My Sister, My Everything

Michael Callistus

Summary: AU, Harry Potter always knew that Vi was special, and that he had to look out for her- after all a man takes care of his family, and he's the only man she has- but it wasn't until some mysterious letters arrived that he realised just how special she was, and how badly she needed looking after. Hufflepuff!Harry and Wizard!Dudley

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does

Notes: Not long ago I started a fic called A Family to Fight For, but became increasingly dissatisfied with it, especially the way I'd written Violet. I'm hoping to do a better job this time around but I didn't hate the fic so some elements may be familiar. Pairing is currently Harry/Susan but there will be only hints of Shipping (they're eleven years old for crying out loud!) and definitely no slash.

Prologue: Doing All Right

"And so the brave knight slew the evil wizard, and his sister the Princess went on to rule the land wisely and justly for many years to come." Mrs Figg finished the story, and looked down a little into Harry's deep green eyes, "What do you think of that Harry?"

Harry said, "The knight went through a lot for the Princess didn't he, Mrs Figg? All those suitors, and the dragon, and the evil wizard and all sorts. Everyone seemed to be out to get them."

Mrs Figg chuckled, "Quite right Harry, he did do an awful lot for her, but the thing to remember is that he could never have done anything else, for the Princess was his sister, and he was her twin brother."

"So he loved her enough to do all that for her?" Harry said.

"Love, and responsibility." Mrs Figg said quietly.

Harry was only five, and he frowned at this, "What's responsibility?"

"The knight and the princess had no parents to look after them," Mrs Figg explained, "and although his sister was the ruler of the whole kingdom, the knight knew that it was his task to take care of her, to watch over and guard her, and defend her from all enemies that threatened his beloved sister. Because that is the true meaning of family."

Something heavy landed on Harry's lap as he looked up at Mrs Figg, and he winced a little at the unexpected weight on his legs; until he looked and saw that it was just Bungle, big, fat, hairy Bungle, the largest of Mrs Figg's collection of cats.

"Hello Bungle." Harry said, scratching the large cat- it was the size of a moderately large dog- under the chin and smiling as it purred, "Sorry Mrs Figg, what's the true meaning of family?"

"Family, Harry," Mrs Figg said, "is sacrifice. Parents make sacrifices for their children, brothers sacrifice for their sisters."

A look of comprehension dawn on Harry's face, "Like me and Vi, you mean? I'm the knight and she's the princess."

"Exactly like that Harry. Violet is a very special young lady, and she will need somebody that she can rely on to look after her. You have to protect her, stand between her and the darkness, her sentinel against the nightmares."

Harry nodded, "Violet is special, isn't she?"

Mrs Figg nodded, "One day Harry, you'll realise just how special." she looked up at the clock on the wall, "And now, I think it's time for you to go."

Harry picked Bungle up off his lap, with some difficulty, and put him down on the floor as he himself got up off the sofa with a sigh of resignation. His aunt and uncle dumped him and his sister on their neighbour like it was a punishment, but the truth was Harry would have much rather lived here than with the Dursleys. She had cake, and biscuits, and even let him and Vi watch a bit of telly sometimes. But most of all, when she talked like that about what he had to do for Violet, she made him feel like he was worth something. The Dursleys seem to try their best to make him and his sister feel like she wasn't worth anything at all.

But we are worth something, Harry thought smugly as he went into the kitchen to get his sister, Vi's special, and it's a noble thing I do in looking after her. Someday they'd realise it and all.

I'm Violet's Knight, Harry thought proudly. And that's something that they can never take away from me.

Violet shivered in the chill autumn air, "Its starting to get cold again, isn't it Harry?"

Harry nodded, "And a good thing too. I'd rather freeze in the cold than sweat in the heat if you ask me."

"I'd choose summer any day. Glorious summer!" Violet cried as she kicked at some fallen tree leaves which fountained up into the air before falling to earth again in a golden shower.

Harry shrugged, "Please yourself Vi, but if you're cold you can always put another layer on. If you get too hot what are you going to do?"

Violet shivered again, "Try wrapping up warm in these second hand clothes, Dudley's put a hole in this."

Of all the shameful things the Dursleys put them through, Harry reckoned there was no greater shame than his Vi having to wear Dudley's second hand clothes. For crying out loud she was the prettiest girl in the world she ought to be wearing something that reflected that. Or at least fitted her. It was one thing for a natural scruff like him, with his hair everywhere and his broken glasses to complement the look, but Vi wasn't like that and there ought to have been allowances made. Shame on the whole lot of them.

"Are you that cold?" he asked considerately, feeling his sister's hands and finding that they were like blocks of ice. "Here, put this on," Harry took off his own coat and was able to force it over Violet's- one of the advantages of Dudley's old clothes was that they were a lot bigger than their new owners- as he knelt down and began to rub some warmth into Vi's delicate hands.

"Thank you," Violet said quietly as she huddled into her two coats.

Harry looked into his sister's eyes, eyes even greener than Harry's own, and smiled reassuringly. It was his special smile, his smile for his sister, his Violet smile, the smile that said that everything would be all right no matter what because he was there to make them so, "As long as you're okay, that's all that matters."

Then he burst out laughing.

"What?" Violet said.

"If you could see how ridiculous you look in those two coats," Harry laughed. "There's more of them then there is of you."

Violet chuckled, and then began to laugh as well. Then she tore away from him and began to run as fast as she could in the opposite, "Can't catch me, Harry."

"Oh yes I can!" Harry grinned in anticipation as he leapt up and started to chase after her. "You won't get away from me that easily."

And then they were both running, and both laughing aloud for joy, and for that brief moment all their troubles were forgotten. Soon they would have to return to the Dursleys, to their spider infested cupboard beneath the stairs, to Uncle Vernon's temper and Aunt Petunia's icy coldness, to Dudley's temper and his malice. But for Harry James and Violet Lily Potter; right there, right then, life was good.

A seven year old Violet cowered against the wall of their cupboard as outside the sounds of shouting and banging echoed through the house. She could hear Uncle Vernon's low, loud bellows that shook the walls, Aunt Petunia's grating shrieks of accusation, and occasionally she even caught snatches of Harry's voice, sometimes followed by cries of pain.

At least Dudley wasn't there as well, Violet thought, Dudley always fled to his room when his parents tempers got really bad. But things would have been even worse for Harry if Dudley had been there.

But things sounded bad enough already, worse than Violet could ever remember them, and Violet hated herself all the time that she was listening. Harry was out there, her brother who was always there for her, always listening, always looking out for her, and now he was protecting her again and she didn't even have the guts to join him. She just sat here, cowering and hoping that he'd be all right. She was such a coward.

Please be all right. Please let Harry be all right.

The noise died down suddenly, and for a moment all was stillness and silence in Number Twelve, Privet Drive, before there was the sound of footsteps moving in the direction of the under the stairs cupboard and the door swung open with a slight creaking sound from the squeaky hinge.

Harry stood in the doorway. His glasses were hanging off one ear, completely smashed on the other side, and his left eye had been blackened. He had a nasty bruise on the right cheek, and he was holding his right arm in a funny way. And still he managed to smile, that special smile that he had just for her. The smile that said that everything would be okay, because Harry was there to make sure of it.

"Hey, Vi," Harry said. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Harry," Vi said. "I was just scared, that's all."

"Hey, there's nothing to be scared of," Harry sounded pained, as if it was his fault that she was afraid. "I'm here, and I promise that nothing's ever going to happen to you."

"Promise?"

Harry's smile widened, "Cross my heart and hope to die. I'll always be here, for as long as you need me."

"Why?"

Harry frowned, "Because I'm your brother, and that's what brothers do. They look after their sisters."

Violet shyly returned Harry's smile, and went to hug him but he yelped with pain from the arm he was holding onto, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Harry said. "Just that, this arms a little bit delicate at the moment, sorry."

Violet avoided his bad arm as she gave him a tight hug, as Harry himself shut the door on the two of them.

"I love you Harry."

"I love you too," Harry whispered, stroking her black hair with his other hand.

An eight year old Harry led his sister along by one hand as they walked down Magnolia Crescent, with no clear direction in his mind beyond getting as far away from Number Twelve, Privet Drive as he possibly could. He was fed up, and that was the truth. Fed up of the Dursleys, fed up of Dudley and his gang, fed up of watching Vi being treated shamefully and he wasn't going to put up with it any longer. They were getting out of this place, he wasn't quite sure where they were going yet but he'd think of something. Maybe they could get put into foster care or something, certainly he didn't think the Dursleys would be in any great hurry to reclaim their niece and nephew.

"Where are we going, Harry?" Violet asked behind him. She was still sniffing occasionally, the last remnant of the tears that Dudley had reduced her to that had been the last straw for her brother.

"I don't know yet," Harry admitted. "Somewhere better than we were before, I know that much though."

He turned around, and grinned reassuringly at her, "Don't worry, you know I'd never let anything bad happen to you."

Violet smiled and nodded, "I know, I trust you Harry. If you say its going to be okay, then it will."

"Yeah, it will," Harry said, wishing he could believe in himself with the same certainty with which Vi believed in him.

"Now then," they paused at the end of the road. "Which way do you reckon we ought to go?"

A car roared up and came to a screeching handbrake turn right next to them. As Harry and Vi watched, two men climbed out. One was a tall black man in an expertly tailored suit, while the other was an older man with one eye missing and a good deal else besides, and wearing clothes that did not fit him half so well as his partner's.

"Afternoon," the older man said gruffly. "I'm Detective Chief Inspector Moody, and this is Detective Sergeant Shacklebolt, we're with the Rozzers."

"Police," Shacklebolt murmured.

"Right, Police, right," Moody said quickly. "And what do you two think that you're doing running away from home like this?"

"Who said we were running away?" Harry said, hoping that they might have gotten him and his sister confused with two other little kids who had run off.

Shacklebolt knelt down so that he was closer to Harry's level, "We are the police," he said in a slow, deep and reassuring voice. "We have ways of finding out these things."

"We're not going back," Harry said. "I'm not taking Vi back there."

"You'll do as your told Harry, until you know enough to make informed decisions," Moody snapped.

"Alastor," Shacklebolt said calmly, shaking his head in his colleague's direction. "I understand how you must feel, but the world is a very dangerous place for two young children."

"Harry will look after me, just like he always does," Violet said.

"Thanks," Harry said, squeezing his sister's hand.

"I do not doubt your intentions are good, Harry," Shacklebolt said. "But still, I am afraid that I cannot allow you to just run away like this. As policemen, we have a job to do that includes taking you home right now."

"Too right," Moody said. "So get in the car right now, the pair of you."

It was only after the two coppers had seen Harry and Violet both back inside the confinement of Number Twelve that Harry realised that DCI Moody had known he was called Harry before Violet had actually used his name.

Harry didn't like to imagine what his life would have been like if he hadn't had Violet to take care of. Probably he would have been some kind of emo kid, angsting about how hard his life was without any friends with Dudley and his gang picking on him and stuff, and how nobody would talk to him because they didn't want to get on the wrong side of Dudley. Without Vi, Harry thought as the two of them walked to school, his life would have been a complete mess, empty of purpose or direction. But he did have Vi, and Harry didn't waste time angsting when he could be making sure that she was all right, and showing anyone who upset her just why that wasn't that a good idea. For her sake he ran every morning, and pushed weights that Mrs Figg had given him so he could build up his strength, and when he and Dudley tangled the playing field was a lot more even than it used to be. Sure they still didn't have any friends, but if they couldn't see what a great person Vi was then stuff the lot of them was Harry's attitude. And if people kept away from them at school well, that was partly to do with fear of Dudley, but it also had a fair bit to do with fear of Harry too; everyone knew what had happened when Jimmy Rogers started teasing Violet a bit too much for Harry's liking. Harry had smashed him round the head with a cricket bat. Nobody teased his sister after that.

Harry and Violet took a different route to school than that taken by Dudley. Dudley got driven to the school gates by his parents, Harry and Violet walked. It took longer, but at least they didn't have to suffer Dudley en route.

"Harry?"

"Yes Vi?"

"Do you ever wish that we had other friends?"

"No," Harry said, only half lying. "What do we need friends for? I've got you, and you've got me, and, well, we've got each other haven't we."

"I know," Violet said, hugging his arm, "And I wouldn't change it for anything but, do you never wish that we had other people as well."

Harry shrugged, "I suppose so. Do you?"

"Sometimes." Violet said quietly, and a little wistfully.

"Then I'll find you some friends somehow," Harry said, "I promise."

Violet chuckled, "How are you going to 'find me' some friends, Harry?"

"I don't know." Harry said, "I didn't say I knew how I was going to do it I just promised that I would. And Harry James Potter is a man who keeps his word. Count on it."

"I do," Violet said. "I trust you."

"Good, because you ought to," Harry said, as they reached a set of lights which changed to green before they had to wait too long. Harry led Vi across the road in a quick dash.

"Harry?"

"Mm hmm?"

"Do you ever think about our parents?"

"Erm," the truth was that Harry didn't give a lot of thought to his departed mother and father. It hadn't even been him who had asked how they had died, it had been Vi. He had just never been that curious about it. They were gone, and Violet was his responsibility now, and as far as Harry was concerned that was all there was to it. But Violet not like that answer so he hedged with, "every now and then, yeah."

"I have these dreams some times," Violet said. "And I have the strangest feeling it's about mum and dad."

They were onto a stretch of path far from any roads now, and Harry could focus all his attention upon what his sister was saying, "What kind of dreams?"

"I can hear a woman shouting, and a high voice laughing, and then there's a flash of green light and the woman screams," Violet looked down at the ground for a moment. "Doesn't sound much like a car crash does it?"

"No," Harry said, concealing his concern and- if he was to admit it- fear. Dreams were the one place he couldn't look after Violet, nightmares were the one thing he couldn't protect her from. He hated that uselessness, that inadequacy, he hated that there was any place Vi could go where he couldn't follow her.

"I just wondered, if you ever had any dreams like that."

"No," Harry repeated. Truth was he didn't dream at all very often, it was as if his body compensated for the fact that he insisted on always getting up so early by letting him sleep very deeply to make up for it.

"Oh, okay." Violet said, and he could tell she was a little bit disappointed.

They had reached the gates of the local primary, and Dudley was already hanging around there with his gang clustered around him. Malcolm Sasse, Gordon Bennett and Dennis Skinner were all bigger than Dudley, but they lacked his streak of low and vicious cunning. Piers Polkiss looked like a weasel- or perhaps that should have been a Polecat?- and in many ways was, small and weak but also quick and sly to make up for it. As Harry and Violet approached, they were bullying the younger kids for their tuck money as they came through the gates, making sure to wait until their parents were out of sight until they did anything. Harry could hear them laughing in a crude, stupid manner as they crowed about their successes. His grip on Violet's hand tightened as Piers saw them coming and pointed him out to the rest. Dudley's jaw set. Harry silently clenched his other fist, he had been thinking that it was about time matters came to a head between him and Dudley. God knew they'd been building for long enough.

The gang sauntered over, blocking their way into school.

"Excuse us," Harry said coldly.

A snort from Dudley was the only thing they got by way of reply.

Harry and Violet tried to get past, but the gang kept moving to block their way, beginning to laugh at the Potter twins as they did so.

"What's the matter Potters?" Dudley said. "Don't know which way to go? Having a spaz attack or something?"

Harry let go his grip on Violet's hand, "Get out of the way Dudley."

"Make me, Potter!" Dudley snapped.

Harry snapped too, grabbing Dudley by the scruff of the neck and swinging him round to slam him against the playground wall, "There, I made you, satisfied?"

Harry felt a sharp tug as Malcolm and Gordon wrenched him off Dudley and held him, squirming, while Dudley hit him in the stomach. Harry winced as he doubled over.

"You've been disrespecting me, Potter," Dudley said. "You think you could just go around dissing me and get away with it? When I'm done with you, isn't no one going to diss us again."

"You tell him, Dud," Piers said.

Harry gave a scowling grin, "You can hit me all you want, Dudley, it doesn't change the fact that you're too much of a coward to fight me without your gang to back you up."

Dudley hit him again, punching him hard in the stomach and smiling as Harry yelped in pain, "You won't be so quick to talk when I'm done with you, Potter." He said, "Dennis, hold the other Potter. When I'm gone she's going to get taught a lesson as well."

Oh no you didn't. Every protective instinct towards his sister that Harry had honed in himself rose to the fore, lending strength to his arms as he broke free of Malcolm and Dennis' grip shoulder charged Dudley, bowling him over with the force of his onslaught.

"You do not," Harry yelled, driving his knee into Dudley's crotch, "ever," he punched Dudley hard on the nose, breaking it beneath his fist and paying his fat cousin back for several years of broken glasses, "threaten" he punched him twice in the stomach, making Dudley squeal, "my sister again. Got it?"

Harry picked Dudley up off the pavement and pinned him against the wall, "I said got it?"

"Yeah, yeah I got it," Dudley looked terrified, as well he might. Harry was still only half his weight; but that didn't seem to matter. Nothing did, except that he was taking care of Violet.

Harry threw him roughly to the ground, "Get that nose seen to."

Dudley scrambled to his feet, and ran to his gang for comfort and reassurance, when something that Harry had never expected happened. As he reached out towards Piers Polkiss the rat faced boy shoved him back to land on his backside. Dudley looked astonished, while Harry paid attention to the contemptuous expressions on their faces. Dudley leapt up and lunged for Piers in anger, when Dennis and Malcolm barred his way and pushed him back again. Dudley looked, his face a mask of utter confusion, from Harry to his one time friends and then back again, and his eyes began to fill with genuine for the first time in a good many years. With a whimper, he turned and ran home, leaving them all behind.

"I feel almost sorry for him," Violet murmured.

"Don't waste your sympathy," Harry said. "He got what he had coming to him."

Dudley's gang, or rather Dudley's former gang, gave Harry a strange look that he couldn't interpret, and then they sloped through the gates and into school.

"What was that about?" Violet asked.

"I've no idea." Harry said, "Come on, we'll be late otherwise."

To Harry's surprise, and some apprehension, the gang was waiting for him at the end of the school day, loitering by the gates until he and Vi came out, whereupon they closed in on the Potters with speed and alacrity.

Harry did his best to ignore the fact that he was outnumbered four to one and concentrate on putting up a tough front, "What do you want? Come back for another go? Where's Dudley?"

Malcolm spat, "That squealer ain't with us no more." He had a remarkably deep voice for an eight year old.

"You can't be chief unless you're fit to be chief," Piers explained, wiping his nose. "Dud was chief, but he lost so he isn't chief no more."

The gang hesitated for a moment, before Piers nodded toward Harry, "You are."

"Eh?"

"You're the boss now," Piers said. "Your gang. What do you say, chief?"

Harry frowned, "How do I know this isn't a trick?"

Piers shrugged, "So long as you don't let anyone beat you up you'll be fine. Also, if you say no to us we will have to kick the living daylights out of you to keep up our reputation, understand?"

"I see," Harry said. "So, I'm in charge then? What I say goes?"

"Whatever you say," Piers said.

"Okay then," Harry said. "Get out of my face the lot of you, and I'll deal with you in the morning." He watched them leave before he and Violet started for home.

"So, you're the gang leader eh?" Vi said, she seemed to find the whole thing rather amusing.

"Yep," Harry said with a grin. "And there's going to be some changes around here."

One year on and Harry certainly had made changes. For one thing, he'd had enough of him and Vi being picked on by Dudley's gang that the first thing he'd done with them- aside from change the name to Harry's lads- was put a stop to bullying and turn the gang into a force for good. Mostly, he used the strength of the gang to put a stop to any other bullying that went on in school, nipping incipient gangs in the bud and teaching would be oppressors the cost of trying to throw their weight around. Since Harry no longer allowed the gang to break the rules, he encouraged them to snitch on people who did, building up trust with the teachers to the extent that whenever they did need to break the rules nobody would ever suspect those nice boys who were ever so informative.

And since they were so trusted and so well liked, people soon began giving the gang little errands to run, errands for which they would pay small amounts of money. Washing cars, cutting the grass, delivering letters, they may not have been getting rich but they were getting money in their pockets, and they didn't need a lot because let's face it they were only nine years old. And, because helping people was a far more inclusive activity than menacing, the gang had grown in size from the four lads who had used to follow Dudley. Little Mark Evans, three years younger than Harry and the rest, Jimmy Rogers whom Harry had once hit with a cricket bat for teasing Vi, Sally Anne Perks, Cheryl, Laura, Steve and Robbie, and a large smattering of the nine years old down to the over sixes. Harry couldn't remember some of their names any more.

To most of them, it seemed like Harry was the uncrowned king of the school, but Harry didn't feel that way. He was still only Vi's knight, but if she was a bit more of a princess because of what he'd done, and if things were a little easier for her now, well that was just perfect.

"Harry! I'm going to get you!" Dudley yelled as he sprang at Harry from behind. He had been doing this on and off for about a year now, and as always he was dogpiled by his former comrades in arms before he could actually reach the object of his hatred.

"Give it up, Dudley," Gordon said as he and Dennis wrestled their old leader to a standstill. "It's over, let it go."

"Never!" Dudley said, his blue eyes even more watery than usual, "He took everything from me and I want it back!"

Harry had to admit he was impressed by his cousin's persistence, just as he was impressed by his gang's loyalty in defending him against their old king, but he did his best not to let either feeling show as he kept his voice impassive, "Dudley, Dudley, Dudley, isn't this getting a little old for both of us? Isn't it time to call it quits?"

"This will never end while you still have what belongs to me!" Dudley shrieked.

"This never belonged to you! Nothing belongs to you!" Harry snapped at him. "It wasn't enough that you had everything you could ever want, that you ruled the roost back at Number Twelve," he refused to dignify that place with the name of 'home'. "You had to have more didn't you, you had to grasp for what you didn't deserve and when you reached too far you lost it. Well tough nuggets sunshine, serves you right for being greedy. You played, you lost, and this is Vi's time now. And I'm not having you ruining it."

Harry knelt down, so that he and a squirming Dudley were face to face, "Stop trespassing on my indulgence, or I will be tempted to forget that for all your faults, you are family. Let him up."

Harry walked away without looking back, deliberately showing that he wasn't afraid of anything Dudley might do to him. Vi was waiting for him a little way down the school corridor, an anxious expression on her face.

"Aren't you worried about him?"

"No," Harry said. "He'll try and make things hard for us at home, but I'll sort him. Don't worry it will all be fine. Now, who's waiting on you at lunch today?"

Violet blushed, "Harry, I don't need to waited on I've tried to-"

"Maybe not, but you deserve to be waited on so you're going to be waited on. Now who is it?"

Vi sighed, "Mark Evans."

Harry grinned, "I think he likes you you know."

"I'm nine, and he's six!"

"Even so," Harry said, laughing as the two of them walked to their first lesson.

Dudley neutered, Vi treated as she deserved, and school established as a safe haven for her from the malice of the Dursleys. They were doing all right, Harry reckoned. Yep, they were doing all right.