Harry was thrilled. It was the night before his fourth birthday! This meant he could finally start acting a bit more grown-up, not that being pampered by his parents would ever get old. Birthdays in his childhood had never meant anything good, it was just a sign he ready for more, and harder, chores, and maybe a clothing hanger. The best present he had ever gotten from the Dursleys was the 50p coin they sent him for Christmas.
When he had turned 11 and gone to Hogwarts, yet another world was opened to him, the world of gifts. It had taken him by surprise to get his first ever group of presents, especially since he hadn't gotten anyone else anything, a mistake Harry had ensured to fix the next possible opportunity. Even though he had been getting presents regularly for the past decade of his life, the excitement never wore off, just spending time with his loved ones was all he ever wanted, and now he had the two people that were always missing from his life.
But of course two other people were missing from the next day's celebration; Ron and Hermione. He missed them so much, but his mother and Mrs Weasley didn't seem to know each other that well, which he supposed made sense, they didn't go to school at the same time, and with so many children around the house it wasn't exactly a necessity to sort out play dates. However, in Ron's place, Neville had been visiting constantly.
As it turned out, when Dumbledore had called an Order meeting the night Harry arrived there, the Longbottoms had narrowly missed being tortured to madness. The meeting had been called at exactly the moment Neville would have lost his parents to insanity, and in this universe the Longbottoms were a happy family of three, just as they should have been all along. Neville was a very cute and shy child there as well, so no difference there, but he was very attached to Harry now, after all he had grown up with him, and Harry was glad that this time Neville wouldn't grow up alone, without parents, or without friends.
Dumbledore was coming tomorrow as well. Ah Dumbledore, an emotionally confusing fellow. While he had essentially raised Harry in a cruel way and told him to die, Harry could also see the other side of the argument. While he HAD left Harry at the Dursleys and never checked on him, he did literally post a spy to constantly monitor him for his safety, it wasn't her fault she didn't pick up on anything, he was just skinny, (but it wasn't helped by the starving) he never had bruises, (Uncle Vernon did use the belt on him when he misbehaved or did magic, but it was never hard enough to break skin. He always looked very uncomfortable afterwards, and gave him frozen peas, before locking him in his cupboard.)
Then there was the whole "I need you to die" thing, but really, it was a war that an old man was desperately trying to end. If Harry was given the choice between letting one person die, and hundreds, he knew which one he'd choose. Besides, it obviously wasn't an easy choice for Dumbledore, Harry had seen the memory, had seen the misery in Dumbledore's eyes, he knew that if he could have, Dumbledore would have exchanged his life for Harry's without thought. All in all, Harry knew that Dumbledore had made mistakes, but he knew why. It was difficult for him to hate someone that was like a grandfather to him. Dumbledore was no master manipulator, just a very desperate man. Besides, Harry COULD hold everything he did to Harry against him, but he didn't want to be that kind of person, who is just consumed by resentment, then he'd be no better than Voldemort, who essentially started a war because he couldn't get a job.
In addition to Dumbledore and Neville, some members of the order were coming, along with Sirius and Remus. The past few years had been absolute bliss, spending time with a comparatively more sane Sirius, and a Remus that didn't have a constant glaze of misery in his eyes. He heard stories all about their time as the marauders, however, he noticed that the stories always seemed to miss Wormtail, who was currently locked away in Azkaban. They probably didn't want to be asked any difficult to answer questions about him.
Harry knew he was frankly awful at being a toddler. He found it difficult to dumb himself down too much, something he knew was suspicious, along with his clear sense of consciousness that other young children lacked. Sometimes he'd see his mother looking at him with a hard to place look, or even occasionally both his parents talking with Dumbledore, glancing at him worriedly. Whenever this happened he strove to act as childish as ever. He had already overcome milestones far too fast for children, and right after he passed one, so did Tom.
Clearly the mini-monster decided that Harry was a real toddler, and that if a real toddler could pass these milestones quickly enough, so could he. He didn't plan to confront Tom about the whole lie, because it was better if he did believe that Harry was just a normal kid, it meant he could fly under the radar. Luckily for Harry it helped lend to the "I'm just an advanced child" story that Harry had going, he hoped that his parents just thought that they had very smart children. Soon he'd even be able to start reading.
Another thing Harry had noticed was his magic. His adult magical core had travelled with him to his body, and from what Harry vaguely remembered from one of McGonagall's off-topic rants, magical cores are intertwined with the body, essentially the body lets the core know how big it should be growing according to the body. This didn't quite mean that size defines power, but Harry couldn't really remember how it worked, something about childhood? Either way, his body was treating the new core just as it would a normally aged one, and it was growing. Harry had an above average core before, but now Merlin knew how powerful he would be when he grew up. When he grew up. Right. Of course. Now he was going to be reading age, which meant he could finally research his condition, and find a way home.
The past few years had been spent at Potter Manor, which his mother had decided was an excellent opportunity for a revamp. While they knew they didn't need the space, they had never gotten around to buying another house, and eventually decided there was no point when there was a house right there. Potter Manor had a library, which Harry fully intended to use for researching a way home. He know how selfish he was being, just by being there, scaring his friends, maybe they had even thrown a funeral, with everyone barely done grieving for those lost in the war, they didn't need to lose him as well.
Well it was far too late to say something now, and he was about to start finding a way home anyway.
After his party of course.
Well it wasn't just his party, oh no, for some reason this Voldemort baby was not just his brother, but his twin. Of course. Why not? He had been a constant dampener on the past few years of joy, and Harry couldn't even yell at him. He tried his best to keep hidden his dislike of the other boy, but it must have slipped out a few times. This wasn't exactly the end of the world, plenty of siblings practically despised each other, a bit of squabbling between young children was nothing, but he couldn't help but feel like his parents had picked up on it.
OH! What was he thinking? He was just making his enemy hate him even more, this version of Voldemort had no reason to despise Harry just yet, surely no matter what his plan was, it could be much smoother if Voldemort liked him, and besides, if he let his "unwarranted" hatred show, it would only serve to make Tom suspicious. Well that settled it. Harry had to work extra hard to be a good little four year old that loves his brother.
He almost missed the Dursleys.
"Wake up Harry!" Came a high pitched squeal, pulling Harry from sleep.
"What time is it?" Harry questioned in a disgruntled tone, wiping the sleep from his eyes to see Tom sitting on his bed, face hovering close to his.
"Who cares, it's your Birthday!" Came an excited yell from the doorway, where Harry could see his parents standing next to Remus, sighing as Sirius ran towards the bed. As Harry was swung around in the air, he realised that time isn't something four-year-olds should have a sense of, and immediately tried to rectify his slip by squealing extra loud, drowning out the "me too!" from Tom.
Soon, when both the children had been returned to the ground by respective adults James walked over to the boys and handed them each a carefully wrapped package. As they both tore into the presents joyfully, even the fact that Tom was next to him couldn't ruin the moment.
From the scraps of paper Harry neatly pulled out a shirt, a cute little green polo, underneath was a set of dark grey trousers, and some red trainers, Harry looked over, and saw Tom pull matching clothes from his package, but instead of Green and Grey, his shirt was blue, and the trousers were brown. Oh, like their eyes and hair, maybe his trousers were meant to black.
"They're your birthday outfits!" Lily explained enthusiastically, "And look, they match!" They did indeed, thought Harry, he pushed down a grimace and pulled his most authentic smile at the adults, who left them to change, (They had both insisted at three that they could dress by themselves) but as he left, Remus gave Harry a strange look. Maybe he didn't buy the smile. Woops. Oh well, he'd make it up in childishness later.
"I can't believe we're actually four now, we're so old!" Chirped Tom, bringing Harry's attention back to the other boy, who was already getting changed.
"Yeah, it's really cool." Harry answered, with as much excitement as he could muster, just being next to the other boy seemed to suck the good mood from him. "What presents do you hope you get?" He asked politely, which seemed to electrify Tom. Hmm, thinking about it, Harry didn't really ask Tom many questions.
"I really want some books so I can learn to read, I think I'll be good at it, and we'll both be able to go to the library, and I also want a real broomstick, not the ones that only go up a meter, so we can both play quidditch! I want to be keeper, or maybe a beater, what about you, Harry?" Came the eager ramble, maybe he was just happy to speak to Harry, it wasn't a common occurrence. Yes, the one present Harry hoped to get was a real broom, the only time he had felt truly free was when he felt wind blowing against his face, gripping his broom.
"I want to be a seeker."
"I think you'd be good at that, and that means we can all play, because I can be keeper, and you can be a seeker, and we can play with Dad and Sirius, and maybe we can persuade Remus to play, and maybe even Neville, and then we'd almost have a team, and we could get all the other kids to be on the other team, or maybe we should just play with the other children to make it fair, but we'd still win because we'll be better than them." Wait, other children?
"What other children?" Harry cut the likely endless ramble short.
"Oh, the other kids, mum says she invited a bunch of them over today, I think she want us to have more friends, I mean, we only know Neville really, which isn't bad, but I think that they think that we're lonely." Tom answered, either the feeling of excitement over being able to talk to Harry was wearing off, or someone had stayed up late waiting for their birthday. Harry had a feeling he knew which one it was.
Now fully clothed in their "Cute" Matching outfits Tom joyfully lead Harry by the hand downstairs, which Harry allowed, remembering his promise last night. This seemed to excite Tom even further, wow, Tom was a surprisingly excitable boy, no. Stop thinking like that, Voldemort was acting like an excitable boy. Ugh, maybe it was easier to pretend Tom really was a child if he wanted to keep up the act.
By the time they reached the living room, Tom was practically vibrating with the combined thrill of holding Harry's hand and receiving presents.
Multiple boxes and packages were scattered over the coffee table. Tom wasted no time in ripping into each one wrapped in blue (Harry thinks his mother had a thing for colours and colour-coding, she must have picked the outfits as well). Harry quickly followed his example, but after a few moments he realised sadly that there were no broomstick-shaped presents, oh well, maybe next year then. He still opened his presents with gusto, neatly pulling tape from paper.
He got several starter books, a thick, woollen, dark red jumper, and an enchanted miniature Dragon, just like in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Tom received the same, but luckily not the exact same gifts, his jumper was a muted, dark gold, (Wow, colour symbolism again much?) different books, and a different kind of Dragon.
"Do you know what kinds of Dragons these are boys?" James asked, once they were both released from their mini cages.
Harry inspected his own Dragon, it was black in multiple tones, but he had no idea which breed it was. Looking over to Tom's Dragon he recognised it pretty much immediately, "Hungarian Horntail" He answered pointing to the dragon clutched in Tom's little hand.
The occupants of the room looked at Harry in surprise.
"Well done, Harry, and what about yours?" He shook his head silently.
"Well, that, Harry, is the Hebridean Black, it's a Scottish dragon, very fierce, and scary."
"Just like Harry!" Tom exclaimed happily, smiling at him. Everyone shared a little laugh, as Harry stared into its tiny purple eyes.
After moment Tom looked around, and realised the same thing Harry had. There were no broomsticks. Seeing his distraught face, Remus butted in.
"Well there's still one more present for each of you. Sirius was desperate for you to have these, and I talked with your mother and we agreed that since you're both so mature, you can have these." Said Remus, smiling gently as Sirius pulled two boxes, seemingly from nowhere. Harry could feel his face light up in the first genuine smile of the day, as he ran over and tore away the packaging, much more violently than the other gifts.
"Now, they do still have limits, they only go up to 15 meters, but that's more than plenty of height. We really want you to be responsible with these, okay?" Lily clarified, but both boys were embroiled in wrapping paper and holding CleanSweap 6s, the very best brooms at the time.
"Can we play with them now?" Asked Tom, looking hopeful, doing his best puppy-dog expression.
"Yeah, can we?" Sirius and James joined in, looking at Lily and Remus with similar expressions. Remus looked close to breaking, but Lily intervened before he could concede.
"Fine, but you have to eat breakfast first, I've made pancakes for your birthday." That was all it took for three of the four to start jogging to the kitchen, (honestly the house was huge) Harry however stood still, looking at his broom.
"What's wrong Harry?" asked Remus as Lily left to control any chaos ensuing in the kitchen.
"How will I know that this is MY broom, what if Tom picks mine up by mistake?" He knew it was silly, but this was a gift from his parents, the best gift he may have ever gotten, even if it wasn't really his first broom, it felt like it. He didn't want Voldemort to have it, even by mistake.
"Well, how about I make it a different colour for you? Then it'll be easier to tell the difference?" Harry nodded shyly. "How about I make it darker, to match your Dragon? It's just like your hair, isn't it?" Harry nodded again, and with a wave of his wand, Remus had stained the wood a darker shade, and the metal clasps changed from bronze to gold, all in all, it looked quite cool, if not a bit gothic.
"Come on now, Harry, or all the pancakes will be gone," Remus lead Harry towards the kitchen.
This was, possibly, the best birthday ever.
They were standing in the grounds outside, and James was explaining safety rules to both him and Tom, who looked like he was going to explode. Everyone was in full gear, including him, Tom, James, and Sirius. Lily and Remus were sitting on conjured chairs nearby, just in case anyone fell, (That included Sirius, who was a good player, but had a habit of falling off his broom).
Finally they were allowed to mount, and Harry tuned everything else out, including James instructing them to push off gently, and flew up into the air. He immediately felt as exhilarating rush, as his hair, (lightly shorter than he used to have it) blew into his eyes. He flew a perfect loop, before flying laps of the makeshift pitch, and suddenly became acutely aware of all the eyes on him, oh no, he shouldn't be this good!
He found himself calming immediately, he had been really good his first time when he was eleven as well, besides, his body was clearly capable of the moves already, his only worry was that he'd be in trouble, and have his broom taken away. Deciding to make it quick and see if he could pretend it was an accident he slowed to a stop next to the small group hovering in the air above where they'd been standing.
"THAT. WAS. AMAZING!" Sirius squealed, bouncing on his broom ecstatically. James also gave him a massive grin.
"Well done Harry!" Smiled Tom, looking nervous suddenly.
James picked up on this immediately and turned to Tom. "Tom, that was great wasn't it? Well, I think Harry here has already got loops down, maybe you can show him how to fly without nearly giving us a heart-attack." His voice got louder towards the end, as he kept glancing at Lily.
With smile, Tom started flying laps with Harry, who was too happy to care that Tom was there, which Tom took to mean that he was welcome to continue following Harry. Soon there was a slow-paced, low flying quidditch match, with just chasers and a keeper, Harry had to begrudgingly admit Tom wasn't a terrible keeper, but he still tried his hardest to win. Even though he knew James and Sirius let him win, he was still quite impressive with how much of a fight he put up.
A few hours and a lunch break later they went inside to change back into their new outfits before the guests arrived, nothing could dampen the moment, not even Tom grabbing his hand as they walked up the stairs to their room. Things were really looking up for Harry, now he just had to get through a party. Oh boy.