Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no claims to ownership.
A couple of things about this story:
Harry is not a twin. The Potter family is not evil. Dumbledore is conniving, but with good intentions. Snape is not going to rescue poor, abused Harry; in fact, Snape will hardly make an appearance.
Prologue
All was quiet on the street of Privet Drive. Twilight had faded to blackness, and certainly no respectable person would be out at this time of night. Petunia Dursley, however, would probably be the last person to say that her sister is respectable. Lily Potter was almost counting on this when she appeared with a sharp crack right in front of the silent house.
Immediately the baby in her arms started squalling, and she held him to her chest tightly.
"Hush, Harry," Lily whispered. "Mummy has to do this. It's for your own safety."
He stared up at her with green eyes that were somehow brighter than her own. Lily swallowed thickly as she headed up the path to the front door. She had always thought she would never let her own child go, but the other option was much worse.
"You won't be found here," she murmured to her son. "Not with Muggles. Everyone knows how much my sister and I hate each other."
Harry's little face began to scrunch up again. Small fingers reached for her, and Lily's heart broke. It was as if he knew she was about to leave him.
Hardening herself, she gently set him down in a wicker basket on the ground in front of the door. An envelope with a letter explaining the details of her request for her sister to take care of Harry was tucked in beside him. Then she rang the doorbell and darted off the porch. Underneath James' Invisibility Cloak, Lily watched as a few minutes later, Petunia opened the door, looked around in confusion, spotted the baby, and screamed.
Harry's cries still rang in Lily's ears when she finally headed home.
James stood in front of Sirius with Harry clutched to his chest. His t-shirt was torn and clinging to his skin in the warm evening. Sirius' eyes wandered over him, noting the dark bags under James' own eyes.
"Please," whispered James, his voice cracking. "Lily – She put him with her sister's family. But they'll ruin him, I'm sure of it."
Sirius shook his head. "I'm horrible with children. I can't raise a kid!"
"You're his godfather for a reason." James looked at Sirius, his hazel eyes dark with a secret he still refused to tell Sirius. "I trust you, Sirius."
It was the use of his real name that made Sirius cave in. His heart stuttered to a stop, warning him this was a bad idea even as he reached out to take Harry. James held on to the baby for another moment before putting him into Sirius' arms.
"Do you-" James' voice was trembling again. "Do you know what you'll name him?"
Looking into Harry's eyes, which were a green brighter than the Killing Curse, Sirius was reminded of the blood lingering in the water.
"Regulus," he answered softly. "Regulus Alphard Black."
James attempted a smile. "Weren't those your brother's initials, too?"
Sirius shrugged indifferently. "Sirius, then. Regulus Sirius Black." His lips twisted into a bitter mockery of a smile. "I think my family will approve of that."
James felt horrible lying to his own wife. She was a lovely woman, brave and righteous. However, she would never let that get in the way of her love for Harry. They had agreed that he needed to be protected. He just didn't think that putting Harry with her Muggle relatives was a good idea.
"He's gone," Lily sobbed. "My baby is gone. She just let him die…"
"Shh…" James murmured, running his fingers through her disheveled hair.
He wished that he could tell her the truth, but Lily had no training in Occlumency. Dumbledore would be able to see inside her mind easily.
His heart constricted. Yesterday was likely the last time he would see his little boy for the foreseeable future, and Harry, now Regulus, already had the aristocratic beauty of a Black. It had taken Sirius only a day to brew the adoption potion. James didn't question how his friend knew to make the illegal potion; despite his rebelliousness, Sirius had learned quite a bit about the Dark Arts from his family, and James knew that his own father enjoyed discussing potions with Sirius.
After that, James modified Petunia's memory to make her think that Harry had run out into the road in front of a car. Then he waited for the news to reach Lily. Unfortunately, he didn't know how the modification would adapt to fill in the holes of her memory, and so he hadn't predicted Petunia's remorselessness in a baby's death. What was supposed to be a tragedy now devastated Lily.
He was playing a very dangerous game, but if it meant that Harry lived, then James didn't regret any decision he made to protect his son.
Sirius inhaled slowly and let the smoke fill his lungs before blowing it out. He stood on the terrace of Grimmauld Place, sucking nicotine into his system. Hearing the door open behind him, he knew that someone had finally found his hiding place. Sirius closed his eyes as he recognized the light footsteps, and a familiar, warm presence stood extremely close to him.
"Is it so bad," said Narcissa softly, "to be married to me?"
He opened his eyes and looked up at the night sky, easily identifying the stars for which most of their family was named.
"I made only one promise to my father that I intend to keep," he murmured, finding the Orion constellation, "and that was to not marry within the family."
Her fingers, thin and long like a pianist's, tightened on the railing in front of her. When she spoke, her lips barely moved. "Why?"
Sirius glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Merlin, Cissy. Just look at us. The 'Black Madness' isn't just a bedtime story to scare your kids."
Her lips pressed into a thin line. "There are ways to circumvent that," she said stiffly.
"Dark magic, you mean," said Sirius, though it was without the malice from his youth.
Narcissa looked up at him through her eyelashes. "You have to decide, Sirius. What are you willing to do for your son?"
He thought of Regulus inside being coddled by Sirius' mother. Bitter ash coated his tongue. His family thought Regulus was his illegitimate son. The blood adoption made him look almost exactly Sirius. Unfortunately, Narcissa had recognized Lily Potter's eyes in a Black's face. She had immediately proposed a deal. Lucius had disappeared shortly before Draco was born, and Cygnus was pressuring her to marry again. Regulus needed to be recognized as heir. If she and Sirius were to be wed, then Narcissa could blood adopt Regulus and make him legitimate.
Sighing, Sirius stamped out his cigarette on the railing. "Alright," he said quietly. "I'll do it."
He pretended that he felt no warmth when Narcissa smiled.
Instrumental Song: Luck of the Devil – Anne Dudley
(All of the titles are going to be based on the song I'm listening to while writing.)
