Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters, they belong to the genius that is J.K. Rowling. I just own Alex Potter. I'm not making any profit from writing this.
This chapter isn't betaed, any mistakes are my own and English is definitely not my first language. Constructive criticism is much appreciated, flames are not.
Alex's thoughts
Alex was glad to realise the next morning that Petunia really hadn't told Vernon. That was the biggest risk when threatening the woman. Sure, her Uncle was more reasonable than his wife, but that was entirely due to not using magic around him. Other than the time she turned Marge's horrible dog blue and pink, she and Harry had been very careful to never use magic around the man. If canon was anything to go by, Vernon had the potential to be worse than Petunia if someone pierced his 'everything is normal' bubble. She already had enough trouble with her Aunt when Vernon was being civil, Heaven knows how much worse it would get with him egging her on.
Harry was cooking breakfast like she had promised. It was true that her brother liked cooking, but it was really mostly paranoia on their part. Neither would put it past Petunia to put rat poison or worse in their food, she'd been beaten, not broken and cornered animals were more dangerous. They'd have to be careful not to upset the balance further lest she snap. The gardening was really just a matter of pride. From Alex not Harry. The boy couldn't care less if their garden stayed the best in the neighbourhood or not, while Alex refused to let the mean, gossipy housewife from number 6 steal the title when she'd worked so hard on it for years ("It will also keep Petunia happy," she'd hastily added at her brother's incredulous gaze).
It was a Monday, so after school they headed straight to the library. Their plan (Harry's) was very simple. They would spend every afternoon once school ended in the library doing their homework, reading and playing cards. Alex had made the cards years ago and, so long as they were quiet, the old librarian didn't care. It's not like Little Whinging's library was so populated that they would be disturbing anyone, but the man didn't want to "give kids the idea that this is a fun place to hang out in. It's a library, a space for silence and reading, not goofing around".
Alex was pretty sure the man had taken pity on them due to their oversized clothes and skinny faces (three meals weren't much when they consisted of a single slice of meat or bread or… anything really. They were baby portions, too little for growing children, but their stomachs had gotten so used to it they barely rumbled anymore). Alex really wondered what went on in people's heads that no one questioned the Dursley about their son always getting new clothes and them wearing his cast offs. Surely someone had to be questioning the Dursley's financial situation by now.
Harry had wanted to spend every day in the library or in their room when not at school to stay out of Petunia's way, but Alex had insisted they spend Saturday and Sunday morning in the park while Dudley watched cartoons. Their cousin was a bully who loved chasing them around and beating them up (Alex had considered punching him once or twice but… he was a kid!), mostly Harry since Vernon was big on not hitting girls. Thankfully, Dudley was too lazy to actually seek them out and being in different Years gave him less chances to bother them. so long as they made sure to never be in the park when he was, they'd be fine. It would be easy too since Dudley never, ever left the house on a weekend before lunch.
§§§
Their plan worked great. For the rest of the year, they only saw Dudley in the corridors and the rest of the family only while they were cooking. Their garden won first place again and Petunia stopped looking at Alex like she was the devil incarnate. Mr Samson, the librarian, started suggesting new titles for them to read and he taught them pocker. Alex was pants at it while Harry was a freaking card shark. Blackjack was even worse, she somehow managed to lose while being the dealer. She was convinced that those two were toying with her, the dealer couldn't lose! There was no way that was actually possible, but she had. Somehow.
The summer holidays had just started, Harry and Alex sat staring into each others' eyes, legs crossed. They breathed together, when their breathing was synchronized, Harry placed his hands on the sides of his sister's face. Magic gathered in the palm of his hands, tendrils seeped beneath her skin and were met by her own magic. A breath, two. He fell.
§§§
Alex watched her brother grab one of the books in her mindscape and disappear into the pages in a flash of light. She hadn't really wanted to let him in here at first, she still didn't, but Harry had been so very jealous that she remembered their parents and he didn't. Alex felt guilty enough about failing to save them that she had given in after weeks of silent treatment and angry glares. She still intended to get a Pensive as soon as possible and give him a copy of her memories. He might be her twin in this life, but her skin crawled and her magic circled, ready to pounce, whenever he was here. This was HER mind, he had no right to be here.
She left him in the 'receiving room' she had created just for him; the only place he could really enter before her magic violently threw him out. Alex would bring him the memories she was willing to share and he'd spend hours lost in them. She left him to it and checked on the rest of her mindscape. The place she created in the last two years of her life, stuck in a body that wouldn't move with eyes that refused to open. She'd spent who knows how long in a coma, sometimes she'd hear the doctors talk, felt her mother holding her hand. More often than not, she couldn't handle the prison that her body had become. That's how this place had been born, when dreams ended and she was awake, damn, why can't I open my eyes? Just a bit more, please God, let me listen just a little bit more.
