Disclaimer's in the prologue.
Harry came back late at night the day that he left.
The following day he relayed to his Sirius, Remus and Lars that the test was to brew a potion, obviously. The instructor didn't give any instruction on what they are going to brew, only that they can brew whatever they want with the ingredients before them. The more complicated the potion, the better.
Slytherins do not settle for acceptable so Harry recalled the most complicated potions he knows. Polyjuice Potion, Wolfsbane, Amortentia, Draught of Living Death, Felix Felicis, and Veritaserum, well those are the only few that came in to his mind. Polyjuice is out since there are no Fluxweed, Wolfsbane is out as well for there is no Aconite.
It was frustrating when he examined each and every ingredient only for it to turn out that he cannot brew five of the six that he thought of. Besides Polyjuice and Wolfsbane, Amortentia, Draught of Living Death, and Felix Felicis were also out because there are no Moonstone, Infusion of Wormwood and Honeywater. That's where he realized that the only potion you can make with the ingredients before them is Veritaserum, a very powerful truth serum. Smart, making them think that they can brew whatever they want.
After a few hours of brewing it, the Potions Masters that were present were amazed that he, a twelve year old boy figured out, and managed to brew the potion. There were about fifty candidates in that place and barely half of them were able to brew the partial Veritaserum, partial for it still needs to be brewed for a whole lunar phase, 28 days.
"SEE I TOLD YOU HE'S A GENIUS!" Lars announced loudly, unfortunately near his ear, while they were having their supper.
"Lawrence, please show some manners and don't shout." Lars sunk down. Sirius was the one who reprimanded his brother.
"So it's official then, you are already Severus' apprentice?" Remus said with a smile.
Harry drank from his glass before answering "Yes, it is official."
"Well this calls for a celebration doesn't it?" Remus suggested.
"I don't want to trouble you with a celebration, just days ago we had a party here." he said politely.
"Nonsense Harry," Sirius said with a wave of his hand. "Remus' right this calls for a celebration. I'll invite Albus and...of course...Snape...And you should invite your friends as well." Harry felt like they were doing anything to please him, to make him feel comfortable and welcome. They didn't need to do that, he was quite content that they were happy that he came back.
"Would you mind if I have Luke come over again, along with a few people?" He asked politely, though he was definitely sure that his Godfather's answer would be in the lines of...
"Not at all," Sirius replied with a grin. "You should also invite little Malfoy, and Nott." Draco gave a good impression on Sirius when they first met. Draco was polite and not really haughty who talked about pureblood supremacy and all that load of dung about blood. On Theo, Sirius commented that he was worried for him because he knew Nott Sr. and said that he was as bad as his parents, though his Godfather did hope for the best, after all people change through time and nothing is ever set on stone but Harry thinks that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, especially if the dog is a bad one.
"What happens if you fail?" Lars asked.
"If you fail and you still want to be an apprentice, you'll have to pay the Association."
"To think you weren't ambitious brother," His brother remarked. "The youngest Potions Master in history was what eleven?"
"Those were during the old days." he told his brother. "Remember, no ministry yet, only a wizard council which wasn't quite...organized."
Harry wrote a missive for Luke, and also for Midas that day, and then had it sent immediately to prevent delay since it's going to be sent overseas. He also wrote one to Draco and asked him if he could help Theo with his Father again. Mr. Malfoy, after all, was the one who convinced Mr. Nott to let Theo come along with Draco.
Sirius scheduled the dinner to be two days later during Friday night in, surprisingly, a muggle restaurant that Sirius claimed that he likes.
The fireplace of the Manor flared up some time in the afternoon and Luke's head appeared on it asking politely if they may come through unlike the last time that he literally stumbled out of the fireplace which was quite embarrassing.
"Password's Sirius Rules." Lars informed Luke.
Luke came out of the fireplace first. Two more followed. The first was another boy, probably aged nine or ten, wearing a short sleeved, chequered polo. He has a black hair with silver highlights, and black eyes.
The third and last one who stepped out of the fireplace was a man, who looks like in his early twenties. He has a light brown coloured hair, and dark blue eyes.
"Hello to you all." he said politely.
"Hey there, brought some company, where's Harry?" Luke asked.
"Upstairs, in his room, probably reading or writing," He said with a shrug, "anything that you might think boring." He turned to blue eyes with a smile. "Hi I'm Lawrence Potter."
"Yes, of course we know who you are. I'm Midas, Midas McGregor." Blue eyes said with a Scottish accent as they shook hands. "And this is Ethan," The boy just ignored him.
"Nice to meet you," Lars said politely, though it was more meant for Midas and not the rude boy. Who is he anyway? Other than he's the boy that Harry was looking for during their birthday.
Lars told them to sit down while they waited for Sirius and Remus to arrive. The two adults were still at work and were not due to arrive in an hour.
"Where's Philip?" They turned to see Harry standing there by the door of the living room. Luke greeted Harry with a wave, Midas with a smile, and Ethan with a passive look. Harry greeted the three with a nod.
"Hello my boy, good to see you again," Midas said as Harry approached them.
"Good to see you too, Dy." Harry said, briefly hugging the man before turning to him. "He's also a Gryffindor, just so you know."
"Wicked!" he exclaimed. "You were in Hogwarts too."
"Not like there are any other Wizarding school that has Gryffindor in it..." The bratty boy muttered but all of them heard it. The boy had a bit of an American accent.
"Harry, we need to talk?" Midas said to Harry after giving the boy a warning look. Harry nodded before the pair of them exited the living room.
"So how've you been Larry?" Luke asked him to lighten up the gloomy atmosphere that is surrounding the three of them the moment Harry and Midas left to talk privately.
"First of, my nickname's 'Lars' not 'Larry'" he said then added in jest, "to answer your question, still famous I guess." Ethan scoffed.
"What's his problem?" He asked in annoyance at the boy who's showing quite an attitude. Seriously, he was wondering what the boy's bloody problem is, acting like an arse on the first day there.
"Don't mind him he's just -" The flaring of the fireplace once more interrupted Luke from what he was about to say.
"Hello pup, hello Luke." Sirius greeted them as he stepped out of the fireplace "And...hello, I don't think we've met."
The boy obviously forced a smile as he introduced himself to Sirius. "I'm Ethan, Sir." The boy had said politely.
"Well then nice to meet you kid. I'm Sirius, Harry's Godfather and this is Remus, Lars' Godfather." Remus smiled kindly at Ethan.
"Where's Harry by the way?" As if on cue, Harry and Midas returned to the living room after their private talk.
"Hello there Mr. Black!" Midas greeted cheerfully, looking jovial at seeing Sirius who was just looking blank at the moment.
"You probably don't remember me," Midas said. "I was in fifth year and uh you substituted for the second term in Defence, Sir." Sirius formed an 'o' shaped with his mouth, but it appears that he still doesn't quite remember.
Remus stepped in "Forgive my friend, Mr..."
"McGregor," Midas informed them. Sirius' head shot up at hearing the surname.
"McGregor?" Sirius said, thinking back. "As in the McGregor kid who turned the Slytherin banner into Gryffindor colours during the end of the year feast."
"Yeah, that was me Sir." Midas answered with a sheepish grin.
Sirius laughed. "That was worth a sight believe me, though ol' Snapey wasn't pleased about it, heard he gave a yearlong detention the following year."
Midas laughed. "That was a bit of an exaggeration Sir." said Midas. "He didn't give me detention for the whole year, only for a month...and the rest of the year taking points from Gryffindor house at every turn." No surprise there. That man clearly has something against Gryffindors.
"Dude...Teach that just sounds so wrong...so, so, wrong..." Luke said whilst shaking his head, "here we thought...Teach you are so not sugar, spice and everything nice..." Luke continued to rant on what he thought Midas was at school.
"Yes, well I wasn't always like that, clearly, so if you even tell that to your classmates, I'll fail you in every assignments and exam." Midas smiled mockingly at Luke and all of them laughed except Harry who merely smiles, but rarely laughs out loud and the bratty boy who just smirked.
Lars noticed that while the adults were there, save Midas, Ethan didn't make any snide comments, probably keeping up an image.
"You boys wait here alright, we'll just change and wait for Harry's friends and we're off to the resto." Sirius said.
"You're a teacher?" He asked Midas.
"Yep," Midas replied with a smile.
"What subject?"
"Care of Magical Creatures."
"And Luke is your student?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, well, so you two finally decided to show up." Harry sneered at Theo and Draco who have just arrived via floo. They both were explaining the same time and the only thing they all heard was Theodore saying "Goldilocks here just can't sodding lay off the mirror for one second."
They portkeyed to an apparition point in London where a car was waiting for them. The drive to the restaurant was just for a few minutes. When they went out of the car, they saw the Potions Master wearing a, as usual it is black, muggle suit with his famous scowl on his face. Dumbledore, he said, was already inside seated on their table already.
"Hello there my boys!" The Headmaster greeted them jovially. Lars kept on blinking and blinking and blinking to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. He knows that compared to muggle clothes, theirs are a bit odd considering that they are wearing robes even when it's already the modern times, but Dumbledore's suit was even odder than odd. The colours of the suit were orange, purple, and pink. Not a very good combination.
Dumbledore and Snape both greeted Midas and Ethan. It seemed like they met before with the way Snape greeted Ethan.
"Congratulations dear boy." Dumbledore said to Harry before turning to the sour looking Snape who was glaring at Midas who was going to sit on the chair far from Snape, apparently Snape didn't forget about him. "Harry is really gifted in Potions wouldn't you agree Severus?"
The potions master sighed heavily. "Headmaster," Snape said, "his early potions apprenticeship clearly implies that.
The dinner was, suffice to say, alright because Sirius and Snape are, reluctantly, tolerating each other and besides they wouldn't throw hexes at each other when Dumbledore is sitting in between them but they did throw a few insults at each other like 'slimy snake' and 'mangy mutt'.
The adults, after continuously congratulating Harry that is, started their own conversation. It was mostly about school, how they did and all that stuff so Lars just turned his attention to the others. Adult conversations are inherently boring.
Theodore and Draco were laughing and joking around. Fortunately they were in a closed and private dining room of the restaurant or else the others would have complained about Theodore and Draco's continuous noise. The two boisterous snakes were completely oblivious at the evil glare that their head of house was giving them.
There was one thing that seemed odd to him though, Ethan. The boy was being quiet but glances at Harry every now and then with a sad look on his face and only speaking when the adults ask a question. Come to think of it, he never bothered asking who the boy is, and Harry seemed like he was ignoring the boy at all, well even the boy wasn't speaking, or even approaching Harry.
After dinner, Sirius insisted that Harry's friends stay over for a day or two, or maybe even a week would do. Draco floo-called Malfoy Manor, asking permission to stay. Draco being Draco, the permission was given, and was extended to Theo, stating 'my father will handle it', though only for a night, but they were allowed as guests every day.
There were many rooms in the Manor but Theo and Draco, though it was Theo who spoke for Draco that they are going to share a room. Midas didn't stay over though, mentioning that he has a lot of things to do, but Luke and Ethan did, and they will for five days since Luke mentioned that his parents allowed him to spend five days in England. Theo and Draco stayed in one of the guest rooms and so did Luke and Ethan.
That same night, Lars saw Harry by the door of the guestroom that Luke and Ethan were occupying, raising his hand then lowering it again. He can hear Harry mutter about something, though it wasn't quite clear, but he figured that maybe Harry was contemplating whether to knock or not to knock.
"What are you doing there?" Harry 's head turned and looked at him with a strange look in his eyes, almost like a sad look before being masked by a usual empty and passive look in his eyes. His older twin walked away from the door of the room and then walked to him.
"Come along," Harry said to him, motioning for him to follow.
"Is this about that kid?" He immediately asked once Harry finished waving his wand by the door.
"Yes, that kid," Harry paused, "that kid is Ethan, as you have known, and he is my brother...in everything but blood.
Lars had to bit his tongue just so he would not blurt out a 'he's your brother!?' reaction.
Lars had three questions for Harry, why didn't Harry told him about Ethan; why didn't he introduce Ethan earlier; and why they aren't interacting that much. He picked the second and third question, thinking that Harry's answer might be in the lines of 'it's none of your business.' or 'I don't have to tell you everything'
"Why aren't you two talking then? And why didn't you introduce him to Uncle Sirius and Uncle Moony? Also why does it seem like he doesn't like me very much."
"First question's answer, he's being a brat; second question's answer, I thought Midas had already introduced him to you, though perhaps not seeing as you're surprised. His whole name, by the way, is Ethan Cade Evandrus." Harry informed him. Harry and Ethan share a surname, that was...surprising.
Lars swallowed. "And the answer to the third question?"
"He's a bit jealous of you." Harry replied blandly.
He blinked before blurting out "You're joking right?"
Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "I assure you, I am not joking."
"So why?"
Harry looked at him before replying. "The same reason as to why you reacted with a bit of a frown when I told you that his surname is the same as mine." Lars opened his mouth only to close it again. He may have been a bit jealous when Harry mentioned that they share a surname.
"I should've figured that one." he whispered to himself before turning to Harry. "Though that doesn't explain why you two are not talking with each other."
Harry tilted his head to the right. "We..." his brother drawled, "had a row and may have shared a few hurtful words with one another a few months ago."
"Uhm..."
"He sent me a missive sometime last May." His brother replied while taking a seat on the edge of the bed, "Said he doesn't want to speak with me, that he hates me because I didn't return for Christmas and the Easter holiday, and won't go back to the summer holidays because, according to him, I'd rather spend time with you even if I had continually told him that it doesn't have anything to do with you.
"What did you tell him?"
Harry looked down before sighing and giving his reply. "I told him that he is an ungrateful, and unappreciative brat because he didn't even acknowledged that I was with him all these years, protecting him, being a brother to him even when I didn't have to, that and he doesn't have any right to dictate what I do for we're only brothers because of a paper."
Yeah, that must've probably hurt Ethan.
Lars sighed. "Brother, even for your standard that's a very harsh thing to say to him." Sure, he was a bit jealous of Ethan since he shares Harry's surname but, even he can't deny that what Harry said is truly harsh.
"You can't blame me, or maybe you can." Harry said quietly. "I was angry when I read his missive, and was still angry when I wrote a reply."
"Though I must admit," Harry began while getting under the covers. "It really did bother me, having Ethan write to me that he hates me, after all what has happened, after the years that I was with him."
His older twin sighed. "Close the door when you exit the room." After that last statement Harry fell asleep.
As he was about to exit the room, he heard a familiar voice, the voice of the snake
"Bossman! Hey Bossman!" Lars saw the snake slithering from a hole in the wall separating Harry's room from the guestroom that Luke and Ethan were occupying. Raph slithered on Harry's bed.
Harry rolled in his bed. "Sod off!" His brother yelled at Raph.
Raph turned its head towards him.
"You know if you really don't want to get chopped off you wouldn't bother him." Lars commented in parseltongue. Raph slithered towards him and coiled frantically on his leg a tad too tightly. "Ah! not too tight Raph."
"Sorry Lawrence, but you gotta help, there'sss a psycho trying to kill me in the other room."The snake hissed frantically. "The psycho saw me and now he'sss trying to kill me."
"Wait, wait-"
"The kid'sss a freaking psycho! He's trying to murder me with a bloody stick!" The snake continued. Lars shook off Raph from his leg and opened the door. In front of the door, there stood Ethan, a hand behind him.
"Uhm..." he began awkwardly before he felt Raph slithered by his foot and immediately hissed "THAT'SSS THE PSYCHO!" Ethan tried to barge in through the room but his firm grip stopped him.
"Ethan, you might think -scratch that...right the snake is dangerous...but that snake is Harry's pet alright?" He said calmly as the boy shrugged off his hand.
"Right," The boy whispered. There was an awkward silence between them for a moment then Lars thought that this might be the perfect time to talk to the boy and reassure him unlike Harry.
"Come with me." He said and he headed for the stairs. He turned around to see the boy just standing still. "I just want to talk, just talk."
The boy, after a minute of contemplation, followed. They went to the kitchen and he made two cups of hot chocolate for them both.
"Well? Talk, bozo." Ethan said impatiently, still not touching his cup.
"Look Evandrus," Lars thought that it might be better to use Ethan's surname for now. "I know that you're a bit...alright a lot angry with me, you are a little jealous." Ethan gave him a glare, though he must admit that it was kinda cute.
"What d'you want Potter?" Ethan said irritably. "You get why I don't like you, now Harry hates me."
"Evandrus, the only person that Harry hates is most probably Voldemort, no one else." He reassured Ethan.
When Ethan didn't speak, he continued. "I know how you feel, losing a big brother and all, I mean he's only a few minutes older than me but he still acts like an older brother at school...and a strict one at that."
The boy was still looking distrustful of him, but listening nevertheless, so it's a start. "Please don't be that blinkered while listening to me. I get that you don't trust me, you may not even like me but you really should know that I'm not taking Harry away -"
"You are! You are taking my big brother away from me!" Ethan interjected with a tremulous voice. "He didn't come home for Christmas and even the Easter holidays because of you, he's there in Scotland while I was in Virginia."
"Drink." He urged the boy. The boy looked at him before drinking. That should calm him down, Lars thought commending himself, that perhaps it was a good idea to slip a calming draught in the chocolate drink.
"Believe me I'm not taking him away from you. Between you and me, I think he'll choose you over me."
Ethan sniffed and then sighed. "I met him when I was just four," the boy started speaking without Lars asking a question. "He saved me from those asses who left me out on the rain, he let me in then helped me, he never got angry with me even when I was being annoying, even if he always gets in trouble because of me, because I'm always behind him and he was protecting me from those idiots. He even let me be with him when he ran away...he's the only family I know, he's the only one who was nice to me..."
"And you're scared that he'll leave you because he stayed here." Lars said sympathetically to the boy.
"Yes." the boy said quietly with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry for acting like a real ass to the others, especially you...I really am...but I was...I was just mad, really, really mad that Harry chose to stay here, I know that it's not enough of a reason, Harry always told me not to act like that -"
Lars sighed and calmly interjected "You know I can't really blame you for acting like that, scared and irrational, you're young still quite understandable."
"Thanks, I needed to hear that, it also means a lot coming from you." The boy said quietly, and gratefully. "But I don't think Harry will talk to me again." Ethan added sadly. "He's right, I'm really -"
"Contrary to other's belief, Harry's not always right, even if he is most of the time." He interjected. "He was wrong to say that you're ungrateful, you were just hurt. I understand that you're scared so he shouldn't have said that."
Ethan shook his head. "He's right about that, I don't have the right to say those things, we're not even blood related, he just allowed me to be with him, and I had the guts to tell him that I hate him."
"Not everything's about blood Ethan, you should know that, Harry knows that." He said firmly. "And besides if Harry doesn't want to talk to you, he won't be inviting you here."
"He didn't directly invite me you know." Ethan said, wiping his eyes. "In his letter to Midas, he stated 'bring him along' Midas figured that he was talkin' 'bout me."
"I was jealous because he didn't even talk to you about me, when he sent those letters to Luke he talked about you." Ethan admitted.
"You're right he didn't.," said Lars. "But he was looking for you, he asked about you during our birthday party." He overheard that when Harry asked Luke where Ethan was, though at that time Lars didn't know who Ethan is, not that he even bothered to ask.
The smiled a little bit. "Here I thought Luke only said that to make me feel better."
"Well, Luke wasn't lying, also Harry seemed upset that you weren't there, he really looked like he is...I just didn't ask who you were. And earlier, I...I saw him in front of your door." Clearly Ethan doesn't know that. "He looks like he doesn't know if he should knock or not. And you know what else? Earlier, he told me who you are to him. He told me you are his brother in everything but blood." The boy smiled.
"I should've come to his birthday like Midas told me to. While he was at Hogwarts he sent me a gift during Christmas and my...my birthday..." he sniffed, "and what, did I do? I told him I hate him just because he didn't go back to Virginia, just that...stupid...idiotic thing..." Ethan was still calm, probably because of the effects of the draught.
"I'll get Harry to talk to you, believe me." he promised him. "He's not angry. Annoyed, quite, but angry at you no, he can't."
"If you want..." He began with a bit of uncertainty on how Ethan would react. "You can be like my little brother then Harry can both be our big brother, how'd you like that?" He saw Ethan beamed at him.
"Really? Thanks!" Much to his surprise, Ethan gave him a quick hug. It was quite weird that Ethan seemed to trust, or at least like him just because of what he said, it was probably because Harry was never one to sympathize with people. Care, sure, Harry can do that, but say something sympathetic, not quite unless the new definition of being sympathetic is making people feel bad even more.
Lars can still remember that when he told Harry about what happened in the forest, Harry told him that he deserved the punishment for not following the rules, even if he was nearly attacked by Moldy-voldy before Firenze, the centaur, helped him out, stating that had they not been punished for being out on the castle grounds, none of it would have happened.
Lars chuckled all of a sudden when a thought came to him. "Anything funny dude?" Ethan asked him.
"No nothing," he replied. "I just realized that this is why Harry doesn't call me 'little brother' anymore, I mean before he left he always call me that but now, you're already his new little brother. And now, you're my little brother as well."
Ethan smiled. "Thanks dude, really."
"Think nothing of it." He replied with a grin.
"Think nothing of it. I after all think nothing of you." Ethan recited, confusing Lars. "Sorry, wasn't being an ass, it was just a line I got from a sitcom."
"From a what?" he asked, confused again.
"A television show...look, bro, it's a bit hard to explain without the actual thing."
Lars just nodded. "So we're chummy now right?" When Ethan smiled, he exclaimed "Excellent, little bruv!"
"How old are you again? 8 or 9?" He asked.
Ethan glared at him. "I'm 10!" The boy said indignantly.
"Oh...heh...sorry..." Lars said sheepishly. "That means you'll start school next year, Harry and I will be in third year...you are going to Hogwarts right?"
"Depends if I get my letter."
"Were you born here?"
Ethan nodded. "Yeah."
"Well then don't worry about it, you'll get a letter. Oh! And also you'll get to come with us to buy yourself a wand...so you wouldn't have to take Luke's."
Ethan's eyes widened before clutching on his side pocket. "Raph said that you were trying to kill him with a bloody stick." he pointed out.
Ethan hummed, pretty much like what Harry does. "Raph's the snake isn't he?"
"Yeah, Seraphim." He nearly whispered his response. "You don't look surprised that I can understand the snake."
"Harry can do it." Ethan replied. "Dude, if I knew that it was his, I swear I wouldn't have tried killing it...I just thought that the snake just got in the house, you know like in some places, some snakes gets in the house and bites people. I freaked when I saw it in the room so I took Luke's wand from the bedside table, and well, I ran after it."
"Fair point. Can I ask you a question?"
"You just did bro." Ethan pointed out. "You can ask another one."
"Brat." Lars muttered while Ethan grinned ear to ear. "Harry told you that him staying here has nothing to do with me, what I meant to ask is shouldn't you know by now that he means what he says? Considering that you've been with him as long as I have, for half a decade."
Ethan sighed heavily. "I know," he said. "He told me his reasons, real reasons but, I guess I was just too jealous and hard-headed that I disregarded what he said, forget about what he said."
"Wait." He said after processing what Ethan said. "Real reasons?" Ethan nodded.
"Yeah. Let me tell you this. That guardianship was so nobody else would be able to adopt him, adopt us." Ethan informed him. "Can't tell you who played puppet master or Harry will kill me, so anyway Midas agreed to let him live alone so long as he will not be in danger. Before Harry left he told me that he wants to live separately from Midas because we'll be a hindrance to him...not in a bad way, but, more like 'coz Midas won't be able to live his life fully if we're with him, I mean he had already spent more than half a decade taking care of us ever since he was like 19, it's unfair to him."
"And you?" he asked.
"What about me?"
"Where are you going to live once you start Hogwarts? With Midas or with Harry."
"With Harry...if he would still want that." Ethan looked on the floor for a bit.
Lars nodded. "He still wants that, believe me." he reassured. "But if you're living with Harry where would you live? I mean you're welcome here in the manor like Harry."
"Honestly I don't know yet...but maybe in Flamel castle."
"Flamel castle?"
"Uhuh, Harry owns it now, I think."
"Harry owns a castle?" he exclaimed, gobsmacked. "Seriously?"
"Yes, or at least that's what I know...He sent a letter to Midas during your birthday, he said that they left everything to him."
"Hang on, I know that Harry knows the Flamels personally...but is he an alchemist himself?"
Ethan shrugged. "I guess so. We met Mr. Flamel in a runes shop years ago. He took an interest at Harry then after talking with Midas, Harry became his student ever since. It would be a surprise if he didn't teach him Alchemy." Lars was gobsmacked, his brother is a possible alchemist, one of the rarest of the rare branch of magic, and he was taught by the creator of the Philosopher Stone himself.
"Did Flamel teach you as well?"
Ethan shook his head. "No...Come on dude, I'm not as studious as Mr. A+ student." He didn't bother to ask what Ethan meant by 'Mr. A+ student' "when Mr. Flamel started teaching him I was just like 5 years old, studying is so not in the daily planner, but playing night and day is." Fair point on the boy's side. When he was that age, all he wanted to do was to play as well.
"What happened when Harry left?"
Ethan furrowed his brow. "Didn't you ask him that?"
"I did. He said that he stayed in an orphanage, before staying in the streets, before Midas found him."
"Well he didn't lie to you. That's what really happened."
"But how did Midas find Harry?" Lars questioned. "Uncle Sirius searched the whole wizarding population for Harry, but none of them found him."
"Well dude, you got one variable wrong." Ethan said. "Mr. Black looked for him in the wizarding world, not the muggle world. We were in the muggle world until Midas took us in. He kept on poppin' in and out right in front of us...so there he took us from the streets, became our guardian then moved to Richmond when he got accepted at V.I.W.W."
"V.I.W.W?"
"Virginia Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Midas started teaching there a few years ago."
Lars nodded and resolved to ask all the questions that he can ask. "Ok, how 'bout Philemon, who's he? I saw those initials on top of Harry's book..."
"Philemon?" Ethan repeated then with a frown he said "Let me guess, capital, 'P', 'L' and 'M'."
"Uh...yes, so who's he."
"Oh that's Philip," said Ethan.
"Philip, the guy from the Philippines, yes?"
"Same dude." Ethan replied. "Harry told you about him then?"
"No, only how the guy celebrates Christmas and New Year...Say, has Harry ever been there, in the Philippines I mean."
"Yeah, I guess he didn't tell you that as well...we stayed there for like six months after Midas found us 'coz he had already scheduled to go there. We just tagged along. I even celebrated my fifth birthday there, my first celebration actually. Philip made a party for me then went on to invite some random kids and some cousins of his in the party."
"He sounds rich, really rich."
"He's rich alright, but not that extravagant." Ethan said while playing with the 'E' shaped pendant of his gold necklace. "He said he just wanted me to have a happy celebration since it was the first time I ever had one...he's not one for extravagance, but he's pretty generous."
"He sounds nice." he remarked. "Like an over indulgent Uncle."
Ethan yawned while saying something that Lars wasn't able to understand.
"Come again?" he said.
"I said," Ethan said before clearing his throat and standing up from the stool. "I said he'll tell you when he wants to." It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that Ethan was referring to Harry when he said 'he'.
"Goodnight, goodmorning or whatever," Ethan yawned once more while rubbing his eyes. "I'm sleepy."
"Well goodnight little bruv." He replied while fixing the cups that they used.
"Big bro's right about you, you know," Ethan said before exiting the kitchen.
"About what?" He asked.
The younger boy replied "That you're kind. I just...didn't, wouldn't want to believe it 'coz most celebs have a head bigger than a freakin' basketball. Goodnight." then headed back upstairs leaving a smiling Lars in the kitchen.