A/N: Hello everyone! I know, I know, another twin-who-lived story, but I really wanted to write my own piece. Besides, it depends on your reception whether I leave it at that or continue. =)

"Merlin's Beard, you're Charlus Potter!"

"No, I'm Harry; just Harry. I'm Charlus' twin brother. I don't have a scar."

"Oh, I didn't know he had a brother. Could you introduce me to him? Please?"

Harry James Potter was the twin brother of the boy-who-lived.

And sometimes he truly hated it.

"Your name is Harry, right? I'm Amanda. How is it like to be the brother of the boy-who-lived?"

"Are you kidding me Mandy? It must be bloody awesome! I'd love to be related to Charlus Potter! My name is Jason by the way."

It was like living in a shadow.

Harry truly felt like someone wrapped him into a dark blanket that tried to smother him.

"My big brother will be in the same year as Charlus! I'm so jealous. I want to have classes with him too! He must be a magical prodigy. He defeated You-know-who after all."

"I know right? He has to be powerful. I hope I can see him do magic one day."

"Yeah, that would be great. But doesn't he have a twin? Larry?"

"You mean Garry, idiot."

"Whatever. Do you think that he could be great at magic too?"

"Garry Potter? I'm not sure. I mean, never heard much of him. Can't be too special then, right? Besides, producing a child genius like Charlus must have had some consequences. The twin could be a squib for all we know; restoring the balance and all that stuff. However, he could have been lucky. Perhaps, he scraped a little bit of magical power himself. That would put him barely above a squib however..."

He felt unimportant next to him.

Once in a while he even felt unloved.

And he certainly felt invisible.

Things weren't always too bad for Harry Potter, though. He and his twin brother used to get along splendidly.

They would play with each other, prank their parents and fly together. Doing the usual things twins did. However, things started to change as they grew older.

The wizarding world decided to throw his brother a birthday party when they both turned seven and Charlus started to like the attention he got. Their mother, Lily, tried to keep the press at bay, but their father James was what you would call a limelight hog. The same went for their uncle Sirius, who was additionally a serial womanizer.

Well, the end of the story was that the Potters got pulled more and more into the spotlight, mainly Charlus of course and eventually Harry opted to stay at home. His mother arranged for his uncle Remus to watch over him and Harry used the time to get a head start for school. Remus was a great teacher and in four years Harry managed a lot of the future school material.

He studied the theory of Charms, Transfiguration and Potions. Sometimes he even got the chance to brew a potion with his mother, who was exceptionally good at the subject.

Aside from that he would practice the wand movements for Charms and Transfiguration while holding a normal stick, hoping that the actual spell casting would come easier to him because of it.

Subjects he really enjoyed though, were Astronomy (uncle Sirius gave him a detailed book series that belonged to his younger brother Regulus), Herbology (his mother allowed him to use her small herb garden), History of Magic, Care of Magical Creatures (even though it was mostly theory), Muggle Studies (as he found them somewhat fascinating), Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and well, mostly as joke, Divination.

If Harry Potter was anything then it was the complete opposite to his brother Charlus, who hated the thought of reading and studying but had to do it because their parents wanted to prepare him as much as they could.

Charlus aversion to learning drove their mother crazy sometimes, though.

She once asked her oldest son why he couldn't be more like Harry in that regard.

Charlus only response to that was Harry is a bloody bookworm and their mother left it at that.

Obviously she gave up.

Dad and uncle Sirius laughed it off and said that Charlus was a true Marauder and thus, a Gryffindor.

And Gryffindors don't need to work their butts off for anything.

They kick butt after all.

"Don't worry son. I'm sure Ravenclaw will welcome you with open arms."

"Yeah, how could they not? Your face is practically glued to books. Certainly takes care of a bookmarker."

"Charlus Sirius Potter! Apologize to your brother this instant!"

"B-but, mum!"

"Come on, Lily. No need to be so harsh."

"Sirius Black, you will keep out of this! These are my sons and I won't have them insulting each other. Merlin knows, naming Charlus after you was definitely a lapse of judgment."

"Lily, that's enough. We've got your point."

"Is that so James? Well, we will see. Charlus! Apologize. Now!"

"I'm sorry Harry."

He couldn't count the times his brother had to say those words due to their mother's insistence.

She probably hoped to deflate Charlus' ever increasing head, but the few humbling experiences weren't enough to achieve that.

The media attention, admiring peers and false friends, like Ronald Weasley, took care of that.

It was sad, but when they turned eight, Charlus catch phrase would be I am the boy-who-lived and some demand would follow subsequently.

At first their mother would get angry and protest, but when they reached the age of nine she just did or allowed whatever the little savior wanted.

She'd say that she did everything to prevent it and that it was a lost cause.

"Like father, like son."

That was her excuse for every bit of misbehavior his big brother showed from then on.

Dad and Sirius didn't mind of course. They never really grew up themselves and uncle Remus always said that he have up on them a long time ago.

Due to this Charlus did whatever he wanted and most of the time Ron, his so called best friend, would profit from it as well.

They mostly played Quidditch or convinced James to watch the professional games. Sometimes the Weasley twins would join and every now and again Harry. However, Ronald seemed to dislike him and that made it always a little uncomfortable.

Harry wasn't a fool, though. He suspected that Ron was afraid of his influence over Charlus. He was afraid that Harry could put Ron at odds with Charlus. And in order to prevent such a thing from happening he got there first.

Charlus and Harry were no longer on friendly terms.

They avoided each other most of the time and the strain on their relationship was palpable.

It worried their mother, but James calmed her down quickly.

"It's just a phase, Lily. They will patch things up again in no time. They are twins…"

But they didn't make up at all.

Harry James Potter was now eleven years old and awaiting his first Hogwarts letter.

His best friend should have been his twin brother Charlus.

But at this moment Harry Potter was as friendless as ever.