DISCLAIMER: I don't Harry Potter. Tristan is mine though, plus he's cute! *ah*
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would like to thank my reviewers! ^^ You guys are excellent and I love you all *blows kisses* Anyways, I've realized I made a few mistakes in the last couple chapters….yes, Snape is NOT Harry's stepfather, but I didn't know what their relationship would be and Sirius just assumed it would be stepfather….birthdays and dates are stuck the way they are because I figured everything around Harry's b-day …I've got up to chapter 11 fully written, I just need my editor(s) to be encouraged! So encourage them! ^^
Oh yes, someone mentioned language, sorry about that, but I'm warning you now, the story itself will only be around PG-13, but my language may get the best of me and oops, sorry if I offended anyone, but I'm warning you now for all future chapters, I don't believe there is much cursing in this chapter, maybe it's Chapter 7, 8? I don't remember anymore…another reviewer mentioned Tristan's name…..anything that relates to names, I found off www.behindthename.com
Chapter 4
Brotherhood
Harry sent Hedwig off with his letter to his brother. He hoped Hedwig would be able to deliver the letter and that he would get the response quickly. After sending his letter, he waited a few days then the nightmares started. He imagined his brother reading the letter and laughing. Every night the nightmares continued to get worse. A week afterwards, the nightmare began. Harry met his brother, who looked identical to Snape. Tristan acted just like Snape as well. That was just what Harry needed-to be related to another Snape.
"Potter, you're related to me? What a bitch my mother must have been-she had you after all." Tristan sneered.
"Tristan, you're my brother. You've got to understand. You've never met your father, wouldn't you like to meet him?"
"Potter…how dare you call me by my first name! Such disrespect you have for your elders, Potter. Someone's got to teach you a lesson," the Tristan of his dreams sneered, pulling out a leather whip.
"No, Tristan, how could you? HOW COULD YOU?" Harry screamed, waking him up from his sleep. He sat upright, praying that his brother was nothing like the one from that nightmare. It had been a week since any owl had come to his window and it was a week that seemed to never end. He was waiting for Dumbledore's letter as well. Why wasn't his brother responding to his letter? What had happened? He prayed that it wasn't intercepted; that would ruin everything. If Voldemort had found out that Harry had a brother, who was related to Snape, he knew what Voldemort would do. Tristan would have no chance against Voldemort. Harry looked at the crescent moon in the sky. Somewhere in this world, his brother was looking at the same moon.
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Tristan Cameron Winbaf had moved to the United States after graduating Hogwarts. England gave him too many bad memories and he had decided to make a fresh start. He got his GED so he could continue on to college. Abandoning the wizarding world, he moved to New York City. He applied to Columbia University and NYU so he could continue his normal life as a Muggle. His acceptance into NYU was one of the best moments in his life. Feeling that he would still be hunted down, he changed his name to Tristan Cameron Hollen. At the age of eighteen, his adoptive parents died in a plane accident. He never knew his biological parents and never had the urge to look for them. He had a picture of his mother, which was where he inherited the redness in his hair. He knew his father had dark hair, since his hair was black with tints of red to it. His eyes were bright green, the same color eyes as his mother. He figured that his parents were from England as well, since he was born in Southampton.
It was August of 1996 when he received that letter. The letter that would change his life forever.
He was going to begin his junior year at college that fall. He was studying to become a teacher. He was always fond of math and even studied it during his Hogwarts years. He shook his head, thinking of those Hogwarts days, as he walked home from his part time job. Hogwarts was not pleasant for him. He didn't have many friends, although he was in Gryffindor. He liked being alone and was different from everyone else in his house. He took Muggle Studies and Arithmancy, while the rest of his House took Divination and Care of Magical Creatures.
He looked up at all the billboards surrounding Times Square. He lived far away from Times Square and always took the subway home. He decided against it tonight though, he wanted to be alone while he walked to his house. When he reached his apartment building, he saw an owl outside of one of the windows. 'It couldn't be my window, could it?' he thought. Racing up the stairs, he opened his apartment door slowly. Sure enough, it was his window that the owl was outside of. 'How could they find me? This owl must be special.' He hurried to let the owl in, considering the only ones who knew him that were wizards lived in England and this owl must be tired. He looked at the letter. The handwriting was unfamiliar and he thought it looked like a teenage boy's handwriting. He opened it slowly, hoping it wasn't someone's idea of a prank.
Dear Tristan Cameron Winbaf,
Hello. You may know me as 'The Boy Who Lived,' but I am something more to you. I am simply Harry Potter to most people. To you, though, I am your half-brother. I only found out yesterday, on my fifteenth birthday. My mother, Lily Marie Evans Potter, is your biological mother. She gave you up for adoption to a wizard family when you were only four months old. I've sent a wizard picture of our mother and your father. You and I have different fathers. If it is at all possible, could you send me a picture of yourself? I'd love to meet you. Our aunt, uncle, and cousin have raised me since I was one. You must have had a better life than I had, since Aunt Petunia, who is our mother's sister, did not like me very much. I was treated like dirt because Mum and my father were wizards and I most likely was as well. I've included a picture of myself and the family I live with.
Your younger half-brother,
Harry James PotterTristan read the letter over countless times. He looked at the two pictures he was given. One he recognized as his mother; he knew that face all too well. He couldn't put his finger on who the other person in the picture was, though he knew it was someone from his past at Hogwarts. The other picture was not a wizard picture; he was glad that he didn't have to look at the waving picture of his parents, so happy together. This picture shown a boy who looked like a whale, a woman and man that looked like husband and wife, and a young boy who was short, with the same glimmering green eyes as himself.
"These must be the relatives Harry was talking about. My relatives. I can't believe it. Harry Potter, 'The Boy Who Lived,' is my half-brother. I better find a nice picture of myself to send to him," Tristan thought aloud. He stopped for a second though. Harry didn't mention anything about his father. Who was Tristan's father? Why was Harry reluctant in saying who he was? Did Harry not know himself? Tristan knew his head was flurrying with questions and going to England would be the best way to solve this. He decided he would leave after school tomorrow. Calling his boss, he told him that he was going to be taking a vacation leave to visit his parents' graves. He knew first he should tell Harry that he would be coming, but should he go the Muggle way or the wizard way? Knowing that Harry lived Muggles, the Muggle way would be best. Tristan searched for some owl food to give to the strange owl and began his response.
Dear Harry James Potter,
I'd like to tell you a little about myself first. I was raised in peaceful town near London. I knew I would be going to Hogwarts, since my parents always told me I was a pureblood, as far as they knew. You and I know that Lily was Muggle-born, but that does not matter. I was lonely at Hogwarts and didn't have very many friends. I was interested in the Muggle world and knew that they would accept me. After Hogwarts, I moved to the United States and lived in New York City, where I achieved by GED, something equivalent to a high school diploma. I went on to study at NYU, where I am training to become a math teacher right now. My adoptive parents died two years ago in a plane accident. They never told me who my parents were; they only gave me a picture of my mother, whose eyes and hair tints I have inherited. From what they have told me, my mother was not very tall. I, on the contrary, am five foot ten inches. Seeing the picture of my mother and father together proves where I get my black hair and height from.
I would love meet the only family I have left. I am sending this the normal way for you. I gave up the wizarding world after I graduated Hogwarts. I even went as far as to change my last name. I will be Apparating to Diagon Alley and then traveling the Muggle way to where you are. I hope I find you well and I can not wait to meet my little half-brother. I assume you have some surprises up your sleeves for me? Surprise me, I love surprises! Well, I will see you it about four days from today, August 4.
Love,
Tristan Cameron Hollen
Tristan smiled and sent the snowy owl off again. He knew where Harry lived; he overheard Harry telling a friend of his in the common room back while Harry was in his first year. It was a shame Harry hadn't found out sooner, they could have spent more time together while he was at Hogwarts. Maybe then he wouldn't have been so lonely there. Looking out of the window, he saw the crescent moon.
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It was August 6 when Harry finally got a response from Hedwig. Hedwig looked exhausted and Harry wondered why, if Tristan lived in England. Harry opened the letter viciously and realized that Tristan lived in the United States. It was around two o'clock in the afternoon and Aunt Petunia was home. He dashed upstairs to where she was and decided to tell her in advance about his next visitor.
"Aunt Petunia?" Harry said cautiously.
"What is it?"
"My half-brother is coming in two days," Harry said calmly, hoping Aunt Petunia would be as calm.
"You have no half-brother! It's a lie! How is he related to you?"
"He is my mum's first son."
"Lily only had one child, and that's you! There's no such person!"
Harry took a deep breath and handed Aunt Petunia the first letter and the birth certificate. "There's all the proof you need. His name is now Tristan Cameron Hollen. He changed it when he moved to New York."
"Why? Why didn't she tell me?" Aunt Petunia broke down, sobbing. "I knew she didn't want to come home, but why? I had thought something went wrong, or it was me. Harry, let me tell you something. I always hated the fact that my parents loved Lily just because she was a witch, but Lily and I still managed to get along. Until she refused to come home after she graduated Hogwarts, that is. I guess this is why. Well, I suppose we'll have to let him stay here until he wants to leave or you go back to school?"
Harry smiled. Aunt Petunia was being very accepting of this, but how was Uncle Vernon going to react? He hoped it would be like this.
"Thank you! I have to go prepare the couch for Tristan now!"
Aunt Petunia sighed. She knew that Vernon would not react well to this, but she didn't know whether her nephew was a wizard or not. She secretly hoped so, for then Tristan would be allowed to stay out of fear. She called him at work and he was as understanding as she was. She knew there was nothing to fear now that Vernon would let her meet her nephew. All she had left was to tell Dudley.
Calling upstairs, Aunt Petunia yelled, "Duddykins! I have something to tell you!"
Dudley came dashing out as fast as a whale could move, "Mum! What is it?! I'm in the middle of a game here! You better not make me lose!"
"Duddykins, this is important! Come down here now, or I'll take that game away from you."
"Coming, coming."
"Duddykins, you know Harry's mother, your Aunt Lily?"
"I know who you're referring to, yes. What does this have to do with her? She's been dead for almost fourteen years!"
"Well, before Harry was born, she gave birth to another son. Your cousin Tristan is coming to stay with us. I don't know how long he'll be here, but you can count on it not being short. That's all, you can go back to playing games."
"All right! I'm going to beat you, stupid little damn aliens!" Dudley shouted as he stepped up the stairs, since he couldn't run.
Harry smiled. He heard the whole conversation from his room and was very happy to know that his half-brother was being graciously welcomed here. This was going to be the best summer ever. Realizing that he hadn't told Ron or Hermione about Tristan, he decided to write them letters now.
Dear Ron,
I'm sorry about not writing before. I have to tell you something that you have to swear not to tell anyone. My mum was pregnant before she had me. I have an older half-brother that lives in the United States right now. His name is Tristan Cameron Hollen and he was given up for adoption when he was three months old. I didn't know he existed until my birthday and he didn't know he was related to me. He went to Hogwarts, but graduated when we were in our second year. He's coming to visit me soon. He sent a picture of himself to me and he looks my mum. He has the same eyes as me and his hair is black with red tints to it. He's tall, unlike me.
Bill came and was really nice. Thanks for your birthday present. Those games will entertain us on the way to Hogwarts. I'm still waiting for a response from Dumbledore on whether I can leave the house or not. I hope your summer has been good, I know mine has been. See you on September 1, or maybe earlier!
~Harry
He looked up from his letter and checked it over for mistakes. Seeing none, he sat down to write his letter to Hermione.
Dear Hermione,
How's your summer been? Mine's been hectic. I found out that I have a half-brother that's twenty years old right now. He was my mother's first son. He was given up for adoption when he was really young. I didn't find out until my birthday. My brother went to Hogwarts and graduated our second year. He now lives in the United States as a Muggle. You have to swear not to tell anyone about this. He's coming to visit and I'm really excited. He has the same eyes that I have, he's tall, and he has black hair with red tints. I can't wait to meet him.
Thanks for the birthday present. I really appreciate it. I don't know if I can go to the Weasley's later this summer, but I'll be at King's Cross on September 1. See you then!
~Harry
Seeing Hedwig, he gave her the letters to deliver. He couldn't wait until the eighth because his brother was coming then. It was going to be an interesting experience. He counted down the hours. Wanting to make a good impression, he cleaned his room about five times until it was spotless. Those two nights were restless nights. Sleep occurred during the day, when he was too exhausted to do any more chores. Finally, that fateful day came. He was going to meet his half-brother, who shared the same mother but had Snape as a father.
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