Chapter 2: Let's start investigating

(Warning: self-injury)

Avery took Alex to his room and comforted him, swallowing her fear, that used to be a very common dynamic between the twins. Avery, who Lily forced to be the "perfect" child, was in charge of comforting and taking care of Alex in every way possible, she always put her twin brother's needs above her own. Then there was Alex, who had practically zero self-esteem and self-confidence, because of his small and somewhat effeminate appearance he never met the standards of masculinity that their father and mother had, so he was always labeled as someone useless and fragile, who was incapable of taking care of himself.

James and Lily always forced Harry and Avery to protect Alex, just so he wouldn't be a nuisance or further embarrassment to them. Outside the house, the three siblings used to act spoiled and happy, but the reality was completely different. And while Harry could act outside like a "mini" James, in reality he was a very insecure and easily manipulated person.

Avery smiled sweetly at Alex as she managed to calm him down -"I'm going to leave my stuff in my room, you, just stay here, I'll be back soon"- She got up and grabbed her stuff and walked out of Alex's room to her own.

Alex wiped his tears as he takes his things and put them inside his trunk, minus a few books he wanted to read before school started and the books his parents had allowed him to buy. He couldn't help but smile at the two books he managed to get, he had wanted them for a long time, but his parents would never give that kind of books to someone as useless as him, but thanks to the fact that they had to act today as a happy family he took the opportunity to buy them, he would have wanted some more, but he didn't want his father to beat him for making them spend more money than they had to.

Avery sighed as she put things away in her room, she looked at herself in the mirror with a grimace of disgust -"For not taking good care of Alex look what happened, you let dad hurt him again"- She said to herself in the mirror before taking a sharp object that she had well kept in her desk, she sat on the floor, she rolled up her shirt and cut her wrists, she watched with blood ran with her arms as a new mark joined the old ones on her wrists. When she felt better, she bandaged her wrists and hid them under her sleeves. She forced a smile before leaving her room and returning to Alex's, he needed her now, she didn't matter right now.

Alex looked at the red mark on his arm where his father had grabbed him, he changed his shirt to a shirt with long sleeves, to hide it, if he left the house no one could see it or his father would be more upset. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he decided to divert his thoughts to what happened in Diagon Alley, what related to his mother's attitude, his wand, and Professor Snape.

-"Hey, I'm back, are you in a lot of pain? I brought you some healing cream"- Avery said with her typical smile and jar in her hand as she walked towards Alex.

Alex smiled at her and sat down on the bed. -"Thanks; it does hurt a little bit"-

Avery sat down next to him and pulled up his sleeve, she grimaced as she saw the red mark and purple parts on his arm. -"It should be healed by tomorrow"- She said as she carefully applied on the cream on his arm.

Alex bit his lip deciding whether or not to tell his sister his thoughts, after all it was the reason why his father was angry, though he didn't know why -"Hey"- He muttered breaking the silence -"Do you think my wand and Professor Snape's wand are somehow related?"-

Avery thought for a moment as she closed the jar and placed it on the bed. -"Maybe, I felt a strong connection between me and Snape when we were talking, but I don't know what it was about, though..."- She pauses -"Do you think mom cheated on dad with Snape?"- She finished with a whisper.

Alex's eyes widened. -"You think?"- He looked towards the door, worried that one of their parents might walk in at any moment. -"But Mom wouldn't be able to do that, would she?"- He whispered nervously looking back at Avery.

Avery nodded -"Well, think about it, neither of our parents have black hair, but we do, Snape has black hair too and if you saw how mom acting around Professor Snape you could tell she was very nervous and feeling bad. Maybe she regretted cheating on him!"- She continued whispering -"And your wand looks like his too! Besides, kids naturally have a strong connection with their parents and I never felt that with dad, but I felt it with Snape"- She continued without raising her tone.

Alex didn't want to believe it, but his sister was right -"Yeah, you're right, besides our hair is very straight, dad's and Harry's is very messy and mom's is not as straight as ours"- He stays thinking for a moment, an idea came to his mind, but he knew that if they were caught they would get in a lot of trouble. -"Hey, you know mom won't let us in the attic, maybe there's something there that will give us the answer"- He says softly and playing with his thumbs nervously.

-"You might be on to something, Alex!"- Avery whispered, feeling a little excited about this adventure.

Alex sighed at his sister's enthusiasm, but smiled a little. -"Well, mom is in the kitchen and dad is in the backyard, I think that would be the perfect time to go up and check, or we could also wait for the night when everyone is asleep, that way it will be less risky"- He suggested, but he preferred to go at night, he didn't want to get a beating if their parents were to discover them.

-"Umm I think it would be best to wait until the night and besides the sun will be going down soon, so we won't have to wait that long"- Avery said before sighing -"Besides I'll soon have to go downstairs to make dinner"-

Alex nodded feeling a little more relieved. -"Okay, we'll do it"- He sighed. -"It'll be awful if it's true that mom cheated on dad"-

-"It would be, but if I'm right she'd at least feel bad about it"- Avery said sadly, though living with someone like James wouldn't be an uncommon thing.

Alex thinks for a minute. -"But then, why doesn't Professor Snape know anything, he acted very calm, when he saw us he immediately thought you were Potter, it's like he never slept with mom, maybe, there's something more than just infidelity"-

Avery sighed -"I don't know either, maybe you're right there is something more"- She looked at the time and sighed heavily -"I have to go to the kitchen, mom will yell at me if I don't get there in time to make dinner"- She says before getting out of bed.

-"Can I help you?" Alex says getting out of bed as well.

-"No, you just stay here like mom said and read a book, I'll come get you when dinner is ready"- Avery pats his head before leaving the room and going to the kitchen.

Alex sighed heavily as his sister left the room. -"Stay here and not get in the way like always, what I expected, I am not good at helping my sister to cook"- He said with tears in his eyes before he sat down on the bed and began to read waiting for his twin to come for him.

Lily frowned as she saw Avery enter the kitchen -"Come on, hurry up, don't waste time"- She looked her up and down -"You've been gaining a lot of weight, you should be thinner by the time you start school or no one will go out with you"- She said before sitting down at the table with a snort.

Avery looks at herself with a sad and disgusted look -"Yes, mom, you're right"- She said in a mumble before getting to cooking, as always she cooked for the whole family. After cooking for half an hour, she put the food on the table, obviously her plate had the least amount of food on it -"I'm done, I'm going to get Alex"- She said before running upstairs. -"Come on, Alex, dinner's ready"- She dragged him by the arm into the kitchen.

Alex bit his lip when he saw his father, brother, and mother already sitting at the table eating. He sat next to Avery and ate in silence, the tension in the room was very obvious so no one dared to speak, but it was a normal thing in this family to eat in silence. Sometimes only James or Lily would speak to insult or criticize one of the twins, or talk to Harry about his future, putting a lot of pressure on him.

When they finished dinner, everyone did their usual thing; James went to the fireplace to talk on the Floo Network with Sirius. Lily sat in the living room reading a book. Harry locked himself in his room to study, do his summer homework or send letters to Ron or Hermione, whatever he did he stayed locked up most of the time. Avery was sent to do the dishes and clean the entire kitchen; she didn't have the option of refusing. Alex offered to help Avery, but only received the typical response from Lily -"Cleaning is women's work, and you'll just mess it up, break something or do it wrong, don't bother and go to your room, all you have to do is stay out of the way"- And she also received a sweet little whisper from Avery -"I'm fine Alex, just do what mom says, okay"- With a sad sigh Alex went up to his room to wait for the time to carry out their plan.

Once Avery finished cleaning up, she and Alex "got ready" for bed, so as not to arouse suspicion. They did the usual, showered, brushed their teeth, put on their pajamas and closed their bedroom doors and went to "sleep". But once they were all asleep and the house was completely silent, Alex got out of bed with a flashlight and walked slowly to Avery's room, he opened the door and murmured -"Are you ready?"-

-"Yeah, I am, let's go"- Avery nodded and took a flashlight and followed Alex in silence until they reached the door leading to the attic stairs.

Alex opened the door slowly and climbed the stairs. Once they were upstairs, he turned on the light, illuminating the attic. -"There are a lot of boxes and not much dust, mom must come here quite often"- He said, putting the flashlight down on the floor.

Avery looked around -"I know"- She walked towards the boxes she opens one of them with a memory book inside -"Look!"- She says excitedly while giving the book to Alex.

Alex walks over to his sister -"A memory book, let's open it"- He said, not being able to contain his excitement.

Avery nods and opens the book, where it showed several pictures of Lily with Snape. -"I guess they were close"- She says, looking at several photos of them in their childhood and adolescence.

-"You're right"- Alex turns the page and a photo of Lily and Severus getting married appears. -"Wait what! Look at this photo"- He says pointing at it.

Avery opens her eyes wide -"They got married! But when?"- She turned several pages, but there were no more pictures about a wedding, just Lily in a wedding dress and Snape in a suit and tie.

-"That's the same dress she wore to the wedding with Dad"- Alex had an idea -"Hey, don't you think that instead of Mom cheating on Dad with Professor Snape, Mom cheated on Professor Snape with Dad?"-

-"I think you're right. But there's something that doesn't fit, like we're missing something"- Avery said with a voice of doubt before Alex's idea.

Alex nodded his head. -"Yeah, you're right, if mom cheated on Snape, why did they have us then? And why didn't he recognize us? Besides, his attitude towards Mom didn't seem like someone who had cheated"-

-"Yeah, although in their way we have too many similarities with Snape, he didn't seem to know anything about us and how mom behaved with Snape didn't seem right, so mom slept with someone she shouldn't have"- Avery explained.

Alex thinks for a moment, coming up with a somewhat crazy idea. -"Do you think mom could have erased or altered Professor Snape's memory and maybe dad's?"- He had been reading about memory erasing or altering spells.

Avery nods. -"You may be right, but how do we prove it?"- She thinks for a moment. -"Keep looking in the boxes, we've only looked in one box and found this, but maybe we can find an old diary or something!"-

They were about to open more boxes when a loud noise was heard downstairs.

-"Shit, someone woke up, we have to get out of here fast"- Avery said nervously before looking at her brother, she couldn't let their father beat him, she had to protect him -"Put everything away and let's get back to our rooms fast!"-

Alex trembled, the excitement and curiosity that had given him the courage to go upstairs was gone, now he was terrified, they were going to be caught. His eyes watered as panic gripped his body.

Avery managed to put everything in its place when she saw Alex petrified. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. -"Come on, I'll protect you, no one will hurt you"- She said firmly.

Alex nodded slowly before grabbing his flashlight and running downstairs after turning off the light.

Avery closed the door slowly as she walked over taking Alex's hand, when she saw someone coming up the stairs she looked around before turning around and comforting Alex -"It's okay, don't cry"-

Lily turned on the corridor light and raised an eyebrow at the sight of them. -"What are you two doing up?"-

Avery turned around and pulled Alex behind her, feeling a little relieved that it was Lily and not James -"Alex had a nightmare and I walked him to the bathroom, and now I'm taking him to my room, so we can sleep together"- She said smiling.

Lily narrowed her eyes, but she believed her -"Crying over a nightmare, take good care of your brother, it's your job and I hope because of your little late night adventure it doesn't make you get up late you have to make breakfast"- She said before walking to her room.

Avery nodded and dragged Alex to her room -"You'll sleep here tonight, okay"-

Alex nodded on the verge of tears, holding his shirt tightly.

Avery wiped away his tears -"Come on, don't cry, I already told you that your big sister will always protect you, let's go to sleep, we can continue investigating the attic tomorrow"- She picked him up and laid him on the bed, tucked him in and sang him a lullaby. She smiled sweetly at her brother as he slept, then a thought came into her head, why was their mother out so late, and where had she gone? She tried to answer those questions, but at some point she had fallen asleep.

A couple of hours earlier while the twins were checking the attic, Lily was walking through Diagon Alley, she had received a letter from a certain person, right after dinner, and that person wanted to see her.

Lily looked around the store she had entered, she saw that person and sighed -"You wanted to see me?"-

That person smiled at her -"Oh, of course, I heard you met Severus, have you acted as I told you and as James acted?"-

Lily sighed again -"Hey, if you came to question me about whether I messed up your plan, yes, I acted as you told me and James got angry and hurt Alex, I took according to how you had said"-

That person nodded -"Oh, very well, just keep acting like that, everything will start when the twins enter Hogwarts and Severus must get used to seeing them"-

-"Yeah, yeah, you are a mastermind, Severus will never notice they are his children; the spell I cast was perfect. James hasn't noticed in 11 years"- Lily laughed -"Though he'd be happy if they weren't his, well, it doesn't matter, even if none of them will notice until the plan is in place"-

-"Don't worry Lily, you're doing this for the greater good, you'll be rewarded when this is all over"-That person says before walking out of the store.

Lily scratches her head frustrated -"Yeah, yeah, for the greater good and I will be rewarded, I can't regret this, I must continue to the end, no matter if my three children die, their destinies were decided a long time ago"- She said to herself before leaving the store and going back to her house. Once she got back to her house she went to the kitchen for a drink, as she thought about everything she had been through since she was 16, she clenched her fists in frustration before hitting the counter. She took a deep breath before walking up the stairs and finding the twins, they were to blame for some of Lily's misery. Lily wanted to love them, but they were the spitting image of Severus, a friend she loved dearly, but betrayed him. She shook her head, remembering that person's words, and she was right she wasn't doing anything wrong, her family were nothing more than chess pieces, she just had to do what she was told and that was it, the rest didn't matter. After the talk with the twins she went to her room and went to bed, she saw James before rolling her eyes; she really hoped this would all be over quickly.