Chapter 1: The Forgotten Child

After that night everyone in the wizarding world celebrated young Daniel Potter as the hero and savior of the world. His parents soon became swept up in the publicity and fame this brought, lavishing gifts on young Daniel. Few people knew that the Boy-Who-Lived had an older twin brother, and even fewer knew of the poor conditions in which his brother lived, not physically since Potter Family was very rich, but emotionally as we are about to see.

While young Daniel Potter received all his parents attention and was always center of the spotlight, the true savior of the wizarding world was pushed to the back and slowly lost all the love his parents had, not deliberately of course, they just didn't seem to have the time for him. Harry Potter lived in the smallest room of his families home, Potter Manor, which contained several bedrooms. One for his parents, one for Daniel, a playroom (more like a room for Daniel to play with his toys), and finally the last one for Harry.

Harry didn't mind the small room though. He had a bed, a desk, three chairs, and a bookcase. Though the objects on the bookcase were unusual. Instead of the small picture books most would expect a five year old boy to have, Harry had reference books and several textbooks on magic. He was given an allowance of 5 sickles every two weeks. He used this money whenever his family went to Diagon Alley to buy advanced books from Flourish and Blotts.

His parents never noticed his little trips to the bookshop since they were too busy trying to keep reporters and fans away from Daniel. Harry had already bought and read all the books most first and second year Hogwarts students would need. In an attempt to gain some attention from his parents he had begun studying Ancient Runes and Charms, the areas his mother worked in at the Department of Mysteries.

In the time his spoilt brother played with his ever increasing pile of toys and friends, Harry kept reading and exploring the nearby woods. His mother told them that the woods were dangerous and kept Daniel away, she never noticed Harry slipping into it every morning, only to return for lunch and then go back again. Returning late in the evening, he would dive into his books.

The years continued to pass, and as they went so did the love and affection Harry had received before the attack. Each year his stack of presents at his birthday or Christmas would get progressively smaller until finally by the Christmas when he was seven he only received two presents. A box of chocolate frogs from his parents, and a small picture book about a train from his godfather Sirius.

Neither Lily nor James had noticed the heartbroken look Harry had as he left the room. They were too busy excitedly watching Daniel's reactions to the small mountain of presents he had received. If one were to look and compare the life of Daniel Potter and Dudley Dursely a person would find them with very similar personalities, though Daniel had somehow managed to remain healthily skinny.

You are probably thinking to yourself, surely something must happen to make young Harry's life better. I wish I could tell you that someone came and took poor Harry away to live a happy life where he was loved and cared for. Unfortunately that didn't happen, nor would it ever happen.

I can tell you though that something good would appear in Harry's life, and small things would begin changing. And slowly, ever so slowly, Harry would begin finding the love he would need to overcome the obstacles ahead. But I'm getting ahead of myself, first you must find out how that good thing appeared in Harry's life.

For Harry and Daniel's eight birthday, Lily and James decided to throw a party. It was more of an extravaganza and if either had asked Harry he would have compared it to the grand party of Bilbo Baggins 111th birthday. Neither asked though. In fact Harry's name wasn't even mentioned on the invitation. So on the day of the party everyone showed up each with precisely one present, for Daniel.

Even the cake only said 'Happy Birthday Daniel!' with a large number eight candle at the top. So no one, except Sirius, noticed that Harry Potter wasn't at the party. Harry was in fact locked away in his room studying the delicate art of Arthimancy, trying to keep his mind off the party and the fun people seemed to be having down there. He had nearly mastered the subject and couldn't wait to begin creating his own spells. Nope, we didn't have to wait until he was 11 to get a wand to do that, we just waited to complete the book and find himself a quiet spot in the woods.

For you see, Harry had found at the tender age of 6 that he was a natural at wand-less magic, something even expert witches and wizards took years to get good at. Since then he had mastered every spell mentioned in The Standard Book of Spells Grade One, Two, Three and he was halfway through four. He never found a need to use most of the spells, and no one had ever noticed it (not that his parents would've noticed even if he did use them).

It around three PM when Harry found himself slightly thirsty and made his way down to the kitchen. Everyone was out back in the yard for the party, and Harry caught a brief glimpse of his brother and several other boys playing Quidditch, the only (popular) sport in the wizarding world. Harry had never found any attraction to the it, even though thanks to a small amount of curiosity he had found he was a unnaturally good on the broom.

It pained Harry to see that about every family he knew gathered outside for his brother, but probably didn't know he existed. Shrugging, he turned back towards his room. However, on his way he was sure heard muffled crying coming from Daniel's toy room.

It would be a good time now to briefly describe Harry's character. For even though he had been raised ignored and practically unloved, he was a kind and friendly person. You would be hard pushed to find another person with the kindness and compassion Harry had. Therefore, checking out the source of someone crying seemed natural to Harry.

Upon opening the door Harry found himself in a large room piled high with toys and all sorts of odd playthings. In a chair looking out the window was a small red haired girl. Upon closer inspection, Harry found out her hair wasn't really red, it was more of a fiery orange. The girl was crying quietly to herself, hiccuping every once in a while as her eyes moved along something outside the window.

Harry quietly approached the girl, but made sure to quietly move several objects out of his way making just enough noise to let the girl know he was there. He didn't want to scare her after all. Finally he reached the girls side and was able to see that she was watching the Quidditch match outside, and by the way her head was moving back and forth she was following his brother's movements.

She was still crying however so Harry stuck out a hand and gently laid it on her shoulder. The girl turned to look at him for the first time, and Harry's piercing emerald green eyes met the deepest most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen. When she met his eyes the girl gasped quietly and stopped crying almost immediately. Harry smiled shyly at her and then pulled up another chair next to her. He sat down and they both continued watching the Quidditch match in silence for several minutes. Finally the girl broke the silence.

"Who are you?", she asked his softly. Harry glanced at her and smiled sadly.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter. I'm Daniel's twin brother", he said, not surprised that she didn't know who he was

The girl who he figured couldn't be more than a year or two younger than him gasped and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"B-But no one ever mentioned he had a twin brother! And whenever mum or dad told me the story about the boy-who-lived they never mentioned you!" Harry's sad smile stayed fixed on his face. He hated letting people know about his personal life but for some reason he felt drawn to this girl.

"I'm one of those smaller details a lot of people leave out." This only seemed to anger the girl as she became a deep shade of red which Harry noted made her look very cute.

"But your name isn't even on the cake!" Harry's face became very neutral as he shrugged and looked back out the window. A few silent minutes later Harry whispered quietly.

"Sometimes my parents are those people who forget the small details." A tear silently tracked its way down Harry's face, it was on the side not facing the now shocked and horrified girl.

The girl followed Harry's line of sight and found his gaze fixed on the red head of his mother who was sitting with another group of women talking happily. Not knowing what else to do and coming from a large family herself the girl got up and pulled Harry into the strongest most heartfelt hug she could. Harry seemed a little shocked at first but after a few seconds returned the hug. Once they'd finally broken apart Harry turned back to the girl.

"I never even asked your name", Harry said. The girl smiled and stuck out her hand.

"Ginny Weasley." Harry excepted her hand and shook it lightly. They both began looking out the window again and after another few minutes of comfortable silence Harry asked nonchalantly.

"So why were you crying?" Ginny sighed, she knew this had been coming but after listening to his story, she felt stupid for crying over something that trivial.

"It's stupid it was nothing."

"I don't think 'nothing' could make you cry, tell me", Harry asked sincerely. Ginny rolled her eyes before finally answering.

"I wanted to go fly with them, but my brothers said that I didn't know how to fly. I actually worked very hard to get good at flying, but before I could say that I knew how to fly, Daniel said I couldn't join in cause' "...girls have cooties and everyone knows girls can't fly as well as boys". Whats worse was that all my usually overprotective brothers, agreed with him. The one time I needed their support, they sided against me."

Harry looked at her carefully, for some unknown reason he had a sudden urge to punch his brother, he could be a real git sometimes. And then he remembered how Ginny had been watching Daniel fly.

"You like him." It wasn't a question and Ginny knew it. Instead of the response he had expected though, Ginny shook her head violently.

"Not anymore. I think I liked the idea of him. All his stories showed him to be this perfect person everyone loved. In reality he's just an arrogant stupid boy." Harry took on a look of mock hurt.

"I'm a boy too you know." Ginny laughed lightly and smiled brilliantly at him.

"Yes but you're nothing like him. You're kind and compassionate and everything I thought he'd be." She blushed and quickly looked away. Trying to move away from the subject that was obviously embarrassing her. Harry took the hint and changed the subject.

"So you said you're good at flying, but how?" Ginny turned back around excitedly, leaning close, realizing she was about to tell him a secret, Harry leaned in too.

"I kind of sneak out when they're asleep and use their brooms. I've been practicing the whole of last year, but I feel like it's too easy sometimes" Harry smiled and looked out at the people on brooms again.

"It's like the broom is restricting you and you know you could do it so much better if you didn't need the broom." Harry chimed in.

Ginny smiled and nodded her head excitedly as if that was exactly what she thought.

"That's why I want to try and become a bird Animagus when I'm older", he continued. Ginny stopped nodding and looked at him in confusion.

"What's an an-ani-Animagus?" Harry smiled remembering that that knowledge was third year stuff.

"It's a person who can change into an animal and remain in full control of their body. It's supposed to be really difficult and take a long time to do. But if it lets me fly without a broom, I think it might be worth it." Ginny's face had turned from one of confusion to one of awe.

"I think I'd like to do that too someday."

"Oh and Harry, did you get any presents today?" She asked him, quite seriously.

"Um... no, not really, I'm sure I'll get 1 from my god-father though", Harry said, his eyes moistening, quietly hoping that at least Sirius didn't forget about him.

"Harry...", Ginny's voice trailed off, not sure what to say. For her birthdays were very special. On that day, she was treated like a princess. It was the day her family made her know she was loved. But she knew that birthdays were probably the worst days of Harry's life.

"I promise that I'll never forget your birthdays, and spend the whole day with you!", Ginny said, not knowing where this sincerity was coming from.

Harry smiled, and this time he found tears forming for a completely different reason, he had a friend.

Harry and Ginny remained in the toy room for the rest of the evening talking about whatever came to their minds, or simply sitting in comfortable silence watching the party going on below them. Finally around eight PM that night Mrs. Weasley's loud voice echoed from down stairs calling her daughter. Ginny latched onto Harry's hand and pulled him down the stairs.

They found Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen with Lily both smiling and talking happily. When Ginny appeared with Harry, Lily looked slightly surprised, and Molly looked curiously at the boy who was like a smaller version of James.

"Who's this Ginny-dear?" Ginny smiled broadly at her mother and pulled Harry forward.

"This is Harry, Daniel's brother. We've been upstairs talking all day." Molly shook the hand Harry offered and smiled kindly at him.

"I didn't see you at the party Harry, were you there or did I just miss you?"

"Oh no, I was upstairs reading and lost track of time. I didn't realize that the party had started until I came down for a drink and found Ginny looking for a glass." Molly laughed while Ginny smiled gratefully at him from behind her mother.

"Just like my Percy, so what book had you so enthralled that you missed the start of the party?" Harry noticed his mothers attention for once solely focused on him, he was positive she didn't even know he liked to read.

"Of Mice and Men it's a really good book." Harry took a proud glee in the shocked look on his mothers face.

In the wizarding world Of Mice and Men would be assumed to be a children's book. However Lily being a muggle recognized it as a famous piece of literature that most teenagers couldn't comprehend. To hear that her eight year old son had been joyfully reading it caught her attention. Molly nodded kindly pretending as if she'd heard of if before. Then turned back to her daughter.

"Well Ginny we really must be going it's getting late."

"Mum, can I come back and play with Harry another day, please?" She pulled her best set of puppy dog eyes on her mother who turned and looked at Lily.

"Well, I don't see any harm in it, after all Ronald is coming over to play with Daniel next week, why don't I just send Ginny over as well." Harry turned to his mother with a mix of hope and fear of rejection on his face. Lily nodded her consent and a large ecstatic smile broke across Harry's face. Lily was shocked and said that she had never seen Harry this happy.

Ginny squealed with joy and hugged Harry tightly, which he awkwardly returned under his mothers curious eyes. After that Molly and Ginny left out into the backyard to gather the rest of her siblings, they would be taking a portkey home. As they left through the back door Sirius came in, he had a wrapped gift under one arm.

"Harry!" Harry smiled at his godfather, although the man spent more time with Daniel he did at least try to spend some time with Harry. He was his father's best friend and seeing that he broke apart from him and made time for Harry made him really happy.

"Hi Sirius." Harry hugged his godfather who laughed joyfully.

"How many times do I have to tell you pup, call me Padfoot. Now where were you, I didn't see you all day and I've been meaning to give you your present." Before Harry could say anything Lily spoke up from behind him.

"He was making a friend and I think he was being a very nice young man after his brother had shown just how much like his father he truly is." Harry turned and looked at his mother in total shock, wondering if she actually noticed him today. She smiled knowingly at his look. "I saw what your brother said to her and I told him to apologize to her, apparently he didn't listen to me if you'll excuse me I have to go talk to him."

Lily left the kitchen without another word to Harry. Sirius looked back and forth between Lily's retreating back and Harry's shocked look before pushing his present under Harry's nose. It was then that Harry realized his parents had never given him a present. He glumly took the present and unwrapped it. Harry knew it was book, Sirius only gave him books. It was the only thing Sirius knew he liked. However Sirius didn't realize that Harry was reading at the same level as a normal fourteen year old, therefore all his books were short with lots of pictures. Still every book Sirius had ever given him had a special place on his small bookshelf.

Harry smiled down at the full collection of The Chronicles of Narnia in a box set. Although he had read them 2 years ago, Harry still appreciated the fact that his god father was at least trying. Sirius must have interpreted his sad smile as something different because he suddenly became very tense.

"Uh, listen Harry I know it isn't much, especially compared to all the other stuff you must have gotten today, but if you want something else I'll get it." Harry's head shot up in surprise, Sirius thought he had gotten presents today? Standing up Harry hugged his godfather tightly.

"I love it Siri...Padfoot! It's the best present I've gotten all day." He didn't want to mention that it was the only present he had gotten that day. He didn't want to start any arguments between Sirius and his parents. Harry smiled at his godfather as he excused himself and returned to his room.

Later that night just as Harry was getting ready for bed there was a knock at his door. Harry was stunned, no one ever came into his room. His mother left all his clean laundry outside the door for him and everyone else yelled when they needed him. Cautiously Harry opened the door to find his mother standing nervously on the other side.

"Hello Harry. May I come in?" Harry looked at her cautiously but after a few seconds opened the door wider and let her into the room. He offered his mother the chair at his desk while he sat on his bed.

Mother and Son stared at each other silently for a few seconds before Lily finally broke the silence.

"That's a lot of books you have." She gestured towards the large piles of books on and around his small bookshelf which had run out of room long ago.

"Yea, I've been meaning to ask for a bigger bookshelf," Harry said in a matter of fact kind of way.

His mother glanced at the books on the shelves and only saw the picture books Sirius had given him, completely missing all the advanced books his son had.

"We'll see what we can do. I came to give you your birthday gift", Lily said finnaly.

Harry was genuinely surprised his mother remembered and looked around for a gift she might have brought in.

"Your father and I weren't sure what you wanted for your birthday so we got you some galleons. We're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow and I'll take you somewhere to buy what you want." She pulled five galleons out of her pocket and handed them to Harry.

"Thanks mum." Lily didn't miss the disappointed note in her sons voice or the defeated smile on his face. Not knowing what else to say she got up and made for the door.

"Happy Birthday Harry, I'll see you in the morning." Harry waved goodbye to his mother and he closed the door behind him.

That night was one of the many nights Harry Potter cried himself to sleep, alone.

Author's Note:

Well, there you go, another chapter all done. Honestly though, I didn't feel like I did a whole lot of work on it though. Numbers wise, I changed/added about 600 words, which isn't at all much. I kinda feel guilty for (ahem) stealing Ryder's story. That put aside, when I read this chapter (in the original) for the first time, I almost cried. I know Harry's position is much better compared to what it was with the Dursleys, but then if you remember, all Harry wanted in the novels was to have a family. A place where he was loved and always welcome. A loving mother and a supportive father. In the novels, his parents were dead and couldn't give him the love he wanted, but here, he still didn't get them. I felt really sad.

That aside, another chapter done. Read, Review and enjoy!

Peace~

P.S I'm looking for a beta reader.