Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: Thank you for reading! It was hard for me to think like a five year old so they might seem older sometimes. I hope it's not too weird! Criticism is very welcome!


Chapter 1

"Harry, Harry, wake up! Mom, he's doing it again!" The familiar voice together with someone shaking him woke him up. His heart was beating like crazy, he was covered in sweat and tears were streaming down his face. Over him stood his sister looking relieved; she smiled at him and wiped the tears from his face just as their parents hurried into the room. "Are you okay? What happened?" their mum frantically asked. Harry got himself together enough so he could answer but Hermione was faster than him. "He had another one of his nightmares. I woke up from him screaming and saw that he was throwing himself around in his bed so I tried to wake him and called you. Are you okay, Harry?" He nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. And they aren't so much nightmares as in different ones because it is always the same one. I hear a woman scream and a green light flashes and then there's this awful mean laugh that doesn't even sound completely human and I just feel like something really horrible is happening and like nothing is ever going to be okay again.", Harry explained his voice trailing off at those last words. He just couldn't shake the feeling of sheer terror that seemed to fill his bones. When he looked up in hope off a hug he couldn't help but notice his parents sharing a knowing glance before Hermione, knowing him so well, wrapped her arms around him. "I will never let anything happen to you. You're my little brother and my best friend and you're safe with me." She smiled at him reassuringly and he hesitantly smiled backed. It didn't happen often that Hermione played the big sister card for most of the time they acted more like best friends than siblings. She had even refused to start primary school two weeks before her fifth birthday last year because they had wanted to go to school together. "Do you think you can go back to sleep?" dad asked sympathetically while mum looked at them with an encouraging smile. He nodded. His heartbeat had slowed to a normal pace again and his sister's words had dispelled the feeling of terror. They were a team and together they could manage everything. "Alright. We'll talk about it more in the morning." Mom gave each of them a kiss on the forehead before tucking Harry in. Dad lifted Hermione up and carried her over to her own bed, "Good night and sweet dreams" and they closed the door behind them.

The next morning Harry woke up well-rested, the night's horrors banished from his thoughts by a deep dreamless slumber and the bright morning sun shining through the window. After putting on his glasses he saw that his sister had already gotten up as usual. She was such a morning person unlike him who usually slept almost until noon if no one woke him up. Stretching his arms he yawned and got up.

20 minutes later Harry sat at the dining table eating some cereal while looking through one of their new schoolbooks with Hermione. "I can't wait to start school next week and learn all this stuff!" she said joyfully. He nodded heavily. "I can't wait to really learn to read! I mean I can make out easy stuff just like you but really read! All those books in dad's library about just everything! Do you think we can read all the books in there before secondary school?" Although they both were unusually smart for their young age they still were five years old and mere children. "If we try really hard I bet we can!" Hermione enthusiastically took up the challenge. It never occurred to her that some of their father's books might be too hard for primary school students to understand; after all they were Hermione and Harry! They had been the first to count to ten in kindergarten!

Before they could continue fantasizing about school their parents stepped into the room and joined them at the table. Their serious faces immediately gave them their children's full attention. "Harry, we think it is time for us to tell you something very important. We didn't tell you before because we thought it would be too hard for you to understand or simply too much but since you're having your nightmare more frequently we decided to tell you now."

"If you mean that I am adopted we figured that out months ago... I mean I don't look the least bit like anyone in our family."

They both looked shocked. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well it's not like I ever felt less like a part of our family because of it. And I just figured they didn't want me anymore so why should I want them?"

The last part came out in a sullen tone that contradicted his words. At this mum's eyes swelled up in tears. "Oh Harry, how could you ever believe that? No, your parents loved you very much. They didn't just give you away because they didn't want you! How do I start this now?" She looked at her husband at a loss for words. He frowned for a moment, thinking, and then he spoke. "We better start at the beginning. It all started with your parents being witch and wizard"

Sometime later Harry's thoughts raced through his head. His parents were dead. So they didn't not want him after all! But they had been killed by an evil wizard who failed to kill him. A wizard! His parents had been magical. Did that make him a wizard too? And then something occurred to him. "But with all this how did I end up with you? You're not magical, are you?" Mom shook her head. "No, we are what wizards call Muggles, non-magical people. After you're parents died we were approached by a woman who introduced herself as deputy headmistress of Britain's only school for magic. You have to know that we weren't able to have a second child but desperately wished for one. She told us about magic and the wizarding world and that, well..." When her words failed her, dad jumped in. "She told us that you, Hermione, were what she called a 'muggleborn'. A witch with non-magical parents. They thou..."

"I'm supposed to be a witch?" Hermione suddenly called out.

"Yes, you are a witch. We couldn't believe her either but she explained that there was a Ministry for Magic and they had every child on registry that had ever performed any magic. You were on that registry because you, being two years old, had unknowingly performed a levitation charm seemingly to get your favourite toy from a high shelf."

Their mother continued explaining, "They thought that it would be best for Harry to grow up away from the wizarding world because he is famous there for surviving the killing curse and being the reason for the evil wizard's defeat. We had already thought about adopting another child but when they told us about Hermione being a witch we thought that it would be best if her sibling was magical, too."

"So I am a wizard!" Harry shouted out at that. He and Hermione looked at each other.

"Magic! Can you believe it?"

"I'm not sure. I always thought magic only existed in stories but it somehow feels true, doesn't it?"

"I know what you mean. It's like I knew it before but had just forgotten!"

Harry turned back to his parents – well adoptive-parents but he hadn't started thinking about them that way when he and Hermione had first figured out that he was adopted and he surely wouldn't start now.

"But didn't I have any other relatives? Like grandparents?"

"Well..."dad started out hesitantly, "you're mother had a sister, but she and her husband hated magic and wouldn't take you in."

Hermione suddenly spoke up: "Well I think it was all the better for it. They probably would have been awful to Harry, making him sleep in a cupboard or something! And if they had taken him in we would have never met him!"

She turned to her brother who looked very small and sad. "Don't ever feel bad about them!" He gave her a weak smile. "I don't, it's just that, well, I would have liked to know some things about my birth parents. What kind of people they were and everything. Do you think we could write my aunt and ask her to answer a few questions about them?" The last question had been directed at his father who immediately got up from the table.

"I will look up her name right now!" He had already moved away when he turned back around and engulfed both his children in a tight hug. "We love you both very much. No matter if adopted or not, magical or not. You will always be our children and you could never disappoint us!"

Three days later, on Wednesday afternoon, a large parcel arrived at the Granger house on the outskirts of London. Mrs Granger had just come home from work and immediately called Harry into the kitchen upon reading the return address:

Mrs Petunia Dursley

4, Privet Drive

Little Whining, Surrey

She instantly opened the packet to find a letter on top addressed to her:

Dear Mrs Granger,

I did not mind your request for some details about Harry's parents for I have long felt guilty about not taking the boy in. My husband has always been very adamant about ignoring the very existence of magic and I mostly agreed with him. I regret to inform you though that I know very little about Harry's father but will happily write everything I know. As far as my sister goes I never saw her after she moved out of our parents house but I found some old belongings of her in our storage and enclosed them in this package. I hope they will give you some answers I can't provide.

Before I start writing down everything I know I want to thank you and your family for adopting Harry and giving him a loving home. I very much enjoyed your letter and will sleep lighter now because my guilt has lessened eminently knowing that he had a better childhood with you than he would ever have had with us.

Harry's birth name was Harry James Potter after his father James Potter. I think I remember my sister mentioning that his family was very old and reputable in their world.

Her name was Lilly Evans, later Potter. She was a kind soul and never said a bad word to me about being mean to her. When we found out that she was a witch our parents were very proud and accepting but I was jealous of her. She went off to Wizarding School and we hardly talked from that time on. She and James met at school and got married shortly after they graduated.

I am sorry for knowing so little.

Yours sincerely,

Petunia Dursley

Harry came running into the kitchen the moment she finished the letter. "Hey mom, what is it?" Hermione – of course – followed close behind. Those two were literally inseparable.

"This parcel is from your aunt. She says your original name was Harry James Potter after your father James Potter. Your mother's name was Lilly Potter, born Evans, and they met in school. She didn't remember much more because she and her sister weren't close but she sent you some of your mother's belongings she found." The kids stepped forward curiously and finished opening the parcel. They looked at each other for a moment then started unpacking it.