--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter in any way, shape or form. Blah, Blah, Blah.
Pairings: Vernon/Petunia
Warning(s): AU. Perhaps some Yaoi in later chapters I haven't really decided yet.
Notes: I'm not telling you why Harry can't go to Hogwarts yet. I'm hoping it will be explained by the time I briefly cover book 2. That's the plan anyway. Incase you didn't know already,because I don't know how well I explained it, Danny takes the role of 'boy-who-lived'.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2 – Diagon Ally.
It had been a week since the twins had received their Hogwarts letters. Daniel had conducted his letter saying he would like to attend Hogwarts with the help of his uncle whilst Petunia wrote to the headmaster concerning Harry's ill health and asking about how to go about buying the required equipment for Daniel. Now here the whole family stood next to a giant of a man named Hagrid inside Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Diagonally.
"Griphook! Take the Potters and family down to their vault." The goblin at the desk instructed handing the key to another goblin. Daniel couldn't take his eyes off the strange looking creatures and neither could Dudley. Vernon tried to hold back his look of distaste but wasn't succeeding that well and Petunia was trying to brush off the dust that only she seemed to know about on her skirt with one hand. Harry was holding onto Petunia's other hand tightly. The emerald eyed twin was pale and trembling ever so slightly.
"Auntie…I still feel weird." Harry said tugging on his Aunt's hand. Petunia looked pleadingly at Vernon.
"Alright Pet, you find somewhere for Harry and I'll look after the boys. Mr Hagrid, perhaps you'd go with us." Petunia sighed as two waves of relief flooded through her. It was no secret Petunia hated the dirt so she was relieverd to be out of the strange looking creatures company. Her second wave of relief came from knowing she could take care of Harry hopefully out of the way of prying eyes. Quickly Petunia dragged the trembling boy into a nearby toilet.
Danny and Dudley had enjoyed the Gringotts Cart ride emensly whilst Vernon and Hagrid were looking rather green.
"Stand back please." The goblin said sharply as he unlocked the door and the huge vault doors opened revealing the masses of gold, silver and bronze inside.
"Wow!" Danny and Dudley shared their awe.
"Now careful ther'." Hagrid said stumbling out of the cart and hurrying towards the boys who were picking up the little gold coins. "You don' need tha' much. 'Ere, this'll do." Hagrid grabbed about seventy gold coins and put them in a bag before taking a handful of both bronze and silver coins.
"Now, the gold ones are Galleons. The silver are yeh sickles and bronze ones are kunts. Seventeen sickles to a galleon and 29knuts to a sickle. It's easy enough. Tha' ought to do yeh and yeh brother."
The group then left the vault and visited another from which Hagrid took a brown paper bag before the group could return to the surface where Petunia and Harry were waiting for them.
"Get what you needed?" Petunia asked hugging Harry close with one arm and sliding her hand into Vernon's whilst receiving a kiss to her cheek from the man.
"Yeah, we've got loads of coins!"
"those carts are bloody aweful Pet dear." Vernon explained about the journey with some very descriptive insults towards the carts as the group walked down Diagon Ally.
"Now, yeh'll need Madam Malkin's robes for All Occasions and Florish and Blotts for yeh books." Hagrid explained pointing out the shops to the family. "Ollivander's is the best place for wands and the Apothecary is over there. Just ask anyomne if you need help."
"Why? Where are you going Hagrid?" Harry asked quietly from where he was stood holding his twin's hand with both of his.
"Me? I'm goin' to the Leaky caldron. I hate those Gringotts carts so I think I'll jus' go let my stomache settle down."
The group entered Madam Malkin's shop and a woman came out to greet them with a wide smile as she looked at the three boys.
"Hogwarts dears?" she asked before frowning when the fat boy and the smaller boy shook their heads.
"My brother and cousin aren't going but I am." Daniel puffed his chest out with pride as he spoke. Madam Malkin smiled kindly at him ad ushered him through to the next room. Daniel went but Harry, who didn't seem to want to let go of Daniel's arm, went with him causing the woman to frown.
"You know dear, you're going to have to let go of your brother so I can measure him." Harry stared at the woman with wide eyes and Daniel wrapped his arm around Harry.
"Madam, is there anywhere my brother can sit down please? He's not very well you see."
"Oh I see. Well young man, you can sit on one of those chairs over there whilst I measure your brother. The rest of your family should be waiting on those chairs too." Harry reluctantly left and shakily made his way out of the shop whilst Daniel was steered onto a stool to be measured for robes. On the stool next to him was a blonde boy with aristocratic features.
"You going to Hogwarts too?"
"Yeah." Daniel replied to the blonde who was looking at him with silvery eyes.
"My mother's up the street looking at wands and my father's gone to get my books. Who brought you here?"
"My Aunt and Uncle."
"Oh. What house do you reckon you'll be in?" Daniel didn't answer and frowned at the blonde who continued talking as if he hadn't really wanted an answer to the question in the first place. "Well, I suppose no-one really knows until they get there."
"No." Daniel agreed.
"Do you play Quidditch?" The blonde asked with an inquisitive gaze. Daniel frowned in confusion.
"I've never heard of it." The blonde's expression took on a distasteful look.
"So you're a muggle born then." The blonde said curling his nose up in disgust. Daniel frowned some more. Hagrid had explained that a muggle was someone not magical so a muggle born was someone with magic who came from those without.
"No, both my parents were wizards but they died when my brother and I were little. We've been raised with muggles." Daniel was then quick to continue. "We were raised with my Aunt and Uncle and cousin and they are wonderful."
Before the blonde could retort Madam Malkin announced that Daniel was finished and could leave. Daniel left without so much as a second glance at the blonde haired boy. Daniel paid for his robes and his family left the shop with Vernon giving Harry a piggy back since the raven haired boy looked nearly dead on his feet. Their next stop was Florish and Blotts where the sales clerk quickly fetched two sets of first year Hogwarts books. Petunia explained that the second set were for Harry so he could read through them on his own until they could find him a teacher. After Florish and Blotts the group visited another shop to get Potion supplies and yet another to get parchment and quills along with ink. Hagird reappeared later on and dragged the family off to get pets for Harry and Daniel. In the end Daniel got an Owl along with his brother and Dudley. Daniel named his owl, a beautiful great horned owl that he named Horus. Dudley's owl was a cape eagle owl he instantly named Swift and Harry got a stunning snowy owl named Hedwig. Finally the group trekked to Ollivanders for the twins to get wands.
"Ah, Mr Potter and Mr Potter. I wondered when I'd be meeting you." Daniel stared at him in a very confused manner. The man who spoke was very old and had a mysterious twinkle in his eye. Daniel assumed the man was Ollivander. The shop itself was very narrow and jam packed with dusty shelves with thousands of boxes stacked one on top of the other.
"If you don't mind my asking, but how do you know our names?" Ollivander looked shocked at the smaller twin for a moment before seemingly realising something.
"Ah, I forgot you wouldn't know…though I had believed you would." That was the only answer Ollivander gave, completely failing to answer the question. "Now, lets start with Mr Daniel Potter shall we? The older brother first and all that. Hold out your wand arm."
"Uh…I don't know my wand arm but I'm right handed if that helps." Ollivander made a slightly impatient clicking noise with his tongue and Daniel held up his arm. Ollivander inspected his hand for a few moments before his eyes fluttered briefly upwards to Daniel's eyes and a tape measure took measurements.
"Hm. I think I have just the wand for you young man." Ollivander then wandered off into the shop and pulled a box out offering the wand inside to Daniel who took it only to have it immediately snatched back and Ollivander wander off muttering. Fifteen wands later Ollivander returned with yet another box and a slightly curious look on his face.
"Eleven inches, holly and Phoenix feather, nice and supple. Go on, take it and give it a wave." Daniel hesitantly took the wand and as soon as his fingers touched the handle did a warm breeze fill the room. Ollivander pulled his hand back and Daniel gave the wand a wave. Immediately red and gold ribbons streamed out of the end and energy crackled through the air.
"Curious, very curious." Ollivander said carefully taking the wand back from Daniel and placing it back in the box before placing the box in a bag and handing it back to Daniel.
"Sorry, but what's curious?" The older twin asked.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold Mr Potter, every single wand. It just so happens that the Phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand gave one other, just one other. It is curious indeed Mr Potter that you should be destined for this wand when it's brother, why it's brother, gave you your scar and killed your parents all those Halloweens ago." Daniel saw red. His eyes narrowed and he glared at the man.
"Who did it?"
"Oh, we dare not speak his name but one thing's for certain, we can expect great things from you. After all, He-who-must-not-be-named did great things, terrible yes but great." Ollivander then turned to Harry who was watching the proceedings with a curious eye. "Well Mr Potter, hold out your wand arm and lets find you a wand."
"Um…I'm ambidextrous sir." Ollivander raised one eyebrow at the smaller twin.
"Really? Well, pick a hand then and lets get started." Harry held out his left hand to the man and the long process of wand finding began. It took half an hour before Ollivander finally walked to the desk holding a very dusty black box. Opening the box Ollivander revealed a black wooden wand.
"Thirteen and a half inches, Ebony and Chimaera Scale. Very focused and exact." Harry took the wand with a smile. A tingling sensation went through his body and he started shaking slightly as he felt things slip into place. Giving the wand a small flick Ollivander found himself styling red robes instead of his old blue ones. Ollivander laughed.
"Very well then Mr Potter, I think that's a match." Harry laughed gently and looked up at the man with shining eyes. "Lets go pay for these shall we?"
Chapter 3 – Daniel Leaves.
Daniel and Harry's birthday wasn't that eventful and in celebration the whole family just went out to dinner. The following weeks leading up to September 1st were more eventful however as Daniel got more and more excited about leaving for Hogwarts and the three boys tried to learn some spells from the books on their own. Dudley couldn't do the spells but he was good at working out the right wand movements from just the instructions given in the book. By the end of the month gap Daniel was very capable with charms and transfiguration having managed to successfully transfigure a match into a needle and back again a few times.
"Boys! Wake up and get ready! We have to be at Kings Cross in two hours." Vernon rapped his fingers smartly on the bedroom doors to wake his son and nephews up. Following his announcement came a loud scream from the twins bedroom.
"YES! It's today! It's today! Harry get up! Get up!" Vernon shook his head in amusement and exasperation. Daniel had been counting down the days till he left for the magical boarding school. Vernon knew that whilst Daniel was excited now there were likely to be several tears later once the boy realised that he wasn't going to see either his beloved twin or Dudley again for a long while.
The family ate breakfast quickly and all of them bathed and dressed before double, triple and quadruple checking that Daniel was packed and ready before they trooped into the car. Daniel was literally bouncing in his seat all the way to Kings cross. All three boys helped lug the huge trunk holding Danny's belongings onto the station and then a large family with red hair helped the family of five get onto platform nine and three quarters. It took a while to get over the shock of seeing a bright red steam train puffing multicoloured smoke but once they did the three boys charged into the carriages to find Daniel a compartment and leaving his trunk there. Then the group met back up on the platform for their goodbyes. Just as Vernon predicted there were tears. Dudley bravely held his in and Petunia hid her own whilst Harry cried as he and his brother hugged.
"You have to write every week!"
"I will Harry."
"Every week Danny." Harry pulled away when he felt Petunia tug him gently. Wiping the tears from his eyes emerald eyes looked up into tear filled brown ones. "Don't forget about me okay?"
"Never Harry." Harry nodded as a few more tears fell down his cheeks. Kissing his older brother on the cheek Harry took Petunia's hand tightly for support.
"Love you Danny. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too." Danny was then able to get back into his compartment on the train trying desperately to get rid of all his tears lest he be laughed at. A red haired boy from the family that helped him get onto the platform joined him on the platform and they waved to their families through the train windows. As Danny waved he noticed Harry stop waving and get distracted by his own hands. Danny felt the tears build up again as he watched his brother quickly alert Petunia and the two rushed away.