So, this has been rattling around in my brain for a good while. I've tweaked it a little here and there, and this is what I've come up with. Those who have read my other story, Lion's Heir, may have realized that I'm rather fond of dramatic entrances that shock everybody, and that I'm not overly fond of Dumbledore. Hope you guys like it!
It was a normal day. Well, as normal as a day could get in a Hogwarts that was trying to avoid the simpering, sadistic Professor Umbridge. It was obvious that the woman was Slytherin - so many other adjectives starting with "s" could be applied to her, after all.
Harry was seated at the Gryffindor table with his friends, shoveling food into his mouth. His glasses were slightly crooked, and he fixed them with a sigh, realizing too late that he had used his left hand. It stung fiercely, reminding him of the detention he had suffered through the night before. He thought of a few more unpleasant "s" adjectives for the woman who had forced him to carve up his own hand in detention, and went back to stuffing his food away. He knew that he was doing a pretty good imitation of his friend Ron, but at that moment he didn't care. He was tired (having barely slept the night before due to the pain of his hand), he was in pain, and he had had another nightmare during the few hours that he had actually slept.
Harry was fed up.
He was very fed up.
He wished that something would happen - anything - to take him away from Umbridge. He didn't know how much more abuse he could take from the woman before something in him snapped at her constant belittling of the threat that had cost Cedric's life and he was sent to Azkaban for attacking a teacher.
After last year, he had been so sure that things couldn't possibly get any worse. Was it too much to ask for a normal school year, for once?
Why did nothing ever work out in his favor?
Harry was interrupted from his pity-party by a loud, echoing bang. He looked up, startled, just like dozens of other students, to see that the doors of the Great Hall had been flung open.
A woman was standing there, in the doorway. She looked angry.
He cocked his head, feeling like he was forgetting something.
She was tall. Well, she was taller than him, which didn't mean that much, but she was also a decent height. Enough that he knew his chin would only just rest on her shoulder if he stood behind her.
Thank goodness he had finally grown some that summer.
Her curly hair was a bright fiery red, and her eyes were a soft hazel brown. Those same eyes were scanning the hall, looking for something. They passed over Harry, and then instantly shot back - and then she was staring at him for a moment.
Harry swallowed hard. He knew those eyes. He was forgetting something, he was sure of it, but he just couldn't remember. But, those eyes-!
Abruptly the woman pulled her eyes away from his and stalked towards the teachers' table at the end of the room. Harry glanced up at the teachers, hoping to get some clue about who this person was, and saw that most of them were gaping at her with something akin to disbelief. Snape was as grey as a ghost, and seemed to be having trouble breathing. McGonagall was having much the same problems, although Harry saw her mouth something that looked like a name.
Dumbledore, however, was white as a sheet. Harry looked closer, and stifled a gasp. The Headmaster was actually trembling.
He turned his eyes back to the woman who was advancing quickly through the hall. Who was she? Why was Dumbledore afraid?
Moments later, the woman was standing in front of the teachers' table.
"Well, Albus? Aren't you going to greet me?" Her voice rang with challenge, but Harry wasn't sure what, exactly she was challenging the Headmaster to do. She certainly wasn't wanting a hug and a hello, he thought.
"Of course my dear." Dumbledore managed, regaining his composure and standing. His smile was bright and cheery, but clearly forced. "It is good to see you, Erasyl." He held out a hand for her to shake.
The woman simply looked at his hand, and then reached up and slapped the old wizard. The crack of skin against skin rang through the room. The student body collectively drew a shocked breath, but the staff didn't react. They seemed to almost have expected it, and some seemed to think it rather appropriate. Odd - very odd.
Her voice was quiet, but shook with anger. In the stunned silence following the blow she gave the Headmaster, her voice carried easily through the hall.
"You lied to me. Liar! Manipulative bastard!"
Dumbledore said nothing.
"All this time, you lied to me. You told me he was dead! And I - I believed you!" Her voice was thick with disgust, though whether it was for the lies she had evidently been told or for her belief of them, no one could tell. "Fifteen years, Albus! For fifteen years, you told me my brother was dead!"
The student body began to whisper softly, but stopped the moment she began to speak again. No one wanted to miss a word that the woman said.
"Well, you listen to me, cabrón! And you listen well. You don't own him, you have absolutely no rights to him. He is mine more than anyone else's, my brother. I'm am going to take him away, far away, where you and your pompous "for the greater good" can't hurt him anymore. Who gives you the right to choose what is greater good, or what sacrifices must be made for it?"
She was absolutely furious, and was shouting by this time.
"News flash, old man! He isn't a tool! He is a living, breathing person! How could you leave him to those-those-people?" She snarled. "You knew how they would treat him, what they would do to him. Is it a joke to you? Or did you really want him broken and easy for you to use so badly that you let our relatives f*cking lock him in a broom closet? Better choose your answer carefully!"
Dumbledore didn't answer.
She spat on the ground at his feet. "You disgust me. If you had just gotten serious and gone after Voldemort in the first war, you could have taken him down easily. His power didn't hold a candle to yours! Now, of course, it'll be much harder. Too bad. It's your problem. You made it, you fix it! If you'd bothered to do so fifteen years ago, my parents would still be alive! Your choices took them from me - you aren't taking my brother too. Fix your own mess - you're not getting my brother to do it! I'm going to take him away - far away, where you can never hurt either of us again. So sorry, you're losing your perfect little weapon. Prophecy or not - I don't care. Find a different person to manipulate." Her voice dropped, until it was so low and menacing that several of the students trembled, even though her back was to them and they had done nothing to deserve her ire.
"Erasyl-" The Headmaster tried, looking truly panicked at the woman's threat of taking her brother away. Who was her brother anyway, Harry wondered. What did she mean about a prophecy? It was clear that all the other students were just as confused as he was
"Don't." The woman snarled. "Don't even try. You f*cking lied to me for fifteen years, and all the while you let my f*cking relatives abuse my baby brother! Don't. Mess. With. Me."
The ends of her hair began to smoke, and then one of the Hufflepuffs gasped as sparks began to fly from her fiery hair. After a moment it seemed that her hair was made entirely of living flames.
"Lily." Snape whispered, softly enough that Harry wouldn't have known what he said if he hadn't also seem the man's lips move.
The woman spun on her heel, the flames in her hair snapping out with the movement as her hair flew out with the sharpness of the turn. In the moment before the fire went out, she seemed to have a halo of flame around her head.
She stalked between the tables, and every student held his or her breath waiting to find out who the mysterious little brother was. None was more shocked than Harry when her eyes locked onto his again and she stopped at his side.
"Erasyl, I really must-"
A flick of her wrist silenced Dumbledore.
"You really must shut up, that's what you really must do." She answered coldly, not bothering to even look at him. "Come on, Harry. Time to go." She said softly, her tone much gentler.
"I'm sorry but, well, who are you?" He felt as he said it that somehow it was the wrong response, that this was person to met with love and joy, not confusion. He wished he would just remember already.
The woman's face fell. "He - he didn't tell you about me?" She asked, her voice little more than a whisper, and then her face hardened a little. "Of course he didn't tell you about me."
She glanced about the Great Hall, apparently deciding that it was not exactly the best place for this conversation. "We have a lot to talk about, then. Will you come with me for now, at least, just out to the lake? I'd rather not do this right here, if you don't mind." Her voice was still gentle.
"...Sure." Harry stood to follow her, sharing a look with Hermione and Ron.
"Be careful, mate." Ron murmured softly.
"If I'm not back in an hour, come looking." Harry murmured back.
Ron cracked an uncertain smile.
The woman had to have heard the whole exchange, but she didn't comment. She walked with Harry out of the Great Hall, and then led him down to the edge of the lake. They sat down on a rock together, and for a very long moment she just stared at him. Harry was sort of uncomfortable with that, but at the same time it felt almost right, like he had just found something that he had been missing for a very long time.
At last he said slowly, "So...I have a sister?"
The woman shook herself and held out her hand slowly. "Erasyl."
"I've never heard that name before." Harry said slowly, shaking her hand hesitantly.
"It was Mum's idea." Erasyl said quietly. "She read it in a book somewhere. You wouldn't remember." She added sadly. "You were only one."
Harry took a deep breath. "If you are my sister, where were you? Where were you that night - and where were you after? I needed you." His voice broke, and he choked on a sob.
Instantly his sister's arms were around him, and he was cradled against her. He buried his face in her neck, allowing her to comfort him. The gesture was oddly familiar.
Erasyl gently stroked his unruly hair. "You never could say my name." She whispered at long last. "You were too little, and you couldn't get your mouth to make the sounds. Dad tried to teach you to call me Sylly like he did. He said it fit, I was silly. You would always laugh and clap your hands, but you never called me that. You had your own name for me, and that was all you would ever call me."
"Ra." Harry whispered. He didn't even realize he had done it until she froze.
"You - you remember that?"
Harry shrugged. "I don't think so. Well, I don't know. It just seemed right. Like that's what your name really is."
She held him tighter. "Yes, that's what you called me. Ra."
She pulled away enough that she could see him. "You look like Daddy." She whispered. "But you have Mummy's eyes. You're like my exact opposite - except that we both inherited Dad's temperamental hair."
Harry sighed. "Everyone is always telling me "you're the spitting image of your father, Harry, but you have your mother's eyes". All the old ladies coo over me, and everyone thinks that my hair is too unruly and tries to get me to cut it or something - not that it ever works."
Erasyl laughed. "Oh I understand. Believe me. Dumbledore always says the same thing to me, about looking like Mummy and Daddy. And everyone wants me to tame my hair. I haven't even tried in years. Some things are just better left alone, I guess. I've often speculated that Uncle Pads put some sort of charm on me as a prank..." She trailed off.
"Uncle Pads?" Harry was intrigued.
"Never mind." She cut him off quickly. "I don't want to talk about him." There was anger in her voice, and Harry wondered if she knew that Sirius had not betrayed their parents like everyone had thought he did.
"You still haven't answered my question." Harry pointed out.
Erasyl nodded, her eyes misting. "Mummy and Daddy sent me away. They knew it wasn't safe. They sent me to America, to stay with some sort of very distant muggle relative of Mummy's. I'm not sure if they were actually related - I've always wondered exactly how Mum and Dad knew them. Anyway, that's not important. They wanted me to be safe, so they sent me away. But Dumbledore wouldn't let them take you out of the country - something about how moving you would alert Voldemort. They weren't about to leave you behind either, so I was sent away while they stayed to protect you."
She paused. "I remember saying goodbye. I was scared. Daddy was so serious, more than I think I ever saw him. Mummy was trying not to cry. You were crying, and kept saying 'Ra' over and over as they took me away. I ran back to you right before they were about to apparate - I don't remember who took me away, but I didn't like them much - and I pulled on Daddy's arm so that he would put you down. I gave you a kiss on your forehead and promised that I would be OK and so would you."
Harry rested his head on her shoulder.
"I didn't like it in America. The people were nice, I guess, but they weren't my family. I missed you. I cried myself to sleep at night, wishing that I was home. I remember the day that they told me..."
She paused again, and took a deep breath. "Dumbledore came, I remember that. He told me that Mummy and Daddy had gone away on a very long trip, and that I wouldn't see them again for a very long time until it was my turn to go on that trip. I was six, not stupid. I grew up in the middle of a war. I knew what he really meant. I cried and cried, and begged them to come back. I hit him, I remember that. I pounded on his chest like somehow that would bring them back. He picked me up - I think he was trying to comfort me, but it scared me. I screamed, and I think I did accidental magic. I was suddenly sitting on my bed with the door locked. The grownups couldn't unlock it, for some reason. Like I said, I think it was accidental magic. I lay on my bed and cried for hours, and then I just stopped."
Harry raised his head and looked at her questioningly. She gave him a sad half-grin.
"You just stopped?"
She nodded. "Of course. Mummy and Daddy were gone, and I knew they wouldn't come back. That meant that I needed to take care of you. I got up, unlocked the door, and marched out. The grownups had eventually left me to cry, and were all sitting in the living room talking. They all gaped at me, and I marched up to Dumbledore and demanded to be taken back to my little bear."
"Little bear?"
She didn't answer, but the arm around him tightened.
"He was dumbfounded. Eventually he figured out what I meant after I started yelling that little bear would be scared and want his Ra, and that nobody was going to keep me away. He carefully told me that little bear had gone with my parents on their long trip." She took another deep breath. "I don't remember anything very well after that. I think I was in shock. The next thing I remember is screaming at him for letting you die, and screaming that I would never forgive him. I remember that someone picked me up and held me so that I would calm down, but I didn't. I don't know who was holding me. It wasn't Dumbledore. I was doing magic again, I think. At least, Dumbledore couldn't seem to stay upright, and kept making sounds that made me think he was hurt. But I didn't care. I just kept screaming at him. Eventually someone put me to sleep I think. Dumbledore must have left then.
"When I woke up the next morning, I didn't scream anymore. I remember the people that I was staying with staring at me and whispering, something about how I was dangerous. I think they thought that if I could hurt Dumbledore, there was no telling what I might do to one of them. They put me in an orphanage. I didn't care. In the orphanage no one really cared about me, so no one watched me. I knew that I was magic, Mum and Dad didn't exactly hide their magic from me. I would sneak out all the time, and I figured out how to get into the American version of Diagon Alley. I practically grew up on the streets, and raised myself. I found schoolkids that were happy to teach me the magic they had learned in school - America is much more lax about underage magic, I don't think they even have the same kind of trace. It seems to only activate if the magic is performed in front of muggles. I learned everything that I could, because I had only one goal. I was going to kill Voldemort."
She sighed. "Of course, at the time, I had no idea who he was or what he could do. I did research as I got older and knew that I would have to work and learn for years before I could hope to challenge him. When I turned eleven, they sent me to school. I knew everything for the first couple years, and so while I did homework that I already knew the answers to I found older students that were willing to teach me what they were learning. My fifth year, I took both my O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, and left school. I traveled after that - all over. Canada, France, Spain, Russia, Bulgaria. I spent a lot of time in Russia and Bulgaria, and spent at least a year at each Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Of course, I was in disguise. I didn't want Voldemort to somehow know that I was alive and coming for him. No one knew who I was. I learned about how Uncle Pads-" She cut herself off. "So I didn't trust anyone. I remembered Uncle Moony, but I didn't think that anyone should know where I was."
Harry tried to interrupt to tell her that Sirius was innocent, but she would let him.
"Please let me finish, Harry. It's not easy for me, please just let me finish."
He nodded. Sirius could wait a minute.
"I was in Bulgaria last summer. I had gone back because a friend I made in school there put me in contact with a very powerful wizard who was willing to teach me some specialized wandless magic. I ran across a newspaper article about Krum and the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and it mentioned Harry Potter. There was a picture of all the champions, and I couldn't believe it when I saw you. I knew it was you - you or Daddy. And it was too young to be Daddy. I found that Krum kid, and he told me everything. Helped me a lot."
"If you knew I was alive then, why are you only here now?" Harry hoped that it hadn't sounded like he was whining, but it hurt to think that she had taken so long to get around to coming for him.
"Because I knew that Dumbledore would try to keep me away from you - if he lied to me to keep me away before, what would he do now? - and I wanted to be sure that there was no way he could even try to take you away from me. Like I said, I enlisted Krum's help. He got me in touch with people here, people who helped me go through all the legal processes to be sure that guardianship had transferred to me the moment I turned 17, and that Dumbledore couldn't legally get his claws in you. We finally finished jumping through all the hoops late last night, but I figured you wouldn't want me to come barging in and introduce myself at midnight. I got here as soon as I could this morning."
Harry nodded, his hurt soothed. She had been taking care of him, not abandoning him.
"You said you're going to take me away." He remembered.
She pursed her lips. "I want to. If you don't want to, I'm sure we can find an acceptable compromise. But I don't want you involved in this war - and I certainly don't want you near Dumbledore. Do you want to stay?"
"Sort of. I mean, not really. So much bad stuff has happened here. I love Hogwarts, but it's hard. It seems like everyone is always blaming me for something, and I'm always in some sort of trouble. Like the tournament. But - well, what about my friends?"
"Who are your friends? You don't have to stay in school with them to stay friends with them." She pointed out. "I'd never keep you away from them, unless they were trying to kill you or something."
"Well, Hermione routinely threatens to hurt Ron and I if we get into trouble..."
Erasyl laughed. "Who is this girl? I like her already."
Harry grinned. "Hermione Granger. One of my two best friends. The other is Ron Weasley. I've got other friends too - there's Neville Longbottom, and Ron's little sister Ginny. And the twins - Fred and George Weasley. And Luna Lovegood. She's a little bit odd, but really nice."
Erasyl smiled. "Good. I'm glad you have friends. You'll still be able to see them, of course, and you can write to them all you want."
"Where do you want to take me?"
"I was thinking we'd start out in France. It's close, so I can monitor the Voldemort situation, but it's removed and I've got friends there who'll help us find our footing. You can go to Beauxbatons for a little while, if you want. Contrary to popular belief, it's not a school for just girls. But more girls go than boys - a lot of the French send their kids to America for education - mostly so they'll learn English. Would that be alright? We don't have to stay in France - we can go just about anywhere in the world. We're filthy rich, you know. We could travel forever and barely scrape our funds. I've been working with the goblins for years, though I don't think Dumbledore knew, and they've been investing our money wisely. The fortune is growing all the time. What do you think?" She finished rather breathlessly.
Harry saw the aching want in her eyes, the desperate need to have her little brother with her and the terrible fear that he would reject her. He grinned. She wanted him. Nobody but Sirius ever wanted him. Well, Remus did too, but he was afraid Moony would hurt Harry. And his friends wanted him, but they weren't adults so it was different.
"I'd like that. But what about Sirius?" As soon as he said it, he realized that he had yet to explain his godfather's innocence.
Erasyl froze, and her eyes became deadly. "What about Sirius? I was under the impression that he was in Azkaban for murder."
"Um, yeah. About that." Harry said sheepishly. "That's what I was trying to tell you earlier. Sirius wasn't the secret keeper, Peter Pettigrew was. He's the one that betrayed Mum and Dad, and when Sirius went after him he framed Sirius. He cut off his own finger and hid in the gutters, and Sirius was blamed for the deaths of all those muggles." He looked up at his sister, hoping that she would believe him. "He's innocent, Ra. He escaped Azkaban as Padfoot, and came after Peter. Everyone thought he was after me, but he wasn't. Wormtail was hiding as Scabbers, Ron's pet rat. He got away in the end, but a lot of people saw him alive, and we've seen Sirius memories. He's even answered questions under Veratiserum, to satisfy Hermione. Protective as a mother bear, she is." He grumbled.
Erasyl was very quiet for a long time. "I guess Wormtail is on my hit-list, then." She said at last. "Uncle Wormy." She sighed. "He was always nice to us. He brought us presents, and used to let me ride on his shoulders. He wasn't as much fun as Uncle Pads, but then, no one was." She shook her head. "Still, it makes more sense, I think. I'm happier knowing it was Wormy than Pads. I loved Pads so much - it hurt so much when I was old enough to understand what had happened."
"So, can he come with us?" Harry asked. "And Remus? Or can we come and visit them all the time?"
"Family dinner on Sundays?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and snorting. "I don't know how it'll work, bear. We might have to actually consult the Uncles before deciding. But I won't keep you away from them, if that's what you're worried about."
Harry nodded. "Should I get my stuff, then? Are we leaving now? Can I slap Dumbledore too - like you did?"
Erasyl grinned. "I won't mind if you do, that's for sure. And sure - we can leave right away if you want. I certainly won't push for you to stay here longer."
Harry grinned back. "In that case, I'll get my stuff and then I have a "question" for Dumbledore before we go."
He had always looked up to and respected the older wizard, but that went out the window the moment he knew what Dumbledore had done to him and his family. Family was more precious to him than anything, because he'd never had one. Now that he did, nothing was going to take it away from him.
Ron and Hermione bid him goodbye sadly, but were much pacified when Erasyl promised to talk to their parents and see if the two could visit the siblings in France. She also promised that even if their parents said no, she would make sure that Harry saw them over the holidays. Harry said goodbye to Hagrid as well, after the big man stopped bawling about how big Erasyl had gotten and apologizing to her for not being able to keep Harry safe while he was at Hogwarts. When they were finally about to leave, dinner was just starting.
Erasyl grinned at her brother. "Still want to say goodbye to Dumbledore?"
He nodded. She marched up to the teachers' table again, Harry in tow. Dumbledore looked like he was about to argue and try to convince Harry to stay at Hogwarts, but he wasn't given the chance. Harry glanced at his sister, and then stepped up and glowered at the Headmaster.
"I used to admire you, Professor." He said angrily. "I thought that you were trying to protect me. I guess I was wrong. Good job - you tricked me. But you'll never trick me again." He glared. "You think you're so high and mighty, and know better than everybody else? You're just as bad as Voldemort! He took my parents away, and you took my sister. I hate you both!"
Erasyl put an arm around him, and glared at the Headmaster. "You don't own him anymore, Albus. I suggest you start figuring out how to defeat Voldemort. We won't be having anything further to do with the situation."
She pulled Harry back toward the doors. "And don't bother trying to track us! You won't find us!"
LINEBREAK
Harry tackled Erasyl, sending them both into the waves. She shrieked, and dragged Hermione down with her. Fred and George laughed, and eyed Ron, who backed away slowly. Ginny tackled him from behind, and they stumbled into the twins, sending the whole pile into the water. Erasyl extracted herself from the pile and dunked her brother again, then made her way back onto the beach.
She pulled a bottle of water from their cooler, smiling as she watched her brother roughhouse with his friends.
The situation in Britain had gone from bad to worse, and a number of Harry's schoolmates from Hogwarts and their families had taken refuge in France. There weren't very many light families left in Britain now. Dumbledore was still trying to fight Voldemort, but he was virtually alone. Even Snape had left him, after he figured out how to get rid of his Dark Mark. Beauxbatons had never had so many students.
Harry was beginning to grow at last, and shot up at least six inches the summer before his final year of school. Erasyl had worried that his treatment at the hands of the Dursleys had a lasting affect on his physical development, but it seemed to only delay his growth a bit. Once he started growing, he hadn't stopped. He was taller than her now.
As for the Dursleys, Dudley was doing pretty well. His parents, not so much. Erasyl Potter was rich, and money gave her power. She had slowly and carefully ruined them, before exposing the abuse of their nephew. Vernon and Petunia were in prison, and Dudley was in a foster home. His foster parents were wonderful people - she had picked them herself, magic and money were very helpful things! - and were helping him learn self control and better eating habits, among other things. He had lost a lot of weight, and looked less like his father every day. He and Harry even had a tentative relationship, not anything big, but they did exchange birthday and Christmas gifts and see each other every few months. She hoped that they could be friends in time, now that Dudley was done being a bully and Harry had mostly forgiven him.
Erasyl was pulled from her thoughts as she felt her feet suddenly leave the ground. She shrieked, and glared at the twins. They had begged her to teach them some of the skills she had learned on her travels, and she had agreed. Sometimes she regretted it.
They wandlessly and wordlessly levitated her over the water, and then dropped her in. She cast a quick bubblehead charm and swam towards them underwater, then reached out and grabbed each twin by an ankle. With a quick yank, they were yelling and falling.
She surfaced, and glanced at Harry. His head was thrown back, his eyes dancing, as he laughed. Erasyl smiled.
Mum, Dad, I know you would be proud of him, and love him as much as I do. Thanks for watching over us.