Dumbledore stared at the papers once again, willing his eyes to read something other than those three lines that may suggest that David was Lily and James' son. However no matter how many times he looked them over, the information did not change. The only link he could possibly see was that David's middle name was James. That didn't help very much. If Rosemary and Clive Ranfurst were his parents, then having James as a middle name was insignificant. There was only one question buzzing round in Dumbledore's brain at that moment; how come David shared the same genes as Harry if Lily and James weren't his parents?
David and his mother watched the old wizard as he scanned the birth certificate again and again, his bushy white brows furrowing into a frown that seemed to get deeper every time.
'Is everything ok, sir?' asked David in concern.
Dumbledore abandoned his search of the papers and looked up at him, smiling to cover his confusion. 'Yes, yes, everything's fine, David.'
He turned to Mrs Ranfurst. 'Are there no other papers or anything else to do with his circumstances of birth that might explain Hogwarts missing him on the register of new born wizards?'
Mrs Ranfurst looked puzzled. 'Well no, not really…there's his passport, I can get that for you if you like…but I have no other papers for him.'
Dumbledore shook his head. 'No, no, I don't need to see his passport, these papers are enough.'
Rosemary sensed the disappointment in the wizard's tone of voice and tried to think back over her pregnancy and David's birth.
'There is one thing…' she began, and Dumbledore's eyes snapped back onto hers. 'It was about two months into my pregnancy that I discovered that I was pregnant, and I didn't have a check up booked until the following month. But before then…' she hesitated, as if the memory was slightly painful, but continued telling her story, 'before then I was in an accident. A very bad accident and I was quite badly hurt. The doctors patched me up, but they feared for my baby, said that it was certain that the accident would have resulted in a miscarriage, that it was unavoidable that the baby would be harmed. However, when I had a scan, when the nurses investigated, my little David was unharmed.' She broke off, tears shining in her eyes as she smiled at her son. 'They said it was a miracle,' she finished.
Dumbledore was quiet for a good long while, thinking over what Mrs Ranfurst had just said. Eventually he spoke, mostly to himself. 'A miracle indeed…magic, even.'
He came out of his thoughts and asked Rosemary gently, 'what time was he born?'
'Four o clock in the morning on July the 31st,' she replied affectionately. 'Three minutes past to be precise.'
At these words, Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and seemed to brighten. He remembered sitting in his office on that very date, waiting for news on the birth of Lily and James' son. He had been up all night waiting, and finally, at four minutes past four, Sirius' head had appeared in the fire and announced excitedly, 'Lily's had a baby boy! Born just one minute ago!' then he had vanished with a hiss of green flames.
Dumbledore suddenly felt his hopes return. David and Harry had been born at the exact same time and day. This coincidence was very unusual to come across. There might be some clue here somewhere as to the two boy's connection! However, he needed to justify to David's mother the reason why David didn't get his Hogwarts letter, and explaining about Harry was out of the question.
'Thank you, Mrs Ranfurst, that may have helped,' he said. 'I have come to the conclusion that David was missed on the register because another wizard was born at the exact same time as him. We do have a student at Hogwarts born at four in the morning on the 31st that year. With the confusion of two births, only one may have been noted.'
David looked closely at Dumbledore. While this made some sense, he could tell that there was something that the headmaster was not telling them, and that it probably had something to do with Harry.
Mrs Ranfurst, however, seemed satisfied by the answer and smiled. 'Well that makes sense then.'
At that moment, there was the sound of the front door being opened and she turned towards the hallway. 'Ah! Clive's home,' she stated as the door banged shut.
A moment later a man with David's black hair appeared in the doorframe. He stared around at the three in the living room, and especially at Dumbledore with his elaborate cloak and long white beard, and raised an eyebrow quizzically at his wife and son.
'Clive dear, guess what?' replied Rosemary. 'Our David's a wizard! Oh, and this is Albus Dumbledore!'
'It's true, Dad!' David confirmed, looking excitedly at his father.
Mr Ranfurst couldn't help it. He burst into laughter.
888
Ron was sitting at the kitchen table at The Burrow, playing wizard's chess with Ginny. The house was quiet, as Mr Weasley and their brothers Bill and Charley were all at work, the twins living at their joke shop in Diagon Alley, and Mrs Weasley bustling around the garden and yard outside the house somewhere.
'Knight to C7,' commanded Ginny into the silence, smirking as the chess piece moved onto the square where one of Ron's pawns sat. The knight reached the square, and smashed the pawn to pieces before taking its place.
'Hah!' Ginny exclaimed, and flicked back her long, red hair, looking triumphantly into her brother's blue eyes.
Ron stared at the board, then grinned. 'Castle to C7,' he called casually, and laughed at his sister's indignant face as the castle rammed her last knight off of the board.
'Hey!' she cried and looked helplessly at the board, where Ron's black pieces dominated the majority of her white ones. Then her eyes flashed comically. 'Right. You asked for it!' she said, a determined expression on her face, typical of a stubborn Weasley. Ron just laughed softly, waiting to see what Ginny would do next as her eyes scanned the board for a good move. Ron always won at Chess, he was the best in the family, but it didn't stop the others from trying, and watching them try was always amusing for him.
She was taking forever, just staring at the board. 'C'mon Ginny!' he muttered to himself, feeling bored.
At that moment there was a loud tap at the window, and Ron looked up to see Harry's beautiful snowy owl, Hedwig, perched on the windowsill, a letter in her beak, and amber eyes glowing through the dusty glass.
Glad for a distraction, he leapt to his feet and went to open the window. Ginny kept staring at the board, ignoring her brother's actions, sure there was a way to beat him yet.
Ron took the letter from Hedwig's beak, and stroked the silky owl on the back. She gave an affectionate hoot, then flew back into the sunny afternoon, a small white speck in the clear blue sky.
He opened the letter, and moved slowly over to the table, reading as he went. His eyes grew wide with shock and disbelief, then crinkled in laughter as he read the contents.
Ginny wasn't really bothered by what Ron was doing. She thought she heard an owl hoot, but took no notice, still searching the board for a means of overtaking Ron. Finally she thought she noticed a pattern without threat to her, and triumphantly sent her queen to attack Ron's castle, which was providing a major threat. 'Yes!' she exclaimed as the board became clearer. 'Haha Ronnie, I've got your castle!'
This would normally provoke a huge reaction off of Ron, especially with the use of his nickname, but there was no answer.
'Ron?' Ginny asked, looking up finally and seeing him with a letter.
'Harry's got a twin brother,' he said quietly with a touch of disbelief.
Ginny stared at him. 'What?' she asked sharply, her attention immediately roused. Ron looked up and met his sister's eyes. Wordlessly he tossed her the letter.
Ginny sank into a chair to read it, the sight of the familiar curly handwriting giving her a warm feeling, which was soon replaced by shock as she took in the contents.
Dear Ron,
You will never believe the day I have had; I can hardly believe it myself. I'm not sure where to begin, really. It's not every day that you find out you have a twin brother, after all.
It all started when my aunt sent me shopping, and the muggles seemed to know about me, asking me for autographs and following me about. I tried to escape them by ducking into a small street, but ended up bumping into another boy, who has the exact same looks as me! It was pretty freaky actually. He didn't believe I was Harry Potter, then when I had convinced him, told me he was the actor of me in films called 'Harry Potter'. We both thought this was very strange, so I took him to see Dumbledore at Hogwarts, where we found out that he is a wizard and has the same parents as me, Lily and James Potter! Much as I didn't want to believe this was true, it actually is, though even Dumbledore doesn't know how.
So now I have a twin brother. Actually, Dave is a great guy, and I'm sure we'll get along really well, but it has all come as a great shock to me. This is all confidential news of course; I don't know whether Dumbledore wants to tell people yet or not, so keep it to yourself, except perhaps to tell Ginny.
To top my wonderful day off, Dumbledore sent me home via a portkey to the bus stop up the road, and it was just my luck that an old muggle lady saw me, and rang the police, who promptly phoned my uncle to ask why I was falling from the sky. You should have seen his face and neck when he got off the phone; all red and swollen like a turkey. He gobbled like one too…
So now I am locked up in my room once more. Please rescue me as soon as possible. I hope you are well and enjoying your summer so far. I have also sent this letter to Hermione, is she coming to your house any time soon? Say hi to your family from me.
Love, Harry.
888
Hermione sat on her bed in her house in Devon and looked up from reading the letter Harry had just sent her. She had a thoughtful look on her face, and was not at all shocked with the news the letter had included. In fact, the one thing that went through her brain first was excitement at the mystery that Harry and this Dave were twins, especially as Dumbledore himself didn't seem to know how or why. As she didn't know the main details of the situation, she couldn't do much by way of thinking, but immediately sent her owl to Dobby at Hogwarts to request a selection of books from the library, which covered DNA, magic and spells involved with twins, and the science of wizard twins. Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pince, the librarian, had given her permission to borrow books from the library over the holidays by using owl delivery. Dobby had been only too eager to be her personal 'librarian' and 'post elf'.
Hermione's next thought was the fact that Harry's twin was a muggle actor, of the 'Harry Potter' films. She kicked herself for being a muggle herself yet never noticing that there were films about one of her best friends. Could these films be based on books? Most likely. She resolved to go into town as soon as possible to investigate, and buy the books if there were any.
Having thought all this through, she looked around her cosy bedroom and decided to reply to Harry before dinner, he must be feeling awful cooped up in Privet Road, especially since his aunt and uncle are mad at him. How could Dumbledore have been so careless as to send Harry by portkey to a muggle-inhabited area? Despite the seriousness of the situation, however, she couldn't help but laugh, Harry had a great sense of humour in general, and describing his uncle as a turkey was a typical example of it. She couldn't imagine the feelings that must be going around his head at discovering that he has a twin after all these years alone without any blood family, and felt extremely happy for him. With this thought, she slid off the bed and padded barefoot across the soft carpet to her desk, taking out parchment and quill from her stationary draw, and beginning to write.
888
Once again, the phone pen hovered in the air under the power of David's spell. He waited a moment, then let it lower to the table, and dropped it back in place.
'You really are a wizard then, David my boy,' Clive stated with astonishment and pride. 'Well who'd have thought! Always knew there was a reason why you should try out for Harry Potter.'
David handed Dumbledore his wand back for the second time that afternoon, having just had to prove to his father that the magic world was real. He grinned as Mr Ranfurst ruffled his hair affectionately, and wriggled away from his father's arm.
'So what happens next, Professor?' he asked curiously, turning to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore smiled. 'Well you have a place at Hogwarts of course, and are more than welcome to join the school in September.'
David looked astonished and was about to answer when his father cut in. 'But he can't go away to school, I absolutely forbid it. David has a very successful career already with his acting, and there are still more Harry Potter films to go! All that hard work just can't be wasted, he was born to act!'
David's face fell at these words, and his mother looked sympathetic but seemed to agree with her husband.
Dumbledore didn't seem concerned by their answer and looked at David, his blue eyes twinkling. 'David, could I have a word with your parents alone, please?'
David nodded. The headmaster's eyes seemed to give the message, 'trust me,' and he felt that Dumbledore had the situation well in hand. He left the room and shut the door, going to sit on the bottom step of the stairs to wait.
Dumbledore waited until the door shut behind him, then turned to Mr and Mrs Ranfurst and began to speak calmly.
'Now, I understand that David's acting is an extremely important part of his life, both to you, and him. I know that it would be asking a lot to request that you let him stop acting, and attend Hogwarts.'
Clive opened his mouth to speak, but Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, still keeping his tone of absolute wisdom and calm.
'However, being a wizard is very rare. If he had got his letter at the age of eleven, you would have in no doubt let him go. It is a special gift, to be able to do magic, and Hogwarts is a first class school. It would be a great opportunity for David to attend the school, where he would learn to be a fully trained wizard, and experience a whole new community. You must be able to at least guess, if you do not even already know, how useful it would be to have a wizard in the family, and also how useful it could be for David in his life. There are only two more years at Hogwarts for him, having missed out on the first five, and he could return to his life and career of acting after that if he wishes, although there are extremely well paid jobs within the magical community, which could earn him the same, or even more money than he gets from his acting at the moment.'
Throughout his speech, David's parents had listened quietly and carefully. They could not help it, the powerful wizard's voice was so intriguing and spoke such sense, calming their initial reaction to their son giving up acting.
'I do not force you to let him go, that is in the end your decision only, but I do ask this of you. Think of David and what's best for him, not just what is best for you. Consider the matter very carefully. There will be plenty of opportunities for him to act in the future, but never again the opportunity to go to Hogwarts and learn magic. He may be to you and the muggle world the Harry Potter, but you mustn't forget that he is not. He is David, and is his own person. Listen carefully to what he wants in life, and give him the chance to be himself.'
The Ranfurst's were completely silenced by Dumbledore's final words. They felt guilty for rushing so hastily into a negative decision.
'Talk to David,' Dumbledore suggested kindly, 'discuss the matter together. Now, I must go, but I will talk to David briefly before I leave.'
He got up from the comfortable armchair and crossed to the door before entering the hall, seeing David sitting with his head resting in his hands on the bottom stair. He looked up when Dumbledore appeared, and seeing the wizard's smile, knew that the talk had gone well.
'Come for a walk, David, the park looks most refreshing this afternoon,' Dumbledore suggested, and David stood up, thinking that after the day's events that would indeed be refreshing. He obediently followed the old wizard out of the front door, and breathed in the fresh air.
They walked along the road to the gates of the park, and followed the tarmac path through the green grounds. A cool breeze rustled the leaves on the trees around them, and the air was filled with the faint hissing from the leaves and the sweet sound of birdsong in the silence, which was broken only occasionally by the sound of a car passing on the road.
Dumbledore turned to David. 'Your parents will reconsider their decision, and talk it over with you. What is your opinion on the matter?'
David frowned. 'I don't really know…I mean, I'd love to go to Hogwarts, get to know Harry better, meet his friends and learn magic, but then there is my acting career. Everybody knows me as Harry Potter, they don't expect me to stop acting him, and the film company would find it very hard to find a replacement that would be the part as well as I am. The public and fans would be in uproar. I'm not sure if it can be done.'
Dumbledore stopped walking, and stood in front of David, looking him straight in the eyes. 'David, you are not Harry Potter. You are your own person, who can do as he likes. You also happen to be Harry Potter's twin brother by some mysterious way, and family is the most important thing in the world. Harry has never known his true family. To find you, and then lose you again would break his heart. And he is your brother; you should get to know each other. That aside, you would love Hogwarts, have great fun there, and it would give you a great opportunity in life. You can act all you want after the two school years that are left and return to your muggle career, but with this, you will never get the opportunity again. I'm sure something could be arranged about a replacement actor if necessary, and if not, that is not your problem to worry about. People move on, you are allowed to move on. But whatever your decision, you must follow your heart, David.'
David knew all that Dumbledore was saying was true, and his heart was definitely telling him to go to Hogwarts with Harry. However, there were still the realities to think about. 'Thank you, Sir…may I have some time to think about it?'
Dumbledore smiled. 'Of course David, I will give you a week to decide, is that all right by you?'
David nodded and smiled back. 'That will be perfect, Professor.'
'Good! I will send you an owl in a week's time to hear your decision. Now, I really must be going, so I will say goodbye now.'
David smiled and shook the old wizard's hand, which felt leathery and lined with the scars of time. 'Goodbye Sir.'
Dumbledore chuckled. 'Goodbye David' he replied, then turned on the spot and vanished with a swirl of scarlet, starry robes, leaving David staring thoughtfully at the now empty path in front of him.
A/N: All reviews appreciated!