Chapter Three: The Sorting

It happened again. If Evan hadn't reminded his parents about Harry, they would have left him there, and Merlin knows when they would have returned home and finally remembered him on their own. If it wasn't for Uncle's Siri and Moony, his brother probably would never have received any adult affection, ever. Evan couldn't believe his parents. It hadn't been until they were about nine, when he realized that his parents seemed to forget that he had a brother, dad had taught him how to fly, but when Harry had asked him to teach him as well, James had said Harry was too young. So Evan decided that he would teach Harry to fly himself.

It was after Uncle Moony had caught them that Evan realized he wasn't the only one who saw what his parents were doing to his brother. Harry never mentioned it, but Evan knew how much it hurt him. It was after that, that Evan promised to himself and to Harry that he would always love and take care of his little brother. Harry had pointed out that he was only about ten minutes younger, but Evan had just smiled and said younger was younger.

It was while at Diagon Alley that Evan noticed just how bad things had gotten. All the shop keepers had to ask if they wanted their order doubled, and Evan was positive that if they hadn't, Harry wouldn't have gotten any of his school things. Harry had long ago stopped asking for anything, or expecting anything for that matter. It was after his parents had dragged Evan out of Flourish and Blotts while seemingly ignoring him telling them to wait for Harry that Evan finally got really angry. It was almost an hour later when Evan just gave up and started heading back to the book store on his own, and his parents seemed to recognize that they had forgotten Harry.

Yes, Evan couldn't wait until school started, he and Harry would get sorted into the same house, and Evan would start trying to really make things up to his twin brother. Perhaps without his parents constantly around undermining his best efforts to include his brother in all things Harry would start to come out of his shell. Yeah, he couldn't wait for school to start.

OooooO

The Potter's finally made it onto Platform 9 ¾. Their son was starting his first year at Hogworts and they couldn't wait to hear the good news when he was sorted into Gryffindor, and the best part was their best friend Remus would be taking over the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and would be able to keep an eye on their boy.

It was after James had helped Evan store his trunk in an empty compartment that he remembered his other son. Well, it was actually after Evan had asked if James was going to help Harry with his trunk too, or should Evan help his brother himself. James didn't mean to forget Harry, but it was hard between work and managing Evan's fame (book deals, appearances, etc.), sometimes he just plain overlooked his other son. He always felt really bad, really he did and Lily did as well, but Harry seemed very understanding and knew that James was trying his best.

OooooO

The boys had finally gotten settled into their compartment and the train had taken off when their door slid open. "Harry, it's good to see you again," A blond boy greeted them.

"Hi Draco, it's good to see you too. This is my brother Evan Potter," Harry said introducing the two boys to each other. "Evan, this is Draco Malfoy."

Evan greeted the other boy and turned to Harry. "When did you guys meet?" He asked.

"Flourish and Blotts while you guys went to the apothecary for our potions things." He replied not looking at his brother.

"You mean when Mum and Dad forgot you." Evan muttered just loud enough for Harry to hear.

Harry ignored him and turned to Draco. "So what house do you think you'll be in?"

"Slytherin," Draco replied without hesitation. "My whole family has been in Slytherin. What about you two?"

"Don't care as long as we are together," Evan replied for them both. Harry flashed him a small smile.

"You guys really close then?"

"Harry is and always will be my best friend. I love him and will always take care of him," Evan said with much force and conviction, while Harry just blushed.

"You don't have to take care of me; I can take care of myself," Harry muttered. "You're my best friend too," He added at the expression on Evan's face.

Draco just looked bemused and Evan chose to explain. "Mum and Dad didn't know that there were two of us, Harry was smaller and right behind me so when they did the scans they only ever saw me, the healers also explained that our heartbeats were in sync, another reason why they didn't spot him. When we were born Harry was almost half my size, though he finally seems to be catching up a little," Evan looked at Harry appraisingly. Harry just blushed again and stuck his tongue out at his brother. "Harry gets sick a lot easier than most, so he has to be very careful, like wearing a warming charm when he flies and stuff like that."

"Just tell everyone why don't ya," Harry glared at his brother. "I repeat I can take of myself."

"I think it's great you guys are so close," Draco interrupted. "Mum couldn't have any more children after me, so I never had the chance to have what you two have. My Uncle Sev says that I'll make great friends at Hogworts though."

"Uncle Sev?" Harry asked.

"Severus Snape, he's the Potions professor at school."

"He's my god-father." Harry said amazed. "I've never gotten the chance to meet him, not that I can remember anyway. He and my parents had a fight, and he never came back."

"Well, I'll be sure to introduce you this weekend. He's probably excited to finally meet you too." Draco smiled.

The three boys were getting along great, and Evan was pleased when he noticed that Harry was fairly blossoming under Draco's attention. During the train ride they met several other people; some of whom were polite and introduced themselves and waited for return introductions, and some of whom just came into gawk at Evan. Others were so impolite as to ask who the heck Harry thought he was sitting next to their savior. Evan and Draco quickly kicked those people out.

Among people that they invited to stay in their compartment where two other boys: Neville Longbottom, and Blaise Zabini, and two girls: Pansy Parkinson, and a muggle-born by the name of Hermione Granger. Draco had already known Blaise and Pansy from before, and after everyone was introduced the six had a great time. Hermione was the first to bring up the twins relationship.

"I've read about Evan Potter, but I've never heard anything about you Harry. Are you two cousins?" She asked innocently.

"No," Evan fairly growled out, "Harry is my twin."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Hermione whimpered tears gathering in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it," Harry smiled at her, "as you must have read, Evan is very important to the wizarding world, he saved us from the Dark Lord; so naturally they write about him in the history books and also in the introduction to magic books that all muggle-borns receive. Evan didn't mean to be so rude, he's just overly protective." Harry glared at his brother.

"I'm sorry Hermione; I just get upset when people seem to forget that I have a brother. It's not your fault. And Harry, you were there to you know, when Lord Voldemort came after us. It's absolute rubbish that they think I'm any more special than you."

Harry looked at his brother and smiled at that. "I love you too big brother."

The others in the compartment just grinned at the obvious closeness between the twins. All save Harry and Evan of course, were single children, and the others envied the siblings bond.

A few hours later they arrived in Hogsmead, and after hearing the call "Fir's years o'er he'r," shouted by a giant of a man, they gathered into a couple boats and started their journey across the lake getting their first glimpse of the castle that was to be their school for the next seven years.

OooooO

Many excited first years were gathered in the entrance waiting for the deputy headmistress to usher them into the great hall for sorting, most of them were staring at Harry and his brother. Trying to figure out who the poor relation is, is my guess, Harry thought to himself. He had long ago resigned himself to the fact that with most people never having heard that the boy-who-lived was a twin let alone a sibling would assume that Harry was only distantly related. The one time he had mentioned that to Evan though had gotten him a long winded lecture about what other people thought they knew was unimportant and that Harry was his brother and nothing was ever going to change that.

Evan for the most part just glared at all the people staring at him. It wasn't until a red-headed prat came up to him and pushed Harry out of the way to speak to him that he got angry. "Excuse me, but if you ever shove my twin like that again, I'll flush your head."

"Evan, stop it," Harry hissed. "They just don't know, calm down."

The red-headed twit wasn't very bright though. "Twin? What do you mean twin, everyone knows you're an only child. What is he some orphaned relation that you took pity on or something?"

By this time Evan and Draco and the others that had been in the compartment with them, were steaming with anger, and Harry just looked sick. Evan upon seeing the devastated look on his brother's face turned to Harry letting the others go to work on the red head. He grabbed Harry's hand and pulled his brother into his arms. "It's ok Harry, just ignore him. You're my brother, my twin. Just ignore him." He rocked Harry back and forth hugging him.

At the same time Draco was addressing the red-head. "Red hair, and freckles, you must be a Weasley. Well Weasel," Draco continued, "he is in fact Harry James Potter, twin to Evan Potter, and as you can see, they are very close. So I guess it's only fair to give you a warning, insulting Evan's twin is a very bad idea."

"Merlin, that little prat is a girl. Look at him he's practically bawling." The red-head was oblivious to the obvious signs of danger at this point, but luckily for him Professor McGonagall had just walked in to usher them into the great hall.

"Alright," she said when they were all gathered, "when I call your name you will come up and take a seat on the stool and put the sorting hat on. After you are sorted you will join your house tables." Professor McGonagall started:

Abbott, Hannah- Hufflepuff

Bones, Susan- Hufflepuff

Boot, Terry- Ravenclaw

Finnegan, Seamus- Gryffindor

This went on for a few minutes, and then their first new friend was called up

Granger, Hermione-Ravenclaw

The girl grinned from ear to ear waved at her friends and went to sit at her house table with the other first years. Next it was:

Longbottom, Neville- Gryffindor

Malfoy, Draconis- Slytherin

Parkinson, Pansy-Slytherin Then finally:

Potter, Evan

At this name the hall went absolutely silent. When the hat was placed on his head, Evan found himself having a bit of a conversation with it.

Well, well, the next generation of Potter's are finally here; and oh look at that, I get two of you how exciting, now where should I put you, any thoughts perhaps? The sorting hat asked.

I don't care, as long as you keep us together, my brother needs me and I won't be separated from him. Evan replied.

Well that remains to be seen, but I'll take extra care with him next. Let's look at you shall we, you definitely have loyalty in spades but I don't think Hufflepuff is quite the right fit, your very smart, but again Ravenclaw is still not the right fit. You would do well in Slytherin, but I think that you may just be too open with your emotions. I guess it better be GRYFFINDOR!The last part being shouted for everyone to hear.

The Gryffindor table erupted into shouts and applause at this, and Evan was welcomed to his new house table with much enthusiasm. Then Professor McGonagall called:

Potter, Harry

The hall got quite again; another Potter, maybe the name was just a coincidence, but no it couldn't be, the boys were almost identical, except for their hair was just a little different and their eyes, and obviously Harry's smaller stature. Could it be that their savior had had a brother this whole time?

Harry made his way to the stool and took a seat. He was very uncomfortable with everyone staring at him, but ignored them as best he could while Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on his head.

Ah ha, the voice said in his head. The twin, I had a nice chat with your brother, he was most adamant that you two not be separated. What do you think?

I belong with my brother. Harry replied in his head.

You do now huh, well let's just take a look shall we? You are very smart you could go in Ravenclaw, your loyalty to your brother and your friends assures that you would do well in Hufflepuff, and the mask you wear assures you would do well in Slytherin; but I have to say the bravery you exhibit everyday is staggering, so I say without a doubt you most definitely belong in GRYFFINDOR!

Evan jumped up and down yelling excitedly, and when Harry made his way over to him, Evan grabbed him and gave him a big hug. Now that everyone could see the two Potter's standing right next to each other, there was no doubt that Harry was Evan's twin. But nobody could figure out why they had never heard of him. These thoughts died down though as the sorting continued and when it ended with:

Thomas, Dean- Gryffindor

Weasley, Ronald- Gryffindor

Zabini, Blaise- Slytherin

The feast finally began.

OooooO

At the head table Remus and Severus sat together looking proudly at their god-children. Both were relieved that Evan and Harry would be staying together, and Severus was proud of Draco being in his house. They had noticed the confused and the speculative faces most of the students had worn and some of the teachers as well, when Harry's name had been called; but they were proud of the boy when he just ignored it and took his place on the stool. They both hoped that with school starting for the boys, that they could make Harry's life better.