Chapter 2: Brothers.

Ten years passed since the two Potters had been left on the door step of the Dursley's. Harry Potter had been woken up from the sound of his Aunt Petunia pounding on his door.

"Wake up you free-loaders! And get breakfast ready, Dudley will be awake soon and we want everything perfect for his special day." Her shrill voice sent a cold chill down Harry's spine.

Opening his eyes and telling her that they'll be out in a minute, the small child reached over and got his glasses, he then got a pair of his socks and slipped them on before pulling on his shoes. When he was sure he had everything he needed on he climbed back onto his bed before bending over and knocking onto the wooden floor beneath him.

"Andy, wake up. We have to get breakfast ready." He said knocking a little louder.

A muffled reply was heard.

"Okay, but you know this room's way too small for both of us, so um, could you…"

"Oh right, I'll see you in the kitchen." Harry replied quickly getting out of his bed and climbing out of their shared closet.

Andrew and Harry couldn't both fit onto the small bed the Dursley's stuffed into the closet under the stairs, so he told his brother that he'd make his own little place to sleep and that Harry shouldn't worry about it. One day when their uncle had gone out he quickly snuck into the shed outside and taken some tools and built himself a bed under the floor board and had managed to put the tools back before his uncle noticed. Climbing out of his way too small bed Andrew Potter quickly pulled on some clothes and made his way into the kitchen before his Aunt bothered him again.

Walking to the oven where Harry was preparing the bacon for their dear cousin Dudley. He walked over to the cupboards and pulled out some dishes and carefully went over to place them around the table. Just as he placed the last plate down he heard what sounded like a barrel of oil and grease tumbling down the stairs.

Turning to his brother Andrew said "Here comes the birthday whale." In his most sarcastic tone causing Harry to scoff.

Dudley Dursley was a very obese little boy with blonde hair and pudgy red cheeks, he had been spoilt rotten by his parents for as long as both Potters could remember, while they were usually treated like a piece of dung stuck on a shoe.

"Freaks." He said as he rushed past the brothers to count his presents.

A few minutes later saw an even fatter man with blonde hair walk into the kitchen clutching a newspaper under his arm. He looked at the two Potters with disgust before sitting at the head of the kitchen table.

"Listen here you, devils! It's my son's birthday and I will not settle for any of your satanic bull crap today. Am I clear?!" he yelled at the two boys.

"Yes, uncle Vernon." The boys said in unison.

"Wait a second there's only 36 presents here, last year I got 49!" Dudley complained loudly.

"Oh really? Well some of don't get squat, you arrogant twat." Andrew muttered under his breath.

Harry looked at his brother, he knew how much Andrew hated the Dursley's, they had always treated Andrew the worst between the two of them, mainly because of his skin color. Andrew wasn't a ten year old white boy; he was a dark skinned boy with bright hazel eyes and dreadlocks which always seemed to naturally fall the way he wanted them to. Harry knew Andrew was adopted, but he didn't care, at the end of the day, the only thing that kept his hope alive was his brother; Andrew Raymond Potter.

After serving the Dursley's their food they forced Andy to clean the dishes while Harry had to sweep the kitchen. They were half way done when the telephone rang; Petunia Dersley rushed over to the phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

Her face fell while she looked at the two boys she detested more than freak sister and her stupid husband.

"Okay, goodbye." She hung up the phone, "Vernon!" she yelled through the house.

"Yes dear?"

"That was Mrs Figg, she can't take them, she's broken her ankle." She told him while glaring at the two boys.

"Oh great, now what?" he asked in an irritated tone.

"We could just stay here." Harry stated with a bit of hopefulness in his voice. Harry had no intention of going with Dudley to the zoo, mainly because of Piers Polkiss, Dudley's right hand man in the constant abuse of the two Potter boys.

"And leave you two to make a mess of my house? I think not." Petunia said shooting a hateful glance at Harry.

"Or…" Andrew started, "You could just leave without us and we'll go to the park or something until you come back."

This idea seemed to work until Vernon came up with a problem.

"And have the whole neighbourhood see you two hoodlums? Not a chance."

"We'll just say we're homeless. I mean we've already got the tacky clothes so-"

Andrew was stopped mid-sentence when a fist connected with his jaw.

"We gave you Dudley's old clothes out of the goodness of our hearts and you go and say something that disrespectful?" Vernon asked while his face turned purple.

Andrew stood up slowly and stared at the man who was much larger than him.

"Don't you ever hit me agai-"

Another fist connected with his face, leaving him feeling slightly dazed but he still refused to back down.

"Hit me again and I'll-"

"You'll what? You are nothing but a piece of trash someone didn't want and left with my sister. You don't even know your real name do you? Look at that thing standing next to you then look at yourself, you see what the difference is between you two?" Petunia sneered at the young boy.

Andrew simply glared at the woman refusing to give into the bait.

"His WHITE, you aren't! Now apologize to Vernon you pretend Potter." she yelled at him.

That stung Andrew a bit; it was true he didn't know who his birth parents were, but he knew they must've had a very legitimate reason for leaving him with the Potters. He gave a defeated sigh before looking at the purple man in front of him.

"I- I'm sorry uncle Vernon." He muttered looking down.

"That's better now get back to cleaning this house you pesky Vermin!" she said coolly.

Giving a small sigh Andrew looked at Harry who shot him an apologetic look; Andrew simply smiled at Harry and waved it off.

After another hour, Harry and Andrew had finally finished their chores and managed a quick shower and change of clothes before Piers arrived. Dudley had been stuffing his mouth, again before jumping up and running to his friend. They spoke for a while, occasionally shooting glances at the two odd boys standing off to the side.

"Are they going to be joining us?" Piers asked glancing at the pair again.

"God, I hope not. Mum and Dad are talking about it now, so hopefully we'll just lock them in their closet." Dudley replied hatefully.

As they continued speaking Vernon and Petunia came into the room looking like they had just swallowed a basket full of lemons.

"You two!" Vernon said pointing at Harry and his brother.

"Get ready to go to the zoo." He finished.

"And you two." Petunia said in a much softer tone, looking at Dudley and Piers.

"We're really sorry about this, but we can't risk leaving these hoodlums in the house alone."

Dudley looked to be on the verge of tears and Andrew had to bite his tongue so he wouldn't say anything to earn him a beating he had gotten last week. He winced at the memory and shook his head to forget the torture.

Harry couldn't believe it, he had heard the kids in school talking about all the different animals they had seen and touched at the zoo and now he was finally getting to go. Harry looked towards Andrew and saw him giving a small smile, he knew Andy was just has excited as he was, but he was better at hiding his emotions, and it was Harry's fault. Harry felt a pang of guilt as he saw his brother's jaw clench when uncle Vernon locked eyes with him. The events of last week were still fresh in both of the boy's mind.

Flashback

Vernon hadn't been able to find his red tie, it was his favourite tie Dudley had bought it for him as a gift for his major deal at his drilling firm, and he couldn't find it. Now he was in a bad mood, he walked downstairs to find the freaks had prepared his breakfast. Sitting at the head of the table he started eating his eggs. Then his eyes bulged out of his head; his son entering the kitchen with a sulk and plopping in his seat. Looking closely he noticed that his son had a small envelope which looked like it came from his school, telling his son to hand over the small letter he opened it and noticed it was his sons end of year exam scores.

He silently read the contents of the letter, but didn't pay much attention to it and rather skipped to the grades:

Dudley Dursley.

History: D

Mathematics: F

English: C-

P.T: C

Social Studies: F

Biology: D

He looked at his son, Dudley and gave him a supportive look.

"Don't worry about it son, these aren't important." He said trying to cheer his son up.

Though it didn't seem to work, Dudley looked up at the two grinning Potter boys and gave a defeated sigh. Calling the two boys over he told them to hand over their reports so he could have a look at them. Snatching it from their hands he stood gaping at their marks.

Harry James Potter.

History: A-

Mathematics: A+

English: A+

P.T: C

Social Studies: A

Biology: A

Andrew Raymond Potter.

History: A-

Mathematics: B+

English: A

P.T: A+

Social Studies: A-

Biology: A+

Vernon stood staring at their pages before snapping at them.

"What the bloody hell is this!? Where do you get off, doing better than my son?!"

"Ex-excuse me?" Harry asked obviously confused.

"So because you get better marks you think that makes you better?!"

"… The hell you on about?" Andrew asked frowning at the large man.

He felt a huge sting in his cheek as he looked back to his to his uncle who had his hand raised. Sure he'd been hit before but that was because he had done something he wasn't supposed to; which most of the time because of him being black, but because he had done excellently in school? He never thought that would happen, like ever.

"Uncle Vernon, I- I don't understand." Harry said looking from his uncle to Andrew hoping to defuse the rapidly growing situation.

Vernon looked to Harry and frowned in a very ugly way.

"You and your 'brother' here are not smarter than Dudley! They must have mixed his marks up with someone else's! There's no way two abominations like yourselves have enough 'normal' brain power to get such good marks! How'd you do it, huh? You used your freak powers to cheat didn't you!?"

Andrew stood gaping at his now purple faced uncle before dissolving into gits of laughter.

"Really? So just because we're different we cheated? Hey it isn't our fault that Dudley's dumber than horse piss!" He finished laughing and pointing at Dudley who looked torn between anger and shame.

"Why you little-" Vernon made a grab at Andrew who dodged out of the way, and turned to run.

He stopped when his eyes fell on Harry who hadn't been paying attention as Dudley came up behind him and punched the back of his head. A small voice started to echoed in Andrew's mind "Andrew, take care of Harry, take care of your brother." And like a bullet Andrew ran towards Dudley, with Vernon still chasing him and punched the fat little boy in the jaw. The surprise attack caused Dudley to fall onto the floor. Acting quickly Andrew grabbed Harry's hand and forced him into their 'room' closing the door and locking Harry inside while he stood outside and watched as a purple faced Vernon and red faced Dudley slowly advance towards him.

"You're not going to get to Harry." His voice was cold, emotionless and dangerous.

Harry stood behind the door listening to his brother challenge their main tormentors, the next sound made him stop breathing all together. He heard a loud thump against the door and Andrew's moans of pain, that didn't stop them though. Harry was forced to listen to Vernon giving Dudley tips on how to punch Andrew without causing too much noticeable damage.

The sound of punches and kicks filled the air and all Harry could do was sit there and listen. 'It's my fault, I should've helped him. But… why couldn't I?'

Twenty minutes passed before the assault finally stopped, Harry rushed over to the door and pressed his ear to it.

"That'll teach you, learn to respect those better than you." Harry heard his uncle say.

There was a few more minutes of silence before the sound of the lock on the broom closets door began to rattle, thinking it was Dudley, Harry quickly picked up a bucket and was ready to strike. The door opened and standing in front of him was his beaten and bruised brother.

"Hey bro." He said with a weak grin before collapsing onto the floor.

For the next couple of days Andrew couldn't use his right arm properly and he had a bad limp in his left leg, but that didn't stop him from protecting his brother. When Harry asked him why he felt he needed to keep him safe, Andrew's reply was simple; "Cause, mum asked me to."

End of Flashback

Harry looked back at his uncle and aunt who were collecting their cloaks, stepping out of the house with Andrew by his side Harry did a scan of the street, everything looked normal, except one thing, looking closely Harry saw a tabby brown cat sitting across the street staring at Number 4, the cat had rectangular shaped markings around its eyes, but the look in its eyes gave Harry a slight. It looked disappointed, angry even. Harry was broken out of his thoughts by a hand roughly pulling him away from the car.

"Listen here, you. You'd better keep an eye on your brother or both of you will be getting it!" Harry nodded at his uncle's words and made his way over to the car. Looking over at Andrew who was seated next to a grinning Piers Polkiss, Harry knew this day would get worse before it got better.

#-o-o-#

The day went on with only minimal discomfort. Andrew and Vernon still glared at each other hatefully, Harry stuck close to Andrew in case Dudley and Piers wanted to start trouble and he knew if he was alone he wouldn't stand a chance but with his brother they had a shot against them. The zoo was fun, the Potter boys were amazed by the sheer size and variety of the animals from all over the world. Dudley however became bored quite quickly and began throwing a temper tantrum saying he wanted to go see the snakes, of course his whale of a father and tooth pick of a mother agreed whole-heartedly and lead them towards the reptile house.

The dark section of the zoo was very cooling, the party of six moved along the different glassed in reptiles.

"Oh, dad, look at that!" Dudley said pointing at a sleeping snake behind one of the glasses.

"Make it move!" he commanded.

Vernon moved towards the glass and started knocking loudly on it, but didn't get a response and tried again, this time the snake opened one of its eyes and regarded them with a sort of bored expression before returning to its slumber.

"It's boring." Dudley said angrily before looking at another lively reptile.

Harry and Andrew shook their heads before walking to the snake Dudley had just annoyed.

"Hey there, sorry about them." Harry said quietly.

"Yeah, they aren't the… kindest or the most sensitive or smartest… anyway they aren't nice people." Andrew added smiling at the snake.

The snake uncoiled itself and stared at the two boys.

"Eh, don't worry about it; jerksss like them come along every day, it'ss cool."

Both boys stared opened mouthed at the snake for a second before looking around to see if no one was listening in to them.

"You can talk?" Harry asked quietly.

"What are you talking about? Oh I get it, you're messssing with me. Funny." The snake said giving the boys what it must have considered a smile.

"No, we're being serious, we understand you." Andrew countered staring at the snake wide eyed.

"Oh, thank Anaconda! Do you think you could let me out of here? I want to go back to my home town."

"Uh, and where would that be?" Harry asked still slightly baffled.

"Look here; he was brought here from Cuba. Wow." Andrew said looking at the sign on the glass.

"What?! Cuba! That'sss not true, I'm from down the road, in that little park and what do you mean 'he'? I'm female!" the snake said with ending with a loud 'hmph'.

"Oh, sorry ma'am." Andrew said quickly, feeling quite ridiculous.

"Alright miss…"

"Robyn." The snake said with a nod.

"Robyn the Boa Constrictor, kinda anti-climactic don't you think?" Andrew said tilting his head thinking about the name.

"I know right. My father heard a human ssssay that name and fell in love with it, and ssssince I was the firsssst one to hatch, I got curssssed with that bloody name." Robyn said shaking her head.

"Uh, back on topic please. How are we going to get her out?"

"Well we could just brea-" Andrew got cut off by the annoying sound of Dudley's voice.

"OH LOOK! Out of my way, freaks!" He said pushing both boys out of his way, causing them to fall to the ground.

Dudley and Piers went over to the glass and leaned forward against it, the next happened in a blink of an eye; both boys suddenly fell through the glass and into the snakes den. Both boys froze when they came face to face with the 6 foot snake, before Robyn slithered past both boys who were thankful that the water in the enclosure had soaked their pants.

Robyn fell to the ground and looked at the Potter boys.

"Thank you ssso much, I would hug you if there wasssn't a rissssk of completely cutting off your air ssssupply!"

Both boys gave the snake a grin before watching her make her way towards the exit, the sounds of screams and yells of fears still couldn't drown out Robyn's voice when she finally reached the door.

"FREEDOM!"

Andrew couldn't hold it in; he burst out laughing and looked at Harry who had been grinning. They turned to look at their cousin and his friend, only to see that they were still in the enclosure. The glass had reappeared and they were stuck. This brought even more gales of laughter to Andrew; he immediately sobered up when he saw his uncle looking at him and his brother. 'Oh, brilliant.' He thought sarcastically.

#-o-o-#

When they had returned to Number 4 Andrew and Harry had both received their punishment and extra chores. After three weeks the Dursley's had been enjoying their morning breakfast the Potters had prepared when the sound of the morning mail came from the door.

"Dudley, go get the mail." Vernon said not looking up from his morning paper.

"Make black boy, get it." Dudley replied through all the eggs that were currently shoved in his mouth.

"Black boy, get the mail."

"Wha- Eh, it's not worth it." Andrew said moving away from the stove, the nickname had been used on him so many times he didn't care anymore.

"I'll go with you." Harry said following his brother to the door.

"You okay?" the raven haired boy asked.

"What? Oh yeah, nothing they say interests me anyway." Andrew said with a small smile at his brother.

Stopping to pick up the mail Andrew froze and stared at two heavy brown envelopes, but what caught his eye was that they had a weird stamp on the back, like a badge.

"Is that a lion?" Harry asked looking over his brother's shoulder.

"Yeah, a lion, snake, eagle and a… what is that a mongoose?"

"Nah, can't be. Why would a mongoose be there?"

"Jee I don't know… Why would a lion, snake and eagle be there?" Andrew asked sarcastically.

"Okay, okay I get it. Who are they for?"

"Harry James Potter. Broom Closet under the stairs. Number 4 Pivet Drive, and Andrew Raymond Potter. Floor Boards under the Broom Closet under the stairs. Number 4 Pivet Drive."

"Wow, err, that's…"

"Creepy. Yeah, my question is; who knows about us? And why send us these?" Andrew said looking at the envelopes closely.

Their thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice in the next room.

"Oi! Hurry up, will you!"

"We better get back." Harry said walking to the kitchen.

"Harry wait, come here. Alright I'll take the letters to Uncle V and you take our letters to the broom closet." Andrew whispered.

Harry nodded and quickly ran towards their 'room' to put their letters away while Andrew walked back to the kitchen to give the others their letters.

That night, after completing their chores and extra work Andy and Harry sat in their room contemplating opening their letters or not.

"Oh screw it." Andrew said after a while and tore the stamp away to read what was inside.

"This has to be some sort of joke from Dudley and his goons." Andrew said after reading the letter.

"Why?"

"Open it." Andy replied motioning to the letter in his brother's hands.

After a few more seconds Harry opened his letter.

"Harry James Potter

We would like to officially congratulate you in becoming a new student in Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Semester stars on the 1st of September. If you have any problems a Hogwarts official shall be dropping by any time between now and the 20th of August. We await your owl with a response.

Deputy Headmistress, Prof M. McGonagall."

"Hogwarts?" Harry said in disbelief.

"I know right? Plus it's only the third of July. So this was way too early anyway." Andy said looking up at the ceiling. "I was really hoping we'd finally get out of here."

"Don't worry, Andy. Everything will work out, I swear it." Harry said smiling at his brother.

The two brothers spent the next few weeks thinking about those letters they'd gotten and wondering why Dudley hadn't made a move to try and embarrass them about it yet.

Before they knew it, it was July the 30th. The Dursley's had been in the kitchen enjoying a quaint supper prepared by Andrew and Harry.

"Okay everyone, I've got excellent news, and it has to do with tomorrow." Vernon said cheerily.

Andy and Harry turned to look at each other with matching looks of shock and amazement.

"The company has just landed the biggest deal we have ever had, and guess who made it all happen, that's right the man of this house." Vernon finished, both boys rolled their eyes as Petunia and Dudley congratulated the whale of the house.

Later in the night when everyone else had gone to bed, Andy and Harry had stayed up and were counting the minutes until their birthday. Though at first they had found it strange that both their birthdays were on the same day, the two boys couldn't have been happier about their conjoined births.

"20 more seconds… make a wish, Harry."

"10 seconds… your turn to make a wish, Andy."

Both boys closed their eyes and counted down in their heads while making their wishes.

"10…9… I wish I could leave this place…"

"7…6… I wish we had friends…"

"3…2…1… I wish Hogwarts was real!" When the bell of the church rang, signalling that it was midnight both boys opened their eyes. Looking at each other the boys smiled but quickly stopped when the sound similar to a car ramming into the house rocked the foundation. Both boys jumped back and stared at the door as it shook again.

Vernon came down the stairs carrying a large shot gun, followed closely by Petunia wielding a rolling pin, which rose a few disturbing questions for Andrew. Lastly Dudley came in trying to shield himself behind his mother and father and failing miserably.

There was one last bang before the entire door came crashing down, the sound of the door collapsing seemed to trigger something in Andrew's mind as he stared at the door, visions of screams, pleas and a flash of green and smell of smoke.

"Andrew, this seriously isn't the time to zone out right now!" Harry said urgently.

"Right, sorry about that." Andrew said shaking his head and pulling stray locks of his dreads out of his face.

"Is it a monster?" Dudley asked as he saw a huge figure walk through the doorway.

"Yeah and he eats fat little boys! Look out Dud!" Andrew joked still keeping his eyes on the large figure.

"Not the time!" Harry scolded.

"Uncle V and Aunt P sure are quiet…" Andrew continued.

"Dude…!" Harry yelled.

"I think D actually crapped himself." Andrew chuckled.

"Would you please stop?" Harry begged.

Andrew was about to respond when the figure turned around, picked the door up from the floor and stuck it back on to its hinges.

"Sorry bou' tha'. I forge' muggle doors aint strong." The giant figured turned around and what he saw made him knit his brows.

Vernon Dursley was pointing a muggle fire stick at him, Petunia Dursley held what looked like a wooden cylinder and their whale of a son stood behind them shaking in fear. When his eyes travelled to the other room, he thought he had been dreaming for a second, there stood two boys, one with a mop of black hair and glasses who looked at him cautiously while the other had long black dreadlocks and seemed to be looking at the Dursley's boy and holding back laughter. 'They look so much li'e James and Ray.' He thought with a fond smile.

"Oh 'Arry, Andy, I got this for ye', might'a sat on it at some poin' bu' should still taste the same either way." The man said pulling out two squashed boxed from one of his many pockets and handing them off to the two Potter boys.

Opening them up, they discovered it was birthday cakes… They had never gotten a cake before and now a complete stranger had just given them one, but what seemed to really baffle them was that this man knew their names and that today was their birthdays.

"Err, excuse us sir but um…" Harry started looking from the box to the giant man in front of him.

"Who are you?" Andrew asked eying the man suspiciously.

"Oh where are me manners? Name's Hagrid and I'm the keeper of keys up there in 'ogwarts." The large figured named Hagrid said with a small.

"Wait…"

"Hogwarts?"

"You mean…"

"It's real?"

Hagrid looked at the two boys before muttering something like "Grea' anotha pair o' twins at 'ogwarts"

Looking back at the two boys he smiled but it quickly fell when he saw their faces.

"What's the ma'a?"

"Well, it's just… this sounds a little too surreal." Harry said quietly.

"And besides, I remember reading that it's a magical school. And we're not magical." Andrew added, after picking some icing off his cake.

"Not magical?! 'Arry, Andrew you two are fa-" Hagrid did get a chance to finish when Vernon finally found his voice spoke up.

"No, no! I forbid you to tell him anything! We've spent 11 years raising these hoodlums! Ever since that senile old man left them on our door step-" Vernon was cut off this time when Hagrid's umbrella which had come from… somewhere was now pointed at the fat man's face.

"Never insult Albus Dumbledore while I'm 'round, Dursley." Hagrid's voice was low, cold and very demanding. Vernon Dursley quickly shut his mouth and moved away from Hagrid.

"Whoa he made V actually keep his mouth shut… I like him already." Andrew whispered to Harry who stood dumbfounded and nodded numbly.

"But sir-" Harry started.

"Don' be silly, it's jus' Hagrid."

"Alright, err, Hagrid, you said, you were from Hogwarts, does that mean witches and monsters are real?"

"Aye, and wizards o' course but you'd know all about that wouldn't ye?" Hagrid said with a small chuckle but stopped immediately when he saw the confused looks on the boy's faces. He turned to look at Petunia who suddenly shrank away from his gaze.

"You didn' tell em?! Ye'r Lily's sister! The only family who could have helped em understand their motha's world!" Hargid yelled moving towards her.

Vernon seeing that he needed to protect his wife stuck the shot gun in Hagrid's face but stared in shock as Hagrid grabbed the rifle and folded it in a number of sequences, his eyes almost popped out of his head when Hagrid handed him his gun in the shape of a puppy. He turned back to Petunia and regarded her as if she was a piece of garbage before turning around to look at the two Potter boys.

"Andrew, 'Arry… Yer wizards."

Andrew and Harry looked at each other wide eyed before turning back to Hagrid.

"What?!" they asked in unison.