Bonding
They reappeared in the bedroom. This time, Harry fell to the ground with a thud as well as Grace.
Neither of them bothered to get up. They lay on the rug in complete silence for what felt like hours, each thinking their own thoughts.
----------------
It was almost dark outside before they spoke again. "You all right?" Harry asked, scooting over to where Grace lay on the rug.
"I don't know," she whispered, sitting up. "I – Feels like a dream. Everything was happening so fast."
"Tell me about it," he said. "But it must have been tons worse for you … you don't know anything about any of it yet."
"About what? The magic?"
And then all of a sudden the questions burst from her as if a dam had broken loose in the back of her throat.
"Can you really send people forward in time? Who's Voldemort? Why were those people going into hiding? How did we get there? Who's Minerva and Emmeline? How did we get there so fast? What's the Order of the Phoenix? Why-"
"Stop!" gasped Harry. "I'll … try to explain everything … but you've got to tell me some stuff too …"
----------------------
They talked for hours and hours, trying to sort the whole mess out. Harry told Grace about being a witch and Hogwarts and his – their parents and Voldemort and the Death Eaters and the Order and the Portkey and the Time Turner and so many other things that it made Grace's head spin.
In return, she told him about Grammy and what had happened in the Albanian forest. And then Harry told her what had happened the night Voldemort had returned.
"But I still don't understand why they thought you were in danger …"
Harry sighed and told her about the prophecy.
------------------------
It was nearly five in the morning when they finally began to run out of things to talk about. There was just one more topic left to be breached.
"Umm … Grace? Since you'll be going to Hogwarts next year, would you mind, uhhh, not telling anyone you're my … my twin?"
Grace looked up at Harry, who was about a foot and a half taller than her. "No problems there," she grinned. "What should I say instead?"
"We're … I dunno, cousins or something … that might work …"
Harry was sitting cross-legged on the floor; Grace was curled up on his lap, leaning against his chest. The dark sky outside had a streak of blue in it now; it was almost morning.
"You know what?" Harry said. "You look like … Mum," it sounded so strange, "a bit. I've seen both of them before, in a thing called a Pensieve, I'll explain in a few seconds. You've got dad's eyes though. I've got her eyes."
The two siblings lapsed into silence again, thinking their own private thoughts, of the separate lives they had led. Neither of them were tired, or even thought of going to bed.
An hour later, Grace could hear the sound of Mr. Dursley waking up in the next room. Uncle Vernon, she corrected herself. Another thought suddenly flashed across her mind.
"Harry, Uncle Vernon said he was taking me back to the orphanage today!"
She could feel Harry's body tensing up underneath her. "Oh, no he isn't! He can't, not now."
"But he will … you think it would help if I told him I'm a witch?"
"No, are you crazy?" Harry pulled his arms around her. "Don't worry, he's not going to take you away."
The Potter twins relaxed and melted into each other; two became as one for a moment, as they were both brought back to the present at the thought of the current task at hand.
-------------------
Harry convinced Grace to come out of the bedroom for breakfast. Only as she sat down at the table did she realize how hungry she was; she hadn't had anything to eat since the apple yesterday at lunchtime.
The entire family ate in silence. Grace tried to work up the courage to ask Uncle Vernon what he was going to do, but somehow … she just couldn't. She didn't want to know. She wanted to go back upstairs and be with her brother, for as much time as they had together.
Uncle Vernon finally pushed his chair back from the table. Grace jerked her head up quickly and looked at him expectantly; out of the corner of her eye she saw Harry was doing the same.
Their uncle looked down at her and said, "Well, I haven't got all day. Hurry up and get your things, I'll meet you at the car in fifteen minutes."
---------------------
A/N So how was that chapter? I love Harry's big brother role, he's so ... loving. The first thing he asked Grace was about her, not himself. Not selfish like in OotP. But that selfishness made his character so believable. I don't know if he comes out on the computer the way he does in my mind. I hope he does. Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far!!!!! I really really thank you all deeply from the bottom of my heart.
Disclaimer: A lot of this story belongs to JK Rowling. Most of it. But Grace and the plot belong to me.
