens of Privet Drive had galled him, for how dare they treat him so poorly. Vernon and Petunia and Dudley, he had seethed over their abuse of his person. There had been some offended feelings toward the mistreatment his brother was also going through, but Jason had been more focused upon himself.

The fact that Harry had always placed Jason first didn't help his sense of self-entitlement. Harry would give the larger share of food to his twin, would do more of the work during chores (especially if Jason asked), would step between a blow and the younger-by-minutes boy during their punishments. He sought to shield Jason, to protect and care for him as he felt was his duty. It had been born of love, but Jason took advantage of it, and Harry had let him.

(He had never realized until now just how much he had always let Jason get away with.)

Entering the magical world, Jason had been smugly pleased to learn of his place as the Boy Who Lived. He was a hero and basked in the adoration he felt was only his right. As a hero, he would have a natural advantage in every way, would go on to become some grand knight in a tale, would be given praise and sought after by women and have whatever he wanted handed to him on a silver - no, a gold! - platter. Then he could find an easy way to make lots of money and just drift through life, carefree and content. Of course, he would look down upon anything evil and, if absolutely necessary and properly asked, would strike down the next Dark Lord or whatever.

Then Harry had been sorted in Slytherin. The house of the dark wizards, of nasty snakes and lying serpents. It was like Ron said, surely he must be evil, right?

Jason had looked back over the ten years of Durkaban and wondered. If Harry was so smart and so clever and so ambitious, why hadn't he gotten them out of there? Why hadn't he crushed the Dursleys under his heel and placed Jason in the position of comfort that he deserved? He must have wanted Jason to suffer, because he was evil like that.

Ron's tongue and Jason's mind had whispered those things and more. He had believed them. And Harry kept proving them right, being as powerful and strong as he was showing himself to be.

And Harry kept taking away the attention from Jason. Going and defeating a troll over a stupid mudblood, beating him in quidditch, being top of most of his classes, and those just in their first two years! Harry's skills, always greater than Jason's, gained him respect among the students and teachers alike. His virtues drew in other powerful people, consolidating the growing notion that Harry Potter, Slytherin and non-Boy-Who-Lived, was worth knowing and befriending. True, Jason wouldn't have deemed some of those people worth consorting with much less becoming close friends with, but Harry shouldn't have them either way.

No matter how many insults and cruel words Jason threw at his brother, Harry showed he had a stronger soul than Jason had realized. He had hoped to break Harry, to crush his confidence and show everyone that he wasn't worth it. He knew that the green-eyed twin, always more sensitive and thus weaker emotionally, was already cracked from the abuse of the Dursleys - enough cruelties from the one who had always been on his side should shatter him. But it didn't, and that just infuriated Jason further.

Jason had wavered in his quest to destroy his competition in the form of his brother during third year. Getting those glimpses of his parents had made him consider that maybe he wanted to keep Harry. Maybe bridges could be mended. Oh, he still needed to learn his place, a servant to Jason, a stepping stone to his glorious rise, but it was nice to have someone as devoted as Harry had been to him in their childhood around.

Then it had been revealed that Harry had kept memories from Jason. Those cherished recollections of their parents and a time when they were actually loved - the green eyed wizard had horded them away. It was unacceptable, unforgivable.

Then he had to enter that stupid tournament, to succeed in sneaking in his entry when Jason's attempt had failed. More glory that should have gone to Jason, followed by the titles of the Potter family that summer.

And finally, the revelation of Harry being the real Boy Who Lived, costing Jason the rest of his dwindling support base. By that point, even the fanboy Weasley had left, calling Jason a liar and fake. Harry's star, steadily on the rise over the past years, shone brighter than ever with people looking to him for guidance and salvation.

Jason had seethed, knowing he could never be so strong. His twin was on a level he could not reach. The power he wielded, magically and politically and more, it was something that Jason could not gain or steal.

Not on his own.

So Jason sought out power from another source - Voldemort.

Jason had been behind the mask that killed that third year Hogwarts student in the December Hogsmeade Attack of Ninety-Six.

Jason had been the one to let the enemy into the castle at the end of sixth year.

Jason would be the one to stand in all his glory at Voldemort's side, and, once Harry was dead, he would have the Potter Lordship as well.

Then, as Harry stood drowning by the flood of ugly revelations, Jason had pointed his wand at his twin and said two final words.

"Avada Kedavra."

When Harry came back around, he found his brother's corpse laying not too far from his resting place.

Closing staring (dead dead dead) hazel eyes, Harry had gone hunting for his parents' - his brother's - his family's murderer.

Later, Harry wouldn't remember how he tore through the enemy ranks to reach his foe. Later, he wouldn't recall out-dueling Voldemort, shattering his wand, destroying his body one chunk at a time, and gathering them to be turned to ash under fiendfyre. Later, Harry wouldn't realize he'd had tears streaming down his face the whole time.

It would just be a blur of walking and casting. Then he turned around and walked back. Friends, mentors, and Rebels would follow to find him in a numb catatonic-like state holding his twin's cold body.

He would never tell anyone what Jason revealed to him. He let everyone think he was simply devastated to lose the last of his blood kin. He allowed them to believe he was broken from losing the hope he'd always (stubbornly, foolishly, desperately) held that he'd be able to get his brother back.

Jason Potter's name was added to the Monuments of the Fallen at Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and Raven's Point. His body was cremated and the ashes released into the sea.

It was better that way.

- HP -

As it is wont, life moved on.

Ron, who had been steadily become less a prat and more a decent man, won the heart of Hermione. (Harry gave him a shovel talk that had terrified the redhead. After having two children, the pair divorced with Hermione having full custody and Ron going on to be hit by a muggle bus.)

Neville dated Susan for a while before they mutually agreed to find other people to love. He instead ended up with Hannah and they were quite happy together, gaining the blessing of his opinionated Gran and all their friends. (They traveled the world for a while finding new plants which Neville would cultivate and Hannah would use for potions. After a while, they would return to stay, settle down, and Neville would teach his and other children Herbology at Hogwarts.)

The Weasley twins set up that joke shop they'd always dreamed of, which was a roaring success. Luna would cross paths with the duo of Neville and Hannah or Harry from time to time in her own travels, telling them of the various creatures she found. The Greengrass sisters took over the family import-export business while Blaise became a terrifyingly skillful solicitor. Several people dabbled in politics to varying degrees, aiding the changes pushed by Hermione (and supported by Harry in various way both in the forefront and the background) to revolutionize the British magical world.

Sirius found a nice woman who Harry approved of and made her Lady Black. Remus was ensnared by Nymphadora Tonks of all people and gave Harry his godson Teddy. Severus stayed single but had found a level of contentment he'd never had before (especially when he quit teaching at Hogwarts and could devote himself to researching. Harry checked in on him often to drag him out of the lab and make sure he ate.)

With time, Harry was able to move on. He passed his NEWTs with honors and went on to become a runemaster and curse breaker, traveling the world exploring and having the time of his life. He kept in touch with all he cared for, apparating back to Britain often (ignoring the fact such long-distance single jumps shouldn't be possible - if he didn't know the rules, he could do anything.) and spoiling his various godchildren. Then he returned to Hogwarts to teach in the subject of his second mastery of Defense. During his travels, he had dalliances with several humans and beings, male female and other. Between contraceptive charms and a nasty curse that stole his virility, he never sired children. He also never found that love of his life, but he did take in and blood adopt three children so the Potter line continued on.

He never forgot Jason, the pain never really went away. Even the good memories were tainted now.

No, that wasn't quite true.

For he could recall those early years before everything was lost. When a body as small as his own laughed beside him at their father's antics and mother's charmwork. When the two of them would play in secret with Dudley's cast-off toys. When they would whisper in the dark of the cupboard fanciful dreams and wild plans where they would always be together, HarryandJason, JasonandHarry.

When the bed - the room - the world wasn't too empty.

(Because his twin wasn't there.)

- end -