I do not own Harry Potter.
This chapter is beta read by WyrdFyre.
CHAPTER TWO : KIDNAPPED?
It was 31st of July, his Birthday. Harry had been in the orphanage for three days, waiting for his parents. The Matron of the orphanage had explained to Harry that he should wait for his parents in St George orphanage and if they didn't come and get him, he would be living there, but Harry wanted to go home.
It was Midnight, 1:00 am probably, when Harry awoke to the sound of footsteps from the corridor in the night's silence. They were coming towards his room. His room was dimly lit with a lamp in the corner. Footsteps stopped at his door. From the large gap beneath the door, he was able to see the black boots of a man and his shadow, as the corridor outside was lit. The door to his room opened, Harry was sure he had locked it before going to sleep. A man wearing a black cloak came in, his hood pulled up. Through the shadow of his dark cloak, his face was hard to see but his eyes sparkled in the dim light, malice shining in them. Then, he grinned showing his gleaming white teeth. It was a sight enough to give you heart attack. Harry wanted to scream for help, but no sound came out. His throat dried. His heart raced. His palms were sweating. It was like his nightmares had awoken in the real world. He often had dreadful dreams of a man wearing black cloak pointing his wand and then green light. But this, this was real. He backed into the corner away from the man and finally found his voice as he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Heeeeelllllp, Somebody, Hel..." the man panicked and came rushing at him, clamping his hand over his mouth. Harry tried to bite man's hand, he started beating his hands and legs to get away. He heard footsteps from people on the opposite side of his door. The man whispered in his ear,
"Magic's home," A port-key was activated. However as soon as they arrived, Harry fainted, due to the lack of oxygen.
When Harry woke up, it was morning. He was in a really comfy bed, it reminded him of home. He looked around but the room was not like anything that could be seen within Potter manor. It was way bigger than his room back home. The walls were royal blue and white, the ceiling was higher than the ceiling of his room back home, with a chandelier hanging in the middle. There was a wardrobe, chairs, couches and a table within the room.It certainly looked luxurious.
As Harry was surveying the room, the door to his left opened and a woman walked in. She was wearing robes so she must be a witch, he thought. She looked to be in her thirties, with black hair, pearly white glowing skin and blue eyes. She was beautiful, smiling down at him. She didn't seem dangerous, and he didn't sense that she wanted to hurt him. She sat on the bedside chair.
"Hello child, how are you feeling?" She asked.
"Fine," Harry answered.
"Well, I know you must have so many questions, but first let me introduce myself. I am Perenelle Flamel. What is your name child?" She asked Harry.
Answering it was easy. But only if you weren't brother to The-Boy-Who-Lived. Should he tell his kidnappers his real name or not. That was the real question. If they found out that he was brother to The-Boy-Who-Lived, there were two possibilities. One they could take him to his parents which was a good thing, or maybe not, Harry didn't want to find out if he had been lost or abandoned. He snorted. Most likely abandoned. He tried to tell himself that he didn't care, but it still hurt. It hurt that his parents hadn't come back. He wasn't as good as Danny. The second thing to consider was that if they were Death Eaters or bad people they would most likely kill him or use him against his family.
Perenelle was amused to see the indecision, as Harry tried to decide whether to tell her his name or not. He looked very cute when he tilted his head, scrunching his nose in concentration. Finally, he gave a nod, likely to have reached a decision. He looked at her, it was the first time she had looked into his eyes, they were emerald, the greenest and most beautiful eyes she had seen in her 665 years of life. He had straight nose and full red lips. His hair was unruly black, but they looked good on him. He was too adorable.
"Harry, Harry Potter, mam." He answered.
Perenelle hadn't heard that Daniel Potter had a brother. Before she could ask however Harry answered.
"Yes, I am twin brother of Danny Potter," Perenelle was now confused, why was brother of The-Boy-Who-Lived in a muggle orphanage?
"Why did you kidnap me? Are you going to take me home? I was lost in the muggle London three days ago and they placed me in the muggle orphanage. They said my parents would come looking for me. Did they send you. Are you going to take me home?" Harry asked.
Perenelle was highly amused at the boy, now known as Harry, for talking fast without pausing.
"We didn't kidnap you." Perenelle answered calmly , maybe they did, she thought, but she decided not to tell Harry that. "Well, I shall tell Nicolas, my husband, about circumstances around you being in the orphanage." She explained.
"Nicolas was the one to bring you here. He acted foolishly last night and is very ashamed and upset with himself. He must have frightened you half to death, but you must forgive Nicolas. He really doesn't know how to act around children and he was worried sick when you fainted. I am going to have him water my gardens for a month as a punishment. He really hates doing so" She told him. "and as an apology you can ask him for chocolates and candies, it would be a real shame to let such good blackmail material go to waste." At that Harry smiled, and it truly was a beautiful smile. It truly warmed her heart seeing Harry was not afraid of them and after the foolishness of Nicolas last night. However she knew that he had no idea how to act around children. In their life of six centuries he had never been around children. She never could have any. Adoption was out of question, it was too risky, and she wasn't ready to see her children die while she lived on. So, it was better this way, they needed to complete their tasks in this world before starting next adventure. But when she looked at Harry... no, situation was different than they first thought, she needed to talk to Nicolas.
"Harry dear, please take bath, the bathroom is that way." She said pointing to the door across him. "If you need anything call for Tinku, he will help you. I've bought some clothes for you, I hope you'll like them." She said standing. Spinning around she strode over to the door. "I will return in half hour with breakfast. Be ready by then, OK dear?" without getting an answer she walked out and closed the door behind her.
As Perenelle went away, Harry thought about his family, if they were aware that he wasn't with them. He snorted, they were probably celebrating his twin's birthday. That was more likely. They had never wanted him. Harry knew his father was ashamed of him, he wasn't like Danny. He wasn't powerful or The-Boy- Who-Lived. He was just Harry. A lone tear slid down his cheek. He used to cry every night when his parents didn't celebrate his birthdays or when they genuinely forgot that they had another son. Harry had stopped crying long time ago, but it still hurt. It hurt so much.
Harry shook himself out of those thoughts and went to bathroom. It was gigantic. The bathtub was the size of small swimming pool, a shower on one side. Then there was a toilet at the other end. There was a big mirror and a sink on his left. He did his morning routine. After he had showered, he wrapped himself in a warm towel and exited the bathroom, there was a pile of clothes on the bed. Must be the house elves, he thought. There was a long sleeved white cotton shirt with frills on the front. He pulled it on, continuing to put on the rest of the clothes which consisted of a pair of leather breaches and shoes. He admired himself in the mirror. His hair was as unruly as always as he attempted to fix it in vain. Letting go of lost battle, he looked to his clothes. They looked good on him. They were new too! His parents had never bought him any as Harry always wore Danny's old clothes.
As curious as he was, Harry went over to the balcony, which was more of a big window. He must have been on the first floor, he thought. There were lots of flowers he could see in the garden below. Red, pink, blue and yellow. The garden stretched for a long distance. It was massive. That must be why Mr. Flamel hated to water it, because even with the help of magic, it looked daunting. He felt almost sorry for the man (almost because he had really freaked him out last night). He could have knocked, explained things better. But no, he had to glide in like a bloody dementor. Knocking would be too normal.
Harry sat in the one of the chairs near the window looking at the gardens. He would really like to see the flowers from up close. At that moment there was a knock on the door and Perennel walked in carrying a tray full of food. She placed it in front of him on the table and sat in the chair next to his.
"I made some bacon, sausages and eggs for you dear, as well as cookies, I forgot to ask you what you liked." She told Harry.
It was very overwhelming for Harry. She had made this for him. If it was his brother, he would have understood. But why him? He was just Harry.
"Thank you, thank you so much, mam, for clothes and food. You really need not have bothered. Really, thank you." He told her.
Perenelle just smiled and told him,
"Harry dear, I really wanted to, and please call me Perenelle." He nodded. "Eat and tell me how it tastes."
Harry nodded once more and started to eat. He was ravenous. The food at orphanage was neither as good nor as much as what she'd given him. It was heavenly.
When Harry was finished Pernelle asked, if he wanted to see her gardens and he nodded eagerly. She led him to the garden, through the long corridor, down the stairs and to the hallway. It was really a big house, larger than the Potter manor. The corridors were lined with various moving portraits and artefacts. There was a big twin staircase joining in the middle, leading to them. The area that they were in was spacious with furniture of black polished wood. There was a double door that lead to outside. They walked out, Perenelle enthusiastically started showing the gardens, it was more beautiful from up close. He wondered how many species of flowers were there.
Perenelle herself always felt proud of her gardens, she had collected a variety of species including flowers and a range of magical plants which were in the greenhouses.
Harry watched the flowers with so much in wonder. There was a smile on his face, which she took as a complement for her unappreciated work as very few people were invited to their Palace. He should smile more, Perenelle thought.
She took him to the swing in the garden and they sat there. Harry continuously talked, asking about flowers and she told him all about them. To her surprise he knew about many of them, mostly magical flowers.
"So, Harry, tell me about yourself." Perenelle asked. Harry frowned. He was confused but answered anyway.
"I'm Harry, just Harry".
Perenelle chuckled at his response, and clarified:
"Harry dear, tell me what you like to eat, your hobbies."
He again scrunched his nose, brow furrowing, Perenelle was looking at him expectantly, amused beyond belief.
"I like chocolate cookies and chocolate blueberry vanilla ice cream." Harry told her, "Granma Evy used to make them, but now she doesn't, she went to God's home, where Granpa was. She didn't even take me with her. She forgot about me." He sighed sadly.
Perenelle frowned at the last sentence, but put it in the back of her mind, hugging Harry.
"I'll make you chocolate cookies today, how's that?"
Harry's face lit up like a lumos charm.
"Really?" He asked.
"Yes really." Perenelle answered.
At that time, the wards had alerted Perenelle that Nicolas has returned.
"Let's go in Harry, I think Nicolas has returned. He really wanted to meet you, but he was so nervous after that stunt of his." Perenelle conspired. "Let's go meet him and you can tell me your hobbies, hmm?" She told him.
So, Harry told Perenelle that he liked to read books and had read many including magical theory. Perenelle was sceptical about it because magical theory was hard to understand, even for adult wizards, but then again Harry was a brilliant child. He could already talk with grown-ups, as was proven by their conversations. So Perenelle accepted it. He may not have understood it fully. But reading magical theories was a hard task.
Then again, there is no one knowledgeable enough to understand all of the magical theories anyway, Perenelle thought.
When they entered living room, Nicolas was waiting for them. He looked as nervous as Perenelle had when she had talked to Harry earlier. He was tall, nearly 6 ft tall, he looked to be in his thirties with platinum blonde long hair braided back, blue eyes with flakes of gold in them.
"Harry dear, this is my husband Nicholas Flamel. Nicolas this is Harry Potter as you already know." Perenelle introduced them.
"Hello Mr. Flamel." Harry greeted.
"Now Harry, call me Nicolas," Nicolas told him. "and I apologise for last night, I panicked when you screamed and... I am sorry." He looked hopefully at Harry. He really could have handled the situation better last night, Nicolas berated himself.
"It's alright Mr Flam... Nicolas, I understand, I shouldn't have started screaming without understanding the situation. Also, I shouldn't have bitten you " at that Nicolas winced, subconsciously rubbing his hand where Harry had bitten him. Ignoring that, Harry continued, "so I'm sorry for that and guess what, we're even now." At that Nicolas smiled, or should he say grinned. Though it didn't seem as frightening now.
"Well Harry, happy birthday, we should celebrate, it's not everyday you turn seven years old, what do you say?" said Nicholas.
But before Harry could answer Perenelle said,
"Harry dear why didn't you tell me?" She sounded upset and Harry felt guilty for not telling her, he would have but he himself had forgot that it was his birthday.
"I would have made cake for you, well, Happy Birthday dear" She hugged him.
"Nicolas, we should go to shopping for gifts and we can take Harry to eat ice cream. How does that sound." said Perenelle turning to Nicolas. He nodded.
Perenelle called for Tinku and told him to take Harry to his room and help him prepare for going out.
When Harry returned to living room, the Flamels were waiting for him. Nicolas took his and Perenelle's hand and then they apparated to Diagon Alley in front of Gringgotts. As always it was bustling with witches, wizards, vendors and owls.
Nicolas and Perenelle took Harry's hands each of theirs and led him to the Florian Fortesque Ice Cream Shop. There, they sat at a table and Nicolas called for a waitress.
"What would you like Harry?" he asked.
"Chocolate vanilla blueberry, isn't it, dear?" Perenelle answered looking at Harry, who nodded.
"Three chocolate vanilla blueberry", Nicolas told waitress. She nodded and with a flick of her wand ice cream was in front of them and she walked away. They started to eat.
"So, Harry, do you play Qudditch?" Nicolas asked.
"No, but Danny plays and he got Cleansweep One Hundred, the latest broom. Dad gifted it to him on our last birthday."Harry told him.
"Did you get to ride on the broom Harry?" Nicolas asked.
"No, Danny never lets me touch his things." Harry said slowly, eyes on ice cream.
Perenelle looked at Nicolas, silently asking what that was about. Nicolas only shook his head mouthing that they'd speak later. After finishing, Nicolas lead them to Wendy Bubble's Candy Shop and he left saying that he had some work to do. Perenelle and Harry bought lots and lots of sweets. Then, Perenelle and Harry went to Flourish and Blotts, where Perenelle bought Harry three books as a gift:
Legendary Artefacts by Britty Brooke, Myths and Truths of Wizarding World by Meera Kumar and a muggle book called The Hobbit. There at the reception Nicolas was waiting for them. After paying they returned to the Flamel castle.
"Harry, now you must be tired, go to your room and take a nap," Perenelle told him. Before he could protest she said,
"You look sleepy, so no moaning, you will take a nap, as everyone needs one." She told him with a threatening glint in her eyes. It was similar to his mom , so he knew he should do it if he knew what was good for him. Before he went to his room Perenelle gave him a box full of Wendy Bubble's sweets telling him to not to eat whole at one go.
When he returned to his room Harry was exhausted. So he put the box of sweets on his bedside table, he climbed on bed. As soon as he laid his head on the pillow, he fell asleep.