October 18, 1981
Godric's Hollow
The sun had just begun to set on the small village, when a small pop was heard, followed by a louder crack. If there had been anyone on the street that fateful evening, they would have seen a tall man robed in black striding down the street, followed closely by a smaller man with rather watery eyes. The man in black then suddenly stopped in front of what seemed to be a barren lot. A small smile began to creep over his face, as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the crisp autumn air.
"Are you certain, that this is the place where the Potter's are hiding Wormtail?", inquired the tall man in a cold voice.
Wormtail shifted nervously, before answering shakily. "Yes, My Lord. My sources have reported that they are currently away for the evening. The twins should be alone."
Lord Voldemort did not respond but pulled out his wand, and began waving it slowly over the lot. After a moment, a slight shimmering in the air was seen, and suddenly a large cottage appeared seemingly out of thin air.
"It appears your intel was correct after all Wormtail. And you are certain that James and Lily Potter are away for the evening?"
Wormtail nodded quickly. "Of course, My Lord. The-they should be meeting with Dumbledore at Hogwarts. As you predicted, they are likely being told about the prophecy and the possibility of hiding under the fidelius charm."
Voldemort raised his hand, and Wormtail fell silent immediately. The Dark Lord waved his wand several more times, and a flash of light appeared. He then strode down the path leading to the cottage door, wand in hand. Wormtail followed quickly behind him.
Voldemort pointed his wand at the door, and the door flew open. A jet of red light flew at him, but it splashed harmlessly against a glowing shield that appeared instantly.
The mousy man instinctively stepped behind the Dark Lord, when the assailant stepped into the light.
"Wormtail. So, you're the traitor. How could you betray us!", growled Remus Lupin as he leveled his wand once more at the pair.
Wormtail shook his head sadly. "I had no choice Moony. The Dark Lord is all powerf—"
He ducked behind Voldemort as a piercing curse rocketed towards his head. Voldemort deftly blocked the curse and gave a short laugh.
"Ah, Dumbledore's lap dog. I'm afraid you will not be able to reconnect with your old friend, no matter how amusing I find it. Avada Kedavra!"
Lupin ducked and the emerald curse destroyed the wall behind him. He quickly turned and sprinted up the stairs, waving his wand as he did, sending a silver wolf out of the cottage.
Voldemort shook his head softly. "You should not have done that wolf."
He deftly flicked his wand, and Remus Lupin found himself ripped out of the Potter cottage, as an invisible force smashed him through the roof.
"I thought you said we would be alone Wormtail", said the Dark Lord coolly as he strode up the stairs. "Your punishment will be decided later."
Wormtail merely nodded meekly and watched as Voldemort reached the second floor, and kicked open the door to a nursery. Inside, was a large crib with two small boys inside. The two began crying as the haunting figure of Lord Voldemort walked menacingly towards them.
Voldemort gritted his teeth in discomfort. The sound of children had always bothered him.
"Hush children, it will all be over soon."
Wormtail squeaked as Voldemort raised his wand at one of the boys. It would be this moment that would change the course of history forever.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The room seemingly imploded as the green curse rebounded off the baby boy and back at its caster.
Wormtail recoiled in fear as his master seemingly disintegrated before his eyes, leaving behind only his wand and his tattered robes. He then threw up a powerful shield charm, as debris flew in all directions. A sudden scream turned his attention to the twin that Voldemort had cursed and looked with no small amount of curiosity as the small boy began screaming and clutching his forehead as if some invisible force was burrowing into it. Interestingly enough, when the boy stopped screaming, there was no mark to indicate that there had been any pain whatsoever.
Wormtail then twitched madly as he slowly leveled his wand at the boy to finish the job his master had started. However, he put his wand back down when he heard the sound of several loud cracks in the background. It would not do to enrage his former friends further. He instead quickly picked up the yew wand of the Dark Lord, and apparated away, giving but a glance at the boy who had ruined everything.
Meanwhile, James and Lily Potter thundered up the stairs as they made their way around the debris. The two had been meeting with Dumbledore when they had received the warning from Remus.
Lily got there first as she burst into the room, wand drawn. Her eyes fell upon her two twin boys, and tears began to flow freely from her eyes when she realized that they were safe. James came in just moments later, and he gave a great sigh of relief when he saw his wife holding their two children.
"James, they're okay!", sobbed Lily as she placed the two children back into the crib and gave her husband a tight hug.
James nodded silently as he rubbed her back softly. The two were holding each other when Albus Dumbledore entered the room. He immediately crossed the room, knelt down, and picked up the black robe that had been left behind. He tapped the robe softly with the Elder Wand and gave a small nod.
"What is it, Dumbledore?", asked James.
Dumbledore stood and waved his wand over the two boys. His eyes narrowed as his eyes raked over the faces of the two children.
"It appears, that one of your children were able to reflect the killing curse upon Lord Voldemort."
James and Lily both gaped at Dumbledore in shock. "Are you serious Albus?" said Lily as she took the twins back out of the crib.
Albus nodded and stood there quietly as he carefully watched the twins laugh as their mother hugged them tightly.
"Which one of them did it, Professor?", asked James as took Harry from Lily.
Dumbledore stroked his beard, obviously in deep thought. "I believe that it was Alexander, who vanquished Lord Voldemort", he said after a deep pause.
Lily looked down at the boy she was holding. "How could he have done it?", she asked.
"It could have been anything. Perhaps it was the power of brotherly love or some ancient form of magic that is beyond my knowledge. However, this I am sure was quite the miracle", said Dumbledore with a small twinkle in his eyes.
James sat there in the wreckage of his house, with a bemused look on his face. "Are you sure, Professor, that it was Alexander?"
Dumbledore nodded genially, "I believe so. My inspection revealed that Voldemort had brought a servant —who we apparently scared away— and there also seems to be much dark residue around Alexander, while young Harry is absolutely devoid of such."
Lily looked quite concerned as she slowly rocked Alexander. "Albus, does this mean that Alex is the one referred to in the prophecy you told us about?"
Dumbledore sighed. "I am afraid so. Young Alexander will have much pressure on him growing up. My only advice is to try and give him a normal childhood. Both of them in fact. But be aware that this will be easier said than done."
James nodded solemnly as he vanished the debris. He then sat Harry down on the floor and shook the Headmaster's hand. "Thank you, Professor, for being here. Tonight could have been quite tragic. If it weren't for Remus—" James looked up quickly. "Moony!"
He sprinted down the stairs, and looked through the gaping hole in his wall to see a panicked and battered Remus limping quickly towards the house.
"James, the twins! He was here!"
James shook his head and laughed. "They're okay Remus. Everything is okay."
~~o0o~~
A young Harry Potter sat inside his crib in a homely living room, his twin brother sleeping peacefully to the right of him. He shakily got to his feet, as his small chubby legs struggled to support him. He then grabbed the bars of the crib and peeked over the bars.
In the room adjacent to the one that he was in, he could see his mum and dad conversing with a tall man with a pockmarked face.
"—and of course, the poor Longbottoms. The Lestranges and bloody Crouch Junior got sentenced last night. Thank Merlin, that they got what they deserved and were sent to Azkaban. A real disgrace that we can't say the same about Karkaroff and Malfoy. They actually got off with the Imperius claim."
Harry watched, as James angrily paced as he fingered the wand in his hand. "Absolute scum. They deserve a lot worse for what they did. And don't even get me started on Malfoy. That smug bastard. I can't believe that the Wizengamot would even accept such a stupid defense."
Lily put a calming hand on her husband's shoulder. "They'll get their due James. But poor little Neville, did they finally decide who's going to be taking care of him, Augustus?"
Augustus Rookwood nodded. "His grandmother has already taken him in."
Lily wiped a small tear away. "She's a good person. Hopefully, she's doing alright too. Thank you, Augustus, for telling us this. I'll see you tomorrow at work."
Rookwood nodded solemnly and put the hood of his cloak on—which obscured his face completely— and left through the door out into the night.
"You know Lily, I don't like the vibe on that guy", said James as he closed the door.
"He's an unspeakable dear, they're all weird. You should know that you married one!" joked Lily, as she playfully poked his arm.
James snorted then shook his head, "I don't know, something about him is just off."
The scene then suddenly blurred and dissolved as a new scene took its place. The scene was set in the same room but the twins were slightly older.
The twins were sitting on the floor enthralled, as Sirius recounted a story.
"—and then Mulciber that son-of-a, er, very nice witch, shot a bludgeoning curse at me that caught me right in the shoulder!"
"What happened next, Uncle Paddy?", asked Harry excitedly.
Sirius smiled. "Your heroic godfather bounced right back up, and caught him right in the face with a stunner and sent the bad guy to Azkaban."
The twins gasped appreciatively.
"Now, now, Sirius, you can't be filling their heads with lies. Your "heroic godfather" lay on the floor with a broken shoulder cursing up a storm, as good ol' Uncle Moony saved his bacon", said James as he entered the room, looking extremely tired.
"Don't listen to your dad", whispered Sirius to Harry as he giggled.
James summoned a bottle of firewhisky from the kitchen and poured himself a very generous shot. He pulled Sirius to the side.
"Thanks for watching the twins again Sirius", said James as he watched his two kids begin to argue over who had the cooler godfather.
Sirius waved him off. "It's all good Prongsie. You're the Head Auror now, you're bound to be busy. And with Lily's working late all the time in the DOM, I can guess that you have to leave the twins alone for long periods of time."
"Yeah, I've got so much on my hands at work, Lily's got a new super-secret charms project, and with Remus chasing that serial killer in West Yorkshire, there's no one to watch the twins. Thank goodness Albus finally agreed to teach the kids during the day", he said with a sigh.
"Really? Well, cheers to that. I can only teach them so much", said Sirius with a chuckle as he raised his glass to James's.
The scene changed once more, now showing an eleven-year-old Harry dueling Alexander.
"Stupefy!"
Harry rolled sideways as he dodged the incoming stunner. He then threw up a hasty shield as his twin brother continued the onslaught of spells. He was then unceremoniously blasted out of the dueling circle, as his shield broke.
"And that's it! Alex wins again!", said James from his position on the outside of the circle.
Harry shook his head as he got up, dusting himself off as he did so.
Alex smirked cockily at Harry. "It's okay Harry, I'm sure you'll beat me eventually."
"I'm very proud of you two boys. I'm sure no one at Hogwarts will give you any trouble. And of course, you'll watch each other's backs?"
"Of course, Dad!", chorused the two boys.
"James, we have to get to the station now!", shouted Lily as she floated two large trunks and two bird cages towards them.
"Alright, Lily. Boys grab the portkey with your mother", said James as he waved his wand over the twins, cleaning them instantly.
The two stepped forward and grabbed the trinket. Harry's stomach lurched, as the ground beneath him suddenly span. When he opened his eyes, he was on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. He then heard a small pop behind him, and when he turned around his dad was there, pulling their shrunken luggage out of his pocket.
Lily grabbed the two boys and embraced them tightly. "Alright you two, behave at Hogwarts. I want you two on your best behavior, especially you Alexander. I love you two very much."
They smiled and squirmed as they tried to get out of their mother's grasp.
"Okay mum, we'll be on our best behavior", said Alex when he finally got out of his mother's hug. A train whistle was heard in the background.
"I gotta go, Mum, I promised Ron and Neville that we'd all sit together. Bye Mum, bye Dad see you at Christmas!" He quickly gave his dad a hug, took the shrunken luggage, and boarded the train without a backward glance.
"How much you want to bet that we get a letter from McGonagall before the first week ends?", said James with a smirk.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Keep an eye on you brother for me Harry. I know you'll be good."
Harry smiled at that. "Of course, Mum. I'll make you guys proud!" He too then took his trunk and boarded the train, in eager pursuit of his brother.
The scene shifted, and there he was getting ready to be sorted.
"Potter, Alexander!", shouted Professor McGonagall. Alex gave Harry a nod, then made his way to the Sorting Hat.
"Potter, did she say?"
"It's the boy-who-lived!"
"I heard he got apprenticed to Dumbledore!"
Alex made his way to the stool, and as soon as the hat touched his head, the hat cried out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table exploded in cheers as Alex grinned and made his way to the table.
"Potter, Harry!", called Professor McGonagall.
Harry shakily made his way to the stool.
"Harry Potter? He looks nothing like Alex!"
"Did you know that Potter had a brother?"
Harry grit his teeth and sat down on the stool, and the hat fell on his head.
"Well, well, well what do we have here?", said a small voice in his ear. "We can cross off Hufflepuff right away. Hmm, you have quite the thirst for knowledge, and the talent to execute on it. No shortage of bravery either. But, aha, I see you have very lofty ambitions here Mr. Potter."
Harry gripped the edges of the stool. "Please not Slytherin. Please not Slytherin."
"Not Slytherin eh? Why not? Ah, I see. You wish to make your parents proud. You are aware Mr. Potter, that they would be proud of you regardless of what house you were to be sorted in?"
Harry shook his head resolutely.
"If you insist Mr. Potter, you could have done great things in Slytherin. But since you're sure— better be GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry sighed in relief, and in doing so, missed the headmaster do so as well.
Suddenly the world began to spin rapidly around him, and when Harry opened his eyes, he was back in his room in the present day. He stretched and slowly got up. Ever since he had begun training occlumency with his mother and brother, old memories had made their appearance in his dreams. Just the other day, he had dreamt about his first year at Hogwarts, in which he had stopped a troll with his brother. That was probably the craziest thing that happened that year, other than Professor Quirrell mysteriously disappearing right before the end of the term. Of course, he had not meant to fall asleep but must have done so while he was clearing his mind.
Harry got off the floor and sat down on his bed as he began to reminisce. His second year had been quite boring, as he had been petrified by a basilisk when he tried to investigate some strange noises that he had been hearing after the "Chamber of Secrets" had been opened. Luckily, his brother figured out who had opened it after he and Granger figured out that it was Weasley's little sister who had been possessed by a diary. He had thanked every deity when he woke up and found out that his brother had for once done the sensible thing and told Dumbledore immediately instead of investigating by himself. His third year, was arguably their only normal year, with his godfather Sirius Black, coming in to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.
He broke out of his musings when he heard his mother's voice.
"Harry! It's time to open presents!", shouted Lily from downstairs.
"Coming mum!", shouted Harry. Harry kicked himself. He had completely forgotten about the party that his parents insisted on throwing for him and his brother.
He sighed and made his way downstairs. He was then immediately ambushed by a large black dog that pinned him and licked his face earnestly.
"C'mon Padfoot, that's disgusting! Your breath stinks you great mutt", complained Harry as he tried to get himself out from under the dog.
Sirius transformed back and shot Harry a large grin. "Now, now, that's no way to talk to the last scion of the Ancient and Noble House of Black!"
Harry rolled his eyes. "You hate your family. Don't give me that rubbish."
Sirius opened his mouth but was cut off by a rather harried Lily. "There you are sweetie, everyone else is waiting outside for you."
She then led Harry to the back, where there was a large table with many people.
"Happy Birthday!", chorused the party-goers once they saw Harry coming. Most of them were of course here for the "Chosen One", but it was a nice gesture regardless. Harry looked at the crowd and recognized most of their faces—Granger, the entire Weasley family, Neville, Finnegan, Thomas, and some of his parent's friends.
Alexander motioned Harry to the front of the table.
"There you are, you bloody tosser. I suppose you were reading again?"
Harry shook his head and smacked the back of his brother's head. "Screw you too you twat."
"Boys, if I hear such language again, I'll be forced to tell your mother, and you know she'll cut out your tongues", whispered James fervently.
The three chuckled, then James tapped his wand against a glass, and called for order. "Well, you people are here, obviously to celebrate the birth of these two fine lads. Although if I remember what Lily said correctly, we should be celebrating her since she claims she did all the work!"
The crowd laughed politely as Lily mock-scowled at her husband. "Every year you repeat that same joke. And I'm right, whoever said that birthing a child was a gift is a…"
"Well anyways, let's hear it for Alexander and Harry, the boy-who-lived, and the erm, eh his brother!", finished James awkwardly.
Everyone cheered and they all began to eat and talk.
"Sorry about that Harry, I didn't mean to—"
Harry shook his head at his dad. "It's okay, Dad. It's really not that big of a deal."
James smiled at him apologetically.
"Nice one James. I thought you resolved to never call Alex the boy-who-lived", snorted Sirius as he began eating Lily's famous Shepherd's Pie.
"I blame the guests and the press. Boy-who-lived this, boy-who-lived that, it was just on the tip of my tongue."
Sirius patted Harry's back, "You know, your dad's an idiot."
Harry nodded and gave Sirius an appreciative look. This wasn't a regular thing by any means, but it still annoyed him when he was referenced as "Alexander's brother", or the "Chosen One's sidekick".
The rest of the party continued, as the guests ate and drank and celebrated the birth of their "savior", and of course his brother. Another awkward moment occurred, when Harry received fewer gifts than Alexander, but this was waved off by Harry rather offhandedly. He was used to it, after all this had already happened essentially fourteen times. It was really his fault, after all, he could never claim to be the most social of people. Most of the guests were invited by Alex anyways.
Sirius luckily came through for him, by giving him the Black Grimoire. This was of course met with raised eyebrows from the pureblood members and Lily, but Sirius never cared about what they thought anyway.
"Now Harry, I know you'll be careful with this, but I want you to be very careful. There's loads of dangerous stuff in here. Your mother didn't really approve of me giving you a book full of the Dark Arts, but I know that you'll be responsible. You're a good kid."
Harry beamed at Sirius as he took the ancient tome from his hands. He had been asking for it for years now. "I promise to be careful. Thanks a lot, Sirius!"
Sirius wagged his finger at him. "Now just remember, that you can't just use those curses on anyone Harry. Even that git Draco."
Harry sighed dramatically. "Fine. Only emergencies and experiments."
Sirius shook his head. "Experiments. I still don't understand how you didn't go to Ravenclaw."
Harry smiled innocently. "I have no idea either."
Remus then stepped forward and handed him a thin parcel. "I know that Alex has the Marauder's map right now, so I made you a new copy for yourself."
"Thanks, Uncle Moony. I really appreciate it!"
The rest of the party went off without a hitch, and Harry enjoyed his time with mostly his godfathers and occasionally his parents. He resolutely avoided all the other guests.
Finally, the last of the guests left. "Where's Alex?", asked Harry as he looked around to see only his parents and the two godfathers.
"He'll be with the Weasleys until we see them again at the Quidditch World Cup", said Lily as she waved her wand, cleaning up the mess that was left behind.
"So, you'll be hanging out with your two favorite people in the world until then. Me and Moony here!", shouted Sirius excitedly as he put his arms around the shoulders of Harry and Remus.
"What about Mum and Dad?", asked Harry.
"Lily and James have to go overseas. You know, because of the project they're working on", said Remus apologetically.
"And you guys won't tell me what you guys are working on?"
"Sorry son. You'll find out when you get to Hogwarts anyways", said James with a wink and a grin.
"Stop teasing him, James. You've been doing it for the last couple of months anyway. Besides, Sirius will be ragging him for the next week," said Remus exasperatedly.
"Of course, of course. Padfoot, make sure you get Harry good."
"Aye, aye, Prongs", said Sirius with a salute.
"I took the liberty of packing your clothes, sweetie. Do you need anything else?", asked Lily as she brought out a battered trunk.
Harry shook his head. "I've got my wand, and most of my stuff is at Sirius's place anyways."
"Well then, I'll see you at the Quidditch World Cup then son", said James as he clapped his hand on Harry's back.
"I'll miss you Mum and Dad", said Harry half-heartedly.
"Of course, son. We'll miss you too."
The group stood there awkwardly before Sirius whipped out a portkey. "Well, look at the time we should be off, and you two should be too. James, Lily, don't forget to mirror call!"
With that, Harry, Sirius, and Remus vanished.
Harry felt himself land rather roughly. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in front of the ugly portrait of Walburga Black.
Harry grinned. He was home.
AN: As of 1/28/2021 I have rewritten this, to clarify certain aspects of Harry's past. This story is going to be another rather large project, hopefully, one that breaks the current Indy! and WBWL! Harry Potter tropes. After several recommendations, I have also read The Santi's work, and although I found his story very well-written I will be taking my story in a different direction. There will likely be some parallels, but the plot will be undoubtedly different. Although if I can write half as well as him, I'll be satisfied. Please leave a review, and thanks for reading!