Disclaimer: Not mine! Grrrr….
Chapter 2"Hey James?"
"Yeah?"
"What are we gonna call you? We can't both be James. Mum and Dad are gonna need to be able to differentiate between us. Oh, and so will our friends."
"Oh, yeah I guess you're right. Hmmm," he thought about it for a few moments, sticking just the tip of his thumb into his mouth as he did so. "Well, how 'bout Cole? It's my middle name, so it's probably yours as well, but still. It should work. Y'think?"
"Sure!" James paused for a moment, grinning and stuck out his hand taking the other's in his own. "Pleased to meet you Cole."
Cole laughed, shaking his mirror self's hand. "Likewise, my dear James. Likewise."
The two continued on amiably towards James' house, each trying to glean as much information about the other's life as possible. IT was startling how different their lives had been, yet essentially each were the same person for it.
James placed a finger to his lips as he opened the door, motioning for Cole to follow, but to keep quiet for a minute.
"Hi, Mum! Dad! Want you to meet a friend of mine!" James yelled the minute he got into the house bringing his 'new friend' with him and placing Cole in front of him inside the grand entrance hall. He ducked down a little, making himself as small as possible behind Cole. That way his parents would see him first and think that he was the real James.
"I thought we had met all of your friends!" James could hear his dad, Ashley, call back from somewhere in his den.
"Not this one! You'll like him! He isn't as crazy as Sirius is!"
"Why do I not believe you, dear?" James' mother put in. Apparently she was in the kitchen working on dinner. "All of your friends are crazy! Well, maybe with the exception of Remus. He's a sweetheart. Even Lily is slightly crazy!"
"Do you think I'm crazy?!" James pouted pretending to be hurt.
"YES!" Both of his parents yelled back simultaneously.
"Oh... Well, thanks a lot!" He grinned at Cole reassuringly.
"No problem, love," Mari called back, laughing softly to herself.
"Please just come meet him!" James wheedled.
"All right, dear," James' mother, Mari, walked into the room and smiled at Cole thinking he was her son. "Well, where is he?"
"Uh..." Cole hedged as James sniggered behind him gripping the back of his shirt.
"Is he hiding behind you?" Ash asked as he walked into the room, going to stand beside his wife.
"Not quite," James snickered. Cole was beginning to look a little nervous. He wasn't quite sure what it was that James wanted him to do other than stand there.
"Well, if he doesn't want to meet us, then I'm going back to finish cooking dinner. Let him know that he's invited," Mari rolled her eyes, beginning to turn back towards her destination.
"I'd love to stay for dinner," Cole smiled and James laughed louder.
"James, you stay for dinner every night. Although, normally you have Sirius here as well. I'm surprised you didn't bring him along tonight. You know he's welcome to stay for the summer. He always is. I would never force him to stay with that family of his," Ash murmured rather patiently. He was used to his son's theatrics.
"I've never had dinner here before," Cole corrected softly, glancing back over his shoulder cautiously.
"Of course you have. What is this nonsense about?" Mari placed her hands on slender hips, patience being put to the test.
"He's never been here for dinner before, Mum," James finally decided to show his face and stand next to Cole. The twins grinned sheepishly as the looks of shock appeared on James' parents' faces.
"James, who is this?" his father was the first to recovered his voice and stare pointedly at James, having figured out that the second of the two had to be his own son.
"I told you. He's a friend of mine," he laughed, grinning mischievously. Cole couldn't help but offer a little smile of his own.
"What's your name? Since our son has yet to introduce you to us properly," Ash gave his son a look before smiling at Cole.
"James Potter," Cole answered automatically, giving James a wicked sideways glance.
"We thought we'd make it easier on you and he'll go by Cole, our middle name," James grinned.
"Dear, where did you meet him?" Mari asked, finally breaking through her own shock enough to participate in the conversation once again.
"On the way home from Sirius'. We'll explain during dinner. I told you that you'd like him. If you didn't, it'd be like not liking your own son and that'd be a crime. Think he could stay here?"
"For how long?" Mari's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"We'll discuss it during dinner," Ash put in having a feeling that if they discussed it now dinner would likely burn. "Why don't you go take care of it," he kissed Mari and she went back to the kitchen casting one last suspicious look over her shoulder before disappearing from sight.
"I'm not sure what you're trying to pull here James," his father said quietly pulling James away from Cole and over to the other side of the room. Cole remained where he was, looking around in curiosity at the entryway.
"Nothing. Everything I've said so far is true," James answered, his expression immediately becoming serious since the situation called for it.
"What about everything he's said? Is his name really James Potter?" he leaned close, so that he could whisper without Cole overhearing.
"Yes, everything he's said is true, too."
"Why does he look so much like you and why does he have the same name?"
"Because he is me. Well, sorta. He's me from another dimension. He didn't like it there so he came here. He met me on accident. He was rather surprised when he figured out who I was," James laughed softly castling a glance over at his twin.
"I see."
"You do believe me don't you?"
"Yes. I don't know why I do, but I do. It's just too far fetched to be a lie," Ash sighed running a hand through his messy hair. "The weirdest things happen to you. You know that?"
"Yup! So, can he stay with us? He refuses to go back to where he came from, and besides, I like him. It'd be fun having a twin brother," James begged clutching his hands together in front of him and looking up at his father with puppy dog eyes.
"Minx, I'll talk to your mother about it. Why doesn't he want to go back?"
"Well his parents, I guess that means the twins of you and Mum, were killed by Voldemort when he was younger and he's been staying with Muggles since then. He's never even been to Hogwart's. The Muggles wouldn't let him. They thought it was a joke. They aren't very nice from what he's told me. Please let him stay with us," James whined pathetically. He really wanted them to let Cole stay.
"I'll talk to your mother. You can go," Ash waved him away with one hand and sighed. His son really did run into some strange things. First they basically adopted the nutcase, Sirius, and then one of his other best friends turns out to be a werewolf. Not to mention other small things here and there along the way.
"Thanks Dad!" James hugged him and ran back over to Cole smiling.
"He believes us. He's gonna talk to Mum about letting you stay. I'm sure he'll be able to convince her. He normally can. He once talked her into letting Sirius stay here for the entire summer and since then he stays every summer. Sirius is my best friend and yeah he's a bit crazy, but I'm sure you'll like him. Did you meet the Sirius from your world? Or Lily? Or Remus? They're my other really good friends. You'll like them, too. Well you can't like Lily too much though. She's my girlfriend," James rambled excitedly.
"Don't worry I won't steal her from you. I don't swing that way," Cole interrupted. "And no I never met any of them. Maybe if I had, I wouldn't have come here," he shrugged. "I didn't really have any friends. The Muggles wouldn't let me out much."
"Well then, I'm glad you haven't met them yet. You'll like them a lot."
"So am I," Cole grinned. "I like the idea of being a twin. And Besides I'll get to meet them soon then. And you're okay with me being... Uh... being the way that I am?"
"Yup! Siri is too. So it isn't a big deal. Hey! Maybe he'll take a liking to you!" James laughed seeing his twin's blush. "Maybe Mum and Dad'll let us have them all over tomorrow night. That way you can meet them and get to know them before school starts. Sirius will be here all summer like always. His family might as well be all Death Eaters for how much they agree with Voldemort and like the dark arts. Siri isn't into all that. He wants to be an auror, so as you can probably imagine, they don't get along all that well," he explained.
"That'd be great. Well not about the part about him not getting along with his family. I mean about meeting them."
James grinned evilly, "You can pretend to be me. I'll tell you all about them before hand so that you don't look like an eejit and call them by the wrong name. I won't tell them about you when I ask them over. So they'll have no reason to think it isn't me. Then I'll come in a little while later and say something along the lines that I was out running an errand for Mum. I'll make Lily come last though, so that you don't confuse her."
"I doubt she'd like being made a fool of by kissing me on accident," Cole grinned back. This sounded like it was going to be fun.
"Precisely!"
"Boys! Dinner!" Mari called from the doorway. She had just finished setting the table and putting the food out. The boys took off running and sat down at the table across the table from each other.
"Looks great, Mum."
"Yeah it really does. Smells great, too."
"Thank you," Mari smiled already warming to James' new friend which she assumed had to be the one who spoke second since the first one had called her Mum. She was rather proud of her capabilities in the kitchen. "So why don't one of you tell me what's going on."
"Well, I'll let Cole explain since he's the one who did it," James answered after swallowing a forkful of mashed potatoes and helping it down with some water.
"Well, uh, Voldemort killed my parents a few years back and I was sent to live with a Muggle family. I brought what was left from my house, which was only a few books and a few personal belongings of my parents and myself. One of the books happened to have a spell in it that would let me travel to a different dimension.
"I wasn't happy living with the Muggles I was with and had tried running away a few times, but they kept bringing me back. Why I don't know since they didn't actually want me. They wouldn't let me go to Hogwart's because they thought it was someone playing a prank on them. Actually they though it was me playing it and punished me. So I decided to actually try the spell out. I know it was more than likely really illegal, but I was desperate and miserable. I ended up in this dimension and hid my trunk. About fifteen minutes after I got here, James came by, found me, and invited me over. So, I've got no place to stay at the moment," his voice trailed off as he began pushing the food around on his plate out of nervousness.
"You poor dear. I'm sure we could find room for you here. I doubt James would mind having a brother of sorts." Her eyes softened. She had a soft spot for kids in hard situations. She couldn't very well let the poor boy fend for himself especially when he carried her blood... in a way.
"You're the best, Mum!" James immediately attacked his mother with a huge hug, followed shortly by Cole doing the same.
"He can share my room!"
"Alright dear, if it's okay with Cole," Mari conceded. "And just as long as you don't keep your father and I up at night."
"It's more than okay with me!" Cole exclaimed happier than he ever had been in his life since he lost his parents. "Do... do you think I could, well, do you think I could call you Mum and Dad, too?"
"If you like, dear. It's alright with me."
The two hugged her again and then moved on to hug Ashley as well.
"Thanks, Dad!"
Ashley laughed, "Sit down and eat before it gets cold. Your mother put a lot of work into making sure you're fed properly." The boys both sat obediently and resumed eating.
"Hey, Mum? Cole and I were thinking. Well, could Sirius, Remus and Lily spend the night tomorrow? I thought Cole should get to know them pretty well before school started, so I figured the sooner the better. He will be coming to Hogwart's with me won't he?"
"Of course he will be. I'll write a letter to Dumbledore after dinner. And yes, I think that's a good idea to give them a chance to get to know each other first. It will make school go much smoother for Cole. But, you two are doing the dishes tonight. Cole can tell your father where he put his trunk, so that he can go retrieve it while you two get the dishes done."
"Alright," both agreed. Doing the dishes wasn't a big sacrifice to make, seeing as how James' parents had basically agreed to adopt Cole. They made the most of if covering the entire kitchen in suds and large luminous bubbles as they worked, laughing all the while.
TBC...