Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Thank for all the reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter. I found it really hard to write, I didn't have a clue about how to introduce them to each other. I've rewritten this chapter about three times. Please review and tell me if it's ok. But hey! It's still an extra long chapter!
heyhey: Thank you for your incredibly thoughtful review. Now you've mentioned it, I totally agree with what you've said, and I've tried to sort everything out in this chapter. Please tell me what you think!
Queenie
X x X
Harry walked over to his bookshelf and blindly pulled off a few books to read while he was at the Burrow, not caring what he chose. He walked over the worn carpet to his trunk and made to put them in his trunk. One of them missed and fell to the floor.
As he picked it up it fell open to the middle page. Harry gasped in surprise. It was the photo album Hagrid had given him after his first year of Hogwarts. It was filled with baby pictures of him, being held by his parents and a young, happy looking Sirius. He turned the page and smiled fondly.
It was a picture from when he was fifteen – of Christmas at Grimmauld Place. He was sitting on one of the old sofas, Sirius on one side of him and Ron and Hermione on the other. The rest of the Weasleys were gathered around them, smiling and laughing. But it was Sirius that Harry focused on. Because it was the only time that holiday Harry remembered his godfather looking truly content.
Remus was in the picture too, tucked away in the shadows, but Harry could make out the grin on his face, as he watched Tonks contort her hair and face into all sorts of shapes and styles. Harry wiped a tear from his eyes as he gazed down at Remus, filled with guilt. He should have let all his friends know that he was alive, that he was safe.
Harry turned the page and froze, uncertain whether he should slam the book shut. It was another picture of him and the Weasleys. It had been taken on Christmas day three years later, when he was eighteen, right in the middle of the war. He was chatting animatedly, absorbed in conversation with Fred and George. And sitting on the other side of the room, all alone, was Ginny. She seemed engrossed in a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages, but as he watched, she would keep flickering heart wrenching glances towards him. Then he remembered what Hermione had written in the letter.
Ginny hasn't been the same since…
He stood there for a moment, absorbed by the picture, and snapped the book shut and stuffed it back onto the bookshelf. "There's no point," he whispered to himself, "Sirius is gone, and there's no way he'll ever come back. And as for Ginny, how could she possibly want me back?"
Harry spun away from the shelf towards his wardrobe, and haphazardly stuffed a pile of richly embroidered robes into his trunk, then wiped his brow. With the radiators on and the morning sun shining in though the windows, it was almost like a furnace in his bedroom.
He pushed up the sleeves of his red shirt and slammed the trunk shut. But then he remembered the tattoo on his right arm, and quickly pulled that sleeve down again. He didn't want to think about the reunion with Ginny that had become inevitable.
Harry moved a couple of steps to the left and opened his sword cabinet, glancing over the contents. He didn't want to take a sword with him today – it reminded him too much of the war. Anyway, he was supposed to be meeting his friends, so Harry hoped he would have no need for one.
Still as he picked up his things and made his way through the hallway, he couldn't help feeling slightly awkward. He was so use to having a sword, or some other kind of weapon, by his side. Now all he had was his wand, tucked away in an unremarkable wrist holster.
Then he dragged the trunk and Hedwig's empty cage (she had set off for the Burrow with Errol earlier that morning) through the front door until he could feel the melting snow beneath his feet. The only reason there was snow here at all now was because he was so high up. The ski slopes were bare and the mountainside was covered in grass and mountain flowers. It looked like something out of a fairytale.
He took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, and then, gripping his possessions tightly, spun around and vanished into thin air, reappearing thousands of miles away in the Weasleys front garden.
His trunk and owl cage tumbled onto the ground in front of him, and Harry staggered as he tried to stay upright. He looked up at the place that had been like a second home to him and moved eagerly towards the door, completely forgetting his trunk that lay in the grass.
The Burrow didn't seem to have changed at all. Although the garden seemed more organised and well kept, the house was still a ramshackle family home. An odd gnome wandered past Harry occasionally as he made his way to the door and a few chickens were pecking in the dust and squawking at each other.
Harry reached out and quietly turned the door handle. It seemed that someone had forgotten to shut the door the previous night. He frowned. Even though the war was over, there was no reason to be so lax about security.
He made his way through the kitchen to the living room, and sat down on of the overstuffed armchairs, wondering what to do next. It was still very early; he guessed the time was around six o'clock. He couldn't just run upstairs and bash down his friend's door, but he didn't want to sit around for hours waiting for someone to come downstairs and find him sitting there.
About five minutes later, the decision was made for him. He heard heavy footsteps on the stairs and sprang to his feet. Then the door opened, and standing there was – Ron.
There was a shocked, scared silence as they stared at each other.
"Harry…" said Ron. "You've come back…"
Harry smiled nervously. "Yep. It's- it's good to see you again, mate."
Ron smiled back, except he seemed to be petrified, like a deer caught in the headlights. But then they locked eyes, and Ron's smile turned into the familiar grin Harry was used to seeing. He strode forward and enveloped Harry in a bone crushing hug, and for no reason whatsoever, they both started to laugh.
Finally, Ron released Harry and pushed him back down into the armchair, then sitting on a similar one himself.
"Blimey, mate, you said you were coming back, but we didn't realise how soon you meant! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
Harry chuckled, but then Ron became serious. "Really though, Harry, where have you been? We've all been so worried."
"I'll tell you when Hermione and everyone else gets here. I'm sorry I didn't write before, but… I told you in my letter, I was afraid." Harry replied.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Bloody hell, Harry. No one was ever angry with you. Just worried. But please, don't ever do that again. Everyone missed you. So much."
"That's good to know. So how is everyone? What are Remus and Tonks up to these days? You wrote about Remus looking for me…oh! And congratulations to you and Hermione about the engagement! But tell me, while we wait for her to get up, you can tell me about the really amazing thing she was talking about in her letter."
Ron's smile faded.
"Thanks," he said, "About the engagement. But I'm afraid I'm not supposed to tell you what's happened until-"
He was interrupted a loud voice coming down the stairs. Harry creased his bow, wondering who it could be. It sounded like the voice of a teenage boy, but not one he had ever heard before.
"Houseguests?" he asked. Before Ron could answer him, the boy had already started to yell.
"Ron!" The boy shouted. "Hey, Ron, I can't find the porridge, and I'm hungry-"
The look on Ron's face was one Harry could only describe as pure terror. "No!" he roared. "Jimmy! Don't come in-"
But it was too late the door had opened and standing in the doorway was a young boy Harry had seen only once before. He was instantly on alert. It was the boy from his dream, after his suicide attempt, one of those twins, with hair exactly like his, standing next to people who could have only been James, Lily and Sirius. The boy who had vanished into the flash of blue light.
When he saw Harry there he raised an eyebrow.
Harry flushed as the boy gave him a calculating stare. He was perfectly aware that he wasn't looking his best that day. His skin was ghostly white, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep and his hair was sticking up all over the place. Not to mention his clothes were all rumpled, and he was only wearing a pair of jeans over his pyjamas, having come to the Burrow as fast as he could.
"Who are you?" Harry asked rudely, not liking the boy's patronizing gaze.
The boy scowled at him.
"I think a better question is, who the hell are you?" he replied, folding his arms. Ron's eyes flickered between the two of them, before hastily interrupting them.
"Don't answer him, not until-"
"I'm Harry Potter, now who are you?!"
The angry look left Jimmy's face instantaneously. "Um, erm, I'm-"
"Jimmy, get OUT!" yelled Ron, seeing Harry's red face and remembering Jimmy's big mouth.
For once, Jimmy did as he was told, and left the room, his hands trembling.
As soon as he was gone, Harry rounded on Ron. "Who the hell was that!? I've seen him before somewhere, who is he?!"
Ron gave a deep sigh and sank down into his armchair. "Harry, please. There's no way you could have seen him before, because he comes from a different world."
Harry blinked. "Huh?"
"Sit down, mate. I'll explain…"
Jimmy shut the door behind him and sat down on the stairs, still trembling all over. From inside the living room he could only hear Ron's voice talking patiently to Harry Potter – his brother. But Jimmy knew why he hadn't recognised him. Now he came to think about it, Harry did look extremely similar to his parents. He had their hair, eyes, even a voice like James'.
It was the way he had acted that had made him seem different.
He had acted so tense, so tightly wound, stressed and tired. In that respect he looked nothing like James. His father had always been happy and healthy, even during the war, whereas Harry had red eyes with big dark circles underneath. He walked with a slight stoop, as if there was a heavy load there weighing him down.
He wasn't how Jimmy had imagined. Jimmy had been eight years old when his parents had first told him and Nate about Harry. He had always imagined his brother as a perfect Gryffindor – handsome, smart, prank loving but kind. The imaginary Harry was always there for him whenever he needed to talk, helped him with homework when he was struggling, and taught him and his twin brother new Quidditch moves in the back garden while Eva sat on the patio, reading.
Harry wasn't meant to be this bitter, angry person.
Jimmy sat there, his fists clenched in his lap, listening to the low rumble of Ron's voice. Occasionally Harry would exclaim loudly and he caught snatches of his side of the conversation.
"What?!"
"Yeah, very funny, Ron."
"Rowena Ravenclaw?"
"You liar!"
Their conversation grew quieter and Jimmy had to strain his ears to hear it. Then the voices stopped completely. Jimmy scowled and stood up, moving stealthily towards the door, then pressing his ear against the rusty keyhole. He heard Harry speak in a low, emotionless voice that scared him more than the shouting he had heard earlier.
"I will never have brothers or sisters. My parents and my godfather are dead, Ron. Nothing will bring them back. You have lied to me."
Jimmy backed away from the door and ran up the stairs, back to his room. He burst through the door, over to his twin's bed, and started to shake him. Nate moaned and turned away from him, burying his head under the pillow. Jimmy tugged it away from him.
"Nate, get up! He's here – Harry's here!"
Nate sat up straight. "What? I thought he was supposed to owl us before he got here?"
Jimmy sat down next to his twin. "Yeah. He was. But I went downstairs to get some breakfast and then go flying before it got too hot, and he and Ron were already in the living room. Ron yelled at me to stay out, but I went in anyway-"
"- you idiot!"
"Shut up. Anyway, I went in and he asked me who I was, really moodily, even though I hadn't done anything to piss him off. So then I asked him who he was, and he said Harry Potter. So Ron goes and kicks me out the room before I could tell him who I was. I sat on the stairs, listening to what they were saying, and he was telling Harry what had happened and how we got here."
"But I thought we were going to wait until Remus was here to tell him!"
"I know." Said Jimmy. "But I think after he saw me he wasn't going to let it go until he knew everything. It was like he'd seen me before, or something. And once Ron had explained what happened he didn't seem very happy about it. He was yelling at Ron and calling him a liar."
Nate shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sure he'll be fine once Ron's explained everything to him. I mean, if someone had told me a couple of months ago that right now I'd be in another world where my deceased brother who I had never known was alive and well, I wouldn't have believed them either."
"Fair enough. But won't it be a bit awkward if it turns out he doesn't want to know about us? I mean, now Harry knows we'll have to tell the rest of the wizarding world. And we're going to Hogwarts soon. Everyone will be like, 'you're the famous Harry Potter's brother. What's he like?' And then we'll be like, 'oh, he doesn't want anything to do with us!'"
"Has anyone told you that you worry too much?" asked Eva from the doorway.
"Hey! How long have you been listening?" Jimmy exclaimed.
Eva smirked. "Long enough. You should learn to be quieter. You're lucky I was awake early enough to make sure the silencing charms in front of everyone's doors were still working.
"Thanks, sis."
Eva shut the door and came to sit on the bed, next to Jimmy. "So, Harry's back is he?" she said more quietly, playing with the frayed blanket on Nate's bed. "I'm sure he'll want us. Couldn't you tell from that letter he sent how much he wanted his friends back? And we're his family. He'll want us even more."
There was a significant pause, and then Jimmy spoke to his little sister.
"Huh. He'll want us. Do you really believe that?"
Eva looked up at him. "I – I don't know. Not really."
The three of them sat there for a moment, thinking. They knew they had no real knowledge of what Harry was really like. Everyone went on about how kind and selfless he was, how great he was, but what Jimmy had seen so far seemed totally different. He hoped his brother really was the person everyone made him out to be.
"Harry! Get back here!"
Harry ignored Ron's yell as he stormed though the Burrow, blind with rage. Why was Ron doing this to him? His family was gone, nothing would bring them back. So why was Ron tormenting him like this? Was this what he had returned for – to be ridiculed by his old best friend? And that Jimmy person – who was he? What the hell was going on?
He could hear Ron chasing after him, stumbling and crashing into things in an effort to keep up with Harry. As soon as he had slammed the front door shut behind him, Harry raced towards the belongings that he had left scattered on the grass.
Harry's shouting and Ron's swearing seemed to have awoken some of the other people at the Burrow. He gathered his stuff together and turned to face them as they stood there staring at him.
Ron had stopped in defeat at the edge of the lawn, his eyes wide with despair. Harry's eyes avoided his gaze and instead moved to stare at his other best friend, Hermione. Her bushy, unbrushed hair hung over her face and she moved to hold Ron's hand, never looking away from Harry.
She offered him a weak smile, and without realizing, he smiled back at her, a sad, tired smile. She made no move towards him, and Harry understood that she didn't want him to come back until he was ready. Until he had found out all the facts. Just like she would have done.
Standing behind his friends was Mrs Weasley. She was dabbing at her eyes with a white handkerchief, but raised a hand and waved at him. Harry waved back.
Then he spun away from them and disapparated with a pop.
Harry reappeared about fifty miles away, in a dank brick alleyway. Pushing his hair out of his eyes, he walked out into the sunlight.
Remus would tell him what was going on.
Hopefully.
Ok, it's not great, but it was the best I could do. Please review!
