Chapter Three – The-Boy-Who-Cried
Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter or its characters.
When Harry woke up he thought he was dreaming. He opened his eyes to find a face exactly the same as his own looking down at him. He closed his eyes shaking his head to clear the image, when he opened his eyes though the same face was staring down at him.
"Hello." Harry didn't remember opening his mouth to say anything. "I'm Ethan."
Why he would say that he didn't know, that wasn't his name, he didn't even know anyone called Ethan. He sat up slowly and looked around, he was in a white room with lots of beds. The face he discovered wasn't his own but it belonged to someone who looked like him only bigger and taller and more tanned.
"I know you must be excited to see me as I am you, you're the best birthday present ever!" The boy said grinning at him. Harry frowned, the boy was wrong, he wasn't excited, he was scared and confused and worried about where he was and what he was doing here.
The sound of a door opening drew his attention and they both turned to see a man who again looked like them come in. Harry felt like he was going to faint again. Did everyone in this world look like him? But no, this man didn't have his colour eyes.
"Hello Harry." The man's voice was soft but strained, like he had a bad cold or something, Harry felt sympathy for him, he had had a cold once, it was horrible. "I'm…I'm James Potter."
"Okay." He murmured quietly before he could stop it the question came from his lips. "Why does everyone look like me?"
A surprised look crossed across both of their faces before the man chuckled nervously.
"Well you look like me because you're my son." Harry stared at the man unnervingly.
"Oh." He finally said.
"And I look like you because you're my twin and twins always look the same, my friend Ron has brothers who are twins and they look exactly the same, you and I don't though because you're so much smaller than me!" Ethan exclaimed. An angry look flitted across James' face as Ethan said this and Harry winced, expecting either Ethan or him to get cuffed for his comment but James instead seemed to collapse in on himself, he fell into a chair next to the bed and ran his hands over his face.
"Where are the men who came to get me?" Harry asked before he could stop himself, he had so many questions he was bursting at the seams.
"You mean Remus and Sirius?" Ethan asked and Harry nodded. "They're speaking to Dumbledore at the moment. They didn't seem happy when they brought you back, were the people you were staying with not nice?"
Harry frowned, of course they were nice, they had taken him in after all and they fed him and gave him clothes (even if they were Dudley's cast offs). They only ever hit him when he did something wrong and Uncle Vernon only played the 'good boy' game to make him better. Before he could speak up a woman came in. She was very strange looking. The only woman Harry had seen was Aunt Petunia who was a very pointy straight woman. This woman was plump and curvy and she worse a strange dress with a funny hat.
"Ah it's good to see you awake dear." The woman said smiling brightly at him and Harry nodded slowly. "Ethan honey, you're going to have to leave for a little bit while I talk to your Dad and Harry."
Ethan pouted but nodded and ran from the room. Instantly the smiling face of the woman disappeared to form a worried upset face. Harry didn't like it, these people changed how they looked so quickly.
"Harry dear, we need you to tell us about what your Aunt and Uncle did to you. We need what's called a statement so they can get charged with hurting you." The woman said and Harry noticed in the corner of his eye James clenching his fists.
"Um…" Harry didn't know what to say, Uncle Vernon had always said never to tell anyone about his punishments and even Aunt Petunia didn't know about the 'good boy' game. Instead he said what had been ingrained into him from his first memory. "They took me in, fed me, clothed me, gave me a roof over my head, I'm very grateful to them."
The woman's lips pressed together and the James' hands clenched tighter before relaxing purposefully. The man reached out and took Harry's own into his hand, Harry felt tiny then, the man's hands were much bigger than his own, but they weren't as big as Uncle Vernon's.
"Harry, what those…those people did to you was wrong. No matter what they told you, a child should never ever be hit for anything." James said softly and Harry flinched away, of course he should have been hit, it was a punishment, but at least they didn't know about the 'good boy' game, Uncle Vernon would be less angry when he got sent back. He shook his head. "Harry… we know that they hit you, Madam Pomfrey here has healed all of your bruises and the cuts, but we need you to tell us so we can get them put away."
Harry shook his head, angry at himself as tears burned his eyes, only babies cried, he shouldn't be crying.
"Harry, they never hurt Dudley did they." James said and Harry looked up in surprise.
"No Dudley was a good boy." He exclaimed, before realising what he had admitted to, he pressed his hand to his mouth and glared down at his legs under the blankets. He gasped as James pulled him into a tight hug, he froze completely, no one had ever hugged him, he had seen it done of course but it still terrified him. Thankfully James let go soon. Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips before calling James over to speak to her privately in her office.
Harry stared at the door for a while before the door opened once more and a woman ran in, she had long red hair, pale skin and bright green eyes. She ran over as soon as her eyes met his, he then realised that she had the same eyes as him. She quickly pulled him to her chest.
"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry! I never thought…I had no idea that they would…" The woman collapsed into tears over Harry, he panicked. He froze up completely and began to hyperventilate but the woman didn't notice. The door to the office opened and Madam Pomfrey came out followed by James, as soon as he saw the woman a thunderous glare came across his face.
"What are you doing here! Haven't you done enough?" He yelled causing Harry to flinch.
"James-love, you're scaring Harry." The woman said softly.
"And you condemned him to live with abuse for ten years!" James shouted the rage building in his face. It was interrupted when the door opened once again and the two men who had brought him came into the room followed by Ethan. Both of the men's expressions darkened at the sight of the woman. Harry didn't know what she had done but it must have been horrible. Ethan ran over to his twin and grinned at him, beginning to tell him things which Harry couldn't have listened to if he tried.
"Lily, I think you should leave." Remus said and once again his eyes scared Harry, he was like an animal.
The woman, Lily glared at all of them.
"You have no right to take me away from my son." She snapped and Ethan frowned at the conflict, he didn't seem used to people fighting around him.
"You have no right to see him after you signed away your parental rights! My parental rights!" James yelled at her. "Get out!"
Lily stood her head held high.
"I only did what I did out of love for my sons. You can't stop me from seeing him forever." She hissed before leaving the room with an angry stamp. Instantly everyone stopped looking angry and instead looked tired. James once more sat in the chair by Harry's bed. Remus and Sirius moved over to stand next to it.
"Hey kiddo, you feeling better?" Sirius asked and it was that question which broke Harry. He collapsed into tears, uncaring of the fact that only babies cried, he was scared, of all of these people, of the woman who had done something wrong, of the boy who looked like him, of the place he didn't know. He was overwhelmed.
"Harry, it's okay. Harry, please stop crying." His twin climbed onto the bed and hugged him, Harry tensed and this time he pulled away. Why did everyone keep touching him? Ethan looked upset that he couldn't hug his twin when he was so used to touching everyone, he knew that his twin had been hurt and that he was scared. He only wanted to help.
Harry wrapped his arms around his legs and curled into as small a ball as possible. He just wanted to go back to his cupboard. He didn't like it here. Everyone was too confusing. When he had no more tears to cry he wiped his face hurriedly and slowly uncurled from his position. Everyone was still there. Ethan was sat in front of him cross-legged on the bed and as soon as he saw Harry was finished he moved closer, so he wasn't touching him but Harry could feel his body heat. Harry found himself surprisingly grateful for the gesture.
"Don't worry Harry. You're home now, you don't have to worry about anyone ever hurting you again. I'll make sure they don't!" The way Ethan promised that made something in Harry unfurl and he once again found himself crying, only this time he found his way into his twin's arms and he cried into the bigger boy's shoulder.
