For those who are still unaware, there is a bug going on in where notification emails are not being sent out, So despite posting this chapter, many people will sadly not see it at the appropriate time, although I hope that the issue has been rectified by the time I post. Still, I felt like positing another chapter, and so here is it. Enjoy! ~F

Chapter Two:

A Wondrous Secret

The next three years flew by so quickly to Harry that felt he must have been asleep for at least half of it. Despite the Dursleys complaining loudly about how 'that mean De Vries boy,' was so terrible as to have hurt their 'precious Dudders' and practically forbidding Harry from ever seeing him again after that first time together, Piter continued to show up every week, and even Vernon's continued offensive snipes at him couldn't discourage him.

Harry even noticed that every attempt to separate the two boys only seemed to spur Piter to some new degree of closeness with Harry, sometimes even suddenly appearing at the store that Petunia had just happened taken Harry to a few times.

Dudley was actually rather terrified of the smaller boy, and he refused to be left in the same room as Piter whenever he came to pick up or drop off Harry. Harry had to stifle his laughter whenever Dudley would run screaming from the house if Piter came too near to him.

Harry did become worried about how the Dursleys would act when, on Dudley's eleventh birthday, Harry was forced to come along with his relatives to the special zoo trip, as their usual means of depositing him at Mrs. Figg's house was denied them, much to the chagrin of both Harry and Dudley, albeit for far different reasons.

Unfortunately the old woman was simply too busy that day to watch Harry, and even added as an aside to Harry personally that he would be bored if he had to stay with her right then anyway, as Piter had also been forced out of the house for the day with all the work she had to do. The Dursleys had begged and pleaded with the old woman, but she had flatly refused, even their vain attempts to suggest that she have Harry do her work for her. As they left her house, Harry was almost certain that she had winked at him before closing her cat decorated door.

The why to the conspiratorial gesture became evident as the Dursleys' and Harry walked through the main gate of the zoo; they found Piter sitting near one of the refreshments booths, which served nothing but to add to the Dursleys' discomfort for the day.

"Hi Harry!" the other boy called out as they passed, and Piter immediately rushed over to join his best friend.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon looked furious at the boy's presence, and Dudley seemed like he was about ready to throw the tantrum of the century. However, Aunt Petunia's finely tuned radar for Dudley's fits kicked in and she quickly suggested to Uncle Vernon that they should buy her 'sweet Diddydums,' some ice cream. Both Vernon and Dudley bought a large chocolate Sunday each, but specifically got nothing nothing for either Harry or Piter, but they didn't mind much. Piter afterword whispered to Harry that there wouldn't have been any left for them even if they had wanted ice cream, and Harry snorted loudly, only covering his mouth to disguise it as a cough at the last minute before any of the Dursleys overheard him.

But Harry should have known that this lucky turn of events would only end badly. The inevitable eruption that threatened his entire relationship with Piter finally came, just as Harry had long feared.

They had had a short lunch, during which Harry and Piter sat far away from the Dursleys, eating sandwiches that Piter had had the foresight to bring for himself and, both conveniently and graciously, enough extra to share with Harry as well.

Finally Dudley practically dragged his parents into the reptile house, and curiously both Harry and Piter followed. Cool air wafted over them as they entered, and it took their eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness, but then they stared in amazement at all the different lizards and snakes that lined the sides of the building behind thick glass walls.

Dudley quickly became bored with the boa constrictor in the largest and newest exhibit, which appeared to be sleeping, and slumped off, allowing Piter and Harry to see inside. Harry moved right up against the glass, and Piter moved to stand right beside him, but Harry didn't notice as he was focused intently on the snake. Slowly, the snake roused slightly, and opened its eyes to look directly at Harry.

"I'm sorry if I woke you." Harry said softly to it.

The snake suddenly rose up and silently moved close to Harry's eye level. Piter's eyes widened as the snake actually started to hiss back at Harry, and Harry was shocked to find he could understand it.

"It'ssss not your fault, young sssspeaker of our mosssst noble tongue." The snake said gently."

"Harry," Piter said with quiet excitement "Do you know what you're doing?" The boy was almost bouncing with renewed enthusiasm.

"Um, no." Harry replied confused, blinking.

"You're speaking Parseltongue! Do you even know how exceptionally rare and amazing that talent is!" Piter was visibly trying to keep himself from yelling; so great was his exhilaration at Harry's… ability?

"I'm… what?" Harry was completely lost, thinking this might be more of Piter's strange almost made up language again.

"You honestly don't know, do you?" Piter looked almost shocked, and very saddened.

"Harry…" Piter began, but was suddenly cut off as Dudley screamed for his parents to look at what the snake was doing, and shoved past the smaller boys, knocking them to the ground.

Harry fell hard onto the concrete floor, and looked up angrily. Dudley was leaning right up against the glass, fascinated by the raised snake, when suddenly he leapt back. Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had completely vanished. The large snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. As the snake slid swiftly past him, it whispered to him once more before trailing out the door.

"Freedom, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."

Piter had dashed over to help Harry up and was practically jumping out of his skin in his urgency to talk to Harry, but Uncle Vernon reached the boys before he could pick up where Dudley had cut in. Taking Harry hard by the upper arm, Vernon dragged him while Petunia guided Dudley out and into the parking lot. By the time Piter arrived, with only time to wave goodbye, the Dursley were peeling out back onto the road leaving behind a cloud of dust.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

The punishment Harry received from the boa incident was longest Harry could ever remember. Harry was released from his cupboard on the week before his birthday (which the Dursleys still weren't in the habit of remembering anyway, so that wasn't important), and finally was sitting down for a breakfast from the least filled plate when compared to the rest of the Dursleys', when the clink of the mail slot was heard, and Uncle Vernon commanded angrily: "Boy; mail!".

Sighing inwardly, Harry abandoned his untouched plate, knowing it wouldn't be there when he returned, and exited the dining room. Harry was just picking up the three delivered envelopes as the doorbell rang, and Harry quickly opened it after another yell from his Uncle demanded he open it. It was Piter, looking breathless and ecstatic, which was rather normal.

"Harry!" he wheezed slightly. "Did you see; did you get one?" Once again, Harry was confused, but Piter looked down at the mail in Harry's hand and gasped loudly.

"You did!" he crowed, snatching the bottom envelope from Harry and jumping on the spot in delight, waving it over his head.

"Piter… whoa… what… slow down..." Harry said attempting to calm the overly excited boy and see what the odd, yellow colored envelope had written on it, neither to any avail.

"We get to go, we get to go" Piter was chanting louder and louder until Harry finally clamped a hand over the boy's mouth to silence him as Uncle Vernon yelled for Harry to shut up and hurry with the mail. Closing the front door he left Piter, who was doing some kind of Native American war dance in the hall - mercifully silently, Harry returned and gave the two items of mail to Vernon, frowned momentarily at Dudley's large grin as the boy had clearly eaten not only his own food, but what little was given to Harry, and returned quickly to find Piter comparing two almost identical envelopes of yellowed parchment covered with green lettering in ink, with a frighteningly serious look on his usually so jovial face. Harry looked over his friend's shoulder to read the addresses on each envelope. The first read:

Mr. H. Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

Harry blushed slightly, realizing that his best friend was staring at the second line of his address with a clenched jaw, but the opened envelope distracted Harry, as the letter beneath it had a strange coat of arms on it and the address read:

Mr. F Undol

1st Guest Bedroom

12 Wisteria Walk

Little Whinging

Surrey

"Piter, who is this 'Mr. F Undol' mentioned on your letter?" Harry asked, concerned that his friend might be slightly more delusional than usual.

I am, Harry, my real name is Faykan Undol," the boy replied, eyes still staring at Harry's envelope, "I'm sorry for giving you a false identity for so long, but it was necessary for my safety from the people who killed my parents."

Harry could tell this wasn't the whole truth, because Piter-Faykan wouldn't look at him, eyes darting from Harry back to the letter in his hand. It was a tell that he had learned long ago, and gave the other boy away immediately

"Then, where'd you come up with the name Piter De Vries?" Harry asked, prying only slightly.

"Oh, I think I read it in a book somewhere," Faykan replied dismissively. "But that's not important, the fact is we both got accepted!" he continued happily, but strangely muted in comparison to his previous excitement.

"Accepted for what?" Harry said, starting to get slightly annoyed with his friend's evasiveness and the entire puzzle of the letters.

"Hogwarts of course, what else did you think we were accepted to?" Faykan replied, finally handing Harry his letter back and watching wide-eyed as Harry opened and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Harry was dumbstruck; so many questions spiraling inside his head that he couldn't even compose a simple sentence for a few moments. His friend, Faykan, (Harry actually thought that the boy's real name sounded a lot better than the one he had made up for himself,) seemed to be enjoying the faces that Harry was making as he slowly processed the information presented before him. Harry was just about to begin firing off questions when Uncle Vernon came out of the kitchen and saw them holding their letters.

"What are you doing boy!" he said sternly as he approached, clearly of the opinion that Harry had been stealing their mail. Harry tried to move the letter out of sight, but he wasn't fast enough. Uncle Vernon's giant hand snatched the letter from him, and the beefy man read it twice over, his face darkening from red to deep purple.

"Uh oh," Faykan whispered sarcastically to Harry as Vernon yelled for Petunia and stood there fuming until she came and also read the letter. "Here it comes…"

Finally, Aunt Petunia glanced at the two boys and saw the same similar letter in Faykan's hand. "SO," she said hotly, "now we know why you seemed like such a freaky child yourself, Mr. De Vries!"

Faykan did the one thing Harry would never have expected. Faykan actually started laughing out loud at Petunia, a sarcastic, spiteful laugh that set everyone in the room on edge.

"You have some nerve, Dursleys, trying to smother Harry out of what he is, driving others away from him, and generally being the worst specimens of human beings I've ever had the unfortunate pleasure to meet. I've tolerated your rudeness these last three years for Harry's sake, but no more!" He smirked nastily at their shocked looks. "We've both been accepted to Hogwarts, and we won't have to deal with you lot for quite a long while."

"He will absolutely not be going!" Vernon yelled, flabbergasted at Faykan's audacity.

"Oh, and you, the great king of the muggles is going to keep him away, are you?" Faykan retorted with a curt sarcastic bow.

"What did you call me boy!" Vernon hissed icily.

"A muggle, you know, the slur for nonmagical and very much hateful folk like you are, Vernon Dursley." Faykan explained with fire burning in his eyes. "Now, unless you want some very nasty things to happen very soon, you'd be wise to just step aside and let Harry come with me to get our things for Hogwarts so we can be ready to leave in September."

"HE WILL NOT BE GOING!" Vernon roared, grabbing at Faykan, clearly with the intent to throw him forcibly from the house, but before he could reach him, Faykan shoved out a hand and spoke, "lanta n'alaquel tuulo' amin" and at once an invisible force threw Uncle Vernon away from the small eleven year old, and he landed in a heap against the kitchen door. Aunt Petunia screamed and dashed to her husband's side. Electric sparks seemed to jump around Faykan and the room itself seemed to quake in fear as he glared at the Dursleys.

"Never attempt to physically harm me, Vernon Dursley. You do not want to see my true power." Faykan said scathingly, his voice cold as ice as he slowly lowered his hand. Turning to Harry, he motioned at the door as he opened it for them to leave. "Let's go Harry; you can stay with me for the next month if you don't want to come back here."

Harry swiftly moved outside and was followed by Faykan, who slammed the front door to number four loudly. Together the two boys turned and walked down Privet Drive and headed to the closest train station.

"Piter… um I mean Faykan" Harry started, "How did you do that to Uncle Vernon?"

"What, you mean when I threw that hateful excuse for a muggle across the room? That was merely a simple blasting hex."

The answer didn't help much, as Harry hadn't the foggiest what a 'blasting hex' was. In fact he was completely lost with all that had just happened this morning and was feeling slightly dazed at the amount of information thrown at him. It was all he could do to just keep walking down the sidewalk. Faykan, noticing Harry's near-vacant expression of overwhelming stupor, sat him down on the nearest bus bench and started to explain everything he could very quickly.

"Harry, I know you are extremely confused, and I'm going to take all the time it requires to explain all this if it comes to that, but first off you need to know one important thing. Your relatives, the Dursleys, have been keeping many, many secrets from you. Firstly you are not a normal person, and neither am I for that matter. You and I are wizards. We can do magic, just like when you vanished the glass on the snake cage at the zoo."

Faykan then talked about everything that the Dursleys had told Harry his entire life, explaining the weird things that had happened around him as his magic and sharing what the Dursleys had changed or left out. Harry wondered how his friend knew half the things he spoke of, such as the Dursleys telling him that his parents died in an intoxicated car crash, but was far too befuddled to ask specifics. Faykan leaned over and hugged Harry when he spoke of Harry's parents, apologizing profusely for everything those 'horrid muggles' had lied to him about, and that he had had to wait to tell Harry the truth until the Hogwarts letters arrived for them both.

When Harry pointedly asked what the truth about his parents was, desperate for information, Faykan slowly explained that they were murdered by an evil wizard, Lord Voldemort, when Harry was only one year old, and that Harry survived the dark Killing Curse that Voldemort used to try and murder Harry also.

"But the strangest thing happened," Faykan said, starting to get caught up in storytelling, he was always very good at that, "Voldemort's curse rebounded upon himself or something like that and he just vanished. No one had seen or heard of him for ten years now. That's why you've been named the Boy-Who-Lived. Your name is known throughout our world, Harry."

Stunned couldn't even begin to describe how Harry felt about this bit of news.

"Harry, we should get going; London isn't getting any closer with us just sitting here." Faykan said, standing.

"London?" Harry said, stumped. "Why do we need to go to London?"

"It's the only place we can reach that will have all the materials we need for Hogwarts." Faykan replied tersely.

Harry shakily got up and followed as Faykan continued down to the train station. When they reached the station and boarded a train that was to depart in five minutes, they both simply passed the ticket taker without a word to him. As he turned to call after the two boys, Faykan turned and waved him hand speaking the same high pitch, song-like words Harry had heard when his uncle was thrown across the front room of number four. "Collanta lye anta tuulo' ron rina."

The guard's face went blank momentarily and he turned away as if they hadn't been there. When the train started to rumble down the tracks towards London, Faykan turned to Harry and showed him the list of Hogwarts required items from his own letter, since Uncle Vernon had never given back Harry's.

"Faykan, don't the letters say that we need to respond via owl to tell them that we're going to attend?" Harry asked worriedly. He had no idea what was meant by 'respond via owl'.

"Not a problem, I'll handle it when we're done getting our things at Diagon Alley." Faykan replied, patting Harry on the shoulder reassuringly. Harry was about to ask what Diagon Ally was when the train arrived at the London station.

Faykan had to drag Harry down the street by the arm to get him to keep moving, as Harry kept trying to stop and see everything around them all at once – it was his first time in London. Thankfully the walk wasn't too terribly long, or else Harry was too wrapped up trying to see the new sights of the big city to have noticed, because it only seemed moments before Faykan was pushing Harry into a dirty little pub with a sign saying 'The Leaky Cauldron.'

Faykan steered Harry around all the people and tables without acknowledging all the stares and whispers they were attracting. The name Harry Potter was circulating and Harry was shocked that everyone seemed to know exactly who he was even with Faykan effectively guiding him toward the back of the pub while simultaneously discouraging anyone from approaching the two boys.

"Hello again, Faykan, out for some more shopping in Diagon Alley I see," said the bartender, as he peered at Faykan and Harry. "Who's your friend?"

"No time to chat, Tom, we got our Hogwarts letters today and we need to get our things as soon as wizardly possible." Faykan replied dismissively.

Tom was about to push further, but Faykan pulled open the back door and pushed Harry out into a walled courtyard behind the pub. Harry was about to question why all the people were whispering about him, but Faykan was studying the back wall near the trash can. Lifting both hands he spoke again, "annon edro amin naia lle." The bricks forming the back wall shuddered, and started to rearrange themselves into an archway that lead to a cobbled street that lead on and out as far as Harry could see.

"Welcome, Harry, to Diagon Alley," said Faykan.

He grinned at Harry's look of amazement as they stepped through the archway. Harry had thought London was a sight to see. Looking quickly over his shoulder, Harry saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall, sealing them in the alley. Glancing around nervously and very excitedly, Harry desperately wished they could stop and look in all the interesting shop windows, but Faykan was back to dragging him along by the wrist, winding through the throngs of people towards a large white building that rose above any of the other shops.

Faykan only let go of Harry's arm when they finally passed the bronze doors of the magnificent edifice. Faykan proceeded on inside, and by this point Harry thought it was safest to just follow him rather than be dragged anymore, his wrist was feeling slightly sore. As the two boys passed through another pair of doors, silver this time, they entered a long hall filled with small creatures with long fingers and pointed beards.

"Faykan, what exactly are those?" Harry asked in a whisper.

"Goblins, Harry," Faykan replied as he approached one who didn't look as busy as the others. He coughed softly to attract its attention and the goblin scrutinized the eleven year old with a calculating gaze.

"May I help you… young man?" the goblin asked, glancing down from its high stool at the two boys.

"Yes, Misters Harry Potter and Faykan Undol wish to make withdrawals." Faykan replied coolly.

"Do you have your keys?" the goblin replied

"I have mine," said Faykan, pulling out a tiny silver key, and then he shot a glance at Harry, "However, Mr. Harry Potter does not," he added.

"Then Mr. Harry Potter will need to submit to a brief blood test to confirm his identity and receive a replacement key," the goblin stated as it examined the tarnished key that Faykan gave him in confused amazement.

"This key is in order." The goblin said with a wide, toothy grin, before it slipped off its stool and moved toward Harry, motioning for him to hold out his arm. Harry did so and winced as the goblin pricked his thumb with a small crystal needle. When a small drop of blood trickled down the crystal, gold writing wrote itself along the handle, spelling out 'Harry James Potter' in small, curvy letters.

"All is in order; one moment please, Mr. Potter." The goblin snapped its fingers and a golden key, small but still bigger than Faykan's silver key, flew from somewhere and sailed into its hand. The goblin handed the key to Harry, and motioned for them to follow him deeper into the hall. The goblin held the door open for the two boys and they walked through to find a small platform with a metal cart waiting with another goblin inside who was introduced to them by the name of Griphook.

Harry climbed in, followed closely by Faykan, whose wide grin had returned, and they started off at a tremendous speed. As they plunged down into the depths of the bank, Faykan let out a whoop of pure delight, and Harry noticed that the cart wasn't being steered by any mechanisms or controls that he could see.

As quickly as the cart started, it stopped again next to a protruding ledge. Griphook hopped out and walked over to the far wall where a small door was inlaid into the rock.

"Vault six hundred eighty seven," said Griphook sharply, looking at Harry, "key please." Harry handed the goblin his small golden key, and stood back as the goblin unlocked the large padlock on the door and swung it open. As the light reflected off the mounds of metal coins within, Harry let out an audible gasp of astonishment. It was more money than he had ever seen in his lifetime.

"I'd explain the money system to you, Harry, but you have enough money that it won't matter a lot right this moment and you'll pick it up quickly enough." Faykan said, his renewed grin plastered on his face after the cart ride. He helped Harry fill a bag with the golden coins that he called Galleons, and they piled back into the cart and sped off through the tunnels until they arrived at another vault numbered two hundred sixteen.

After Griphook opened the silver door that was slightly larger than Harry's had been, Harry thought his eyes would fall out of their sockets. Not only were there piles of money at least three times larger than in Harry's vault, but there were a row of shelves in the back of the vault that held a variety of strange looking objects, including a large sword that was hung on the wall next to the shelves. Faykan piled a similar bag full of gold just as Harry had and he ushered Harry back into the cart to take the wild ride back up to the surface.

As the two boys exited Gringotts, Faykan sighed to himself, "Those cart rides never last long enough," Harry laughed out loud at his friend's longing look at the marble building and they started back up the alley.

"We might as well get our robes first." Faykan said, pointing at 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions'. "I mean, it's probably going to take the longest and be the most boring, but since it's right there…" Harry simply shrugged and they walked into the store together. Inside, a squat witch with a bright smile bustled out of the back and made her way over to them. "Hogwarts, dears?" she said and Faykan and Harry both nodded.

"Don't really expect the majority until some time yet, but we'll get you sorted out in no time. Another young man is being fitted for dress robes right now, but I can take one of you now; the other will have to wait a bit though."

"I'll wait until Harry is finished," Faykan said before Harry could offer for himself to wait instead, "We both want full compliments for first years, as well as day robes for home if you don't mind." He added as an afterthought. Madam Malkin beamed at the suddenly increased amount of business that Faykan's words implied, and guided them both into the rear of the store.

Potential Spoilers Ahead! You have been warned!

Cue Ramblings!

So, as you may have noticed the first change I made was retitling the chapter to something relatively different. Mainly that was due to what I felt was a rather rush job on my part when it came to naming the early chapters, and I hope that I had gotten much better at it during the course of my writing. needless to say it took almost 5 minutes to think of a better title, as there is a bit that goes on in the chapter, and I try to sum it all up in a short phrase, but the list method was somewhat... tacky to me, I guess.

Some small additions that emphasized how deeply 'Piter' had entrenched himself into Harry's life were added, as it did seem, while not rushed, still something that ought to have been flushed out just a touch more, while still leaving the early years of Harry's life rather unmentioned... lets be honest, OC add in or not, pre 11 year olds in HP world are boring to read about, MOST of the time (I say this as I have read a good fic or two that have extremely young Harry, but at the same time most weren't... not being mean, just honest.)

Yes, I kept the self insert on the name for the "OC" character... ironically it was not intentional, its really just the name that I use for almost everything, and its my go-to user name for most things as well, and I literally forgot that it was my profile name when I gave the second "true" name of the character, and it just stuck...

The last name, is another thing altogether that I created, but I will not explain it as that would spoil potential works of the future that may be on the more publishable variety, and id rather have people aloof of what that name's connotation would be if they somehow found a hypothetical copy of said future story... (basically, original novel, thanks fan fiction for giving me the urge to write to my hearts content and express all my madness in written form for others' amusement!)

Some people have mentioned regarding the previous chapter that the immediate closeness that Harry and Faykan have, especially when they first meet and Harry is practically blurting out things he'd rather keep secret seemed rather uncharacteristic of any child, but I remind that this is not an ordinary friendship, as per the prologue connecting the mysterious old man to piter/faykan, which for some odd reason most people didn't catch in the original, even though I thought it was somewhat obvious, but nevertheless I attempted to make that more clear this run through.

More description of Faykan being sympathetic to Harry's bout of near total breakdown from information overload I felt was greatly needed, and a small amount of clutter removal from the diagon alley into scene, which was slightly all over the place I think.

more to come, and trust me there has been even more major reworks than anything you've seen yet, I've partially rewritten one chapter already, and many of you that read the first edition could probably guess exactly which chapter I am referring to from year one... but we're not even close to that one yet, so no needs to worry too much about that just yet.

As a fun addition, reviews that answer this question would be appreciated: What did/do you think of Faykan/Piter from just these opening two chapters and the prologue, and why? I just want to satisfy my urge to know whether he has translated across to the reader as I intended.

Until next time: ~F