IV.

"Theo, you've got to be joking!" Harry stared down at the slice of dry, plain bread in disbelief. Even at their worst and most restrictive, the Dursley's at least shared their meals with Harry. Sure, he wasn't given as large or delicious of portions as Dudley. But they never restricted him to just bread and water. Harry cast a suspicious glance over Theo's suddenly suspiciously thin frame and pale face.

"I'm-" Theo seemed to have collapsed in on himself as he stared down at measly dinner. "I just- normally, Euphie would make all the meals. But with her so sick…" His voice trailed off in a miserable whisper.

"She's been sick for two years," Harry whispered aghast. Had Theo really been living off of bread for two years?

"I know!" Theo looked up wildly, "We'll go to Diagon Alley and eat in one of the restaurants there. No one will question us since this can be a celebratory meal! Or we can say you have special dietary restrictions and can't eat at home- it would only be for a few weeks- just until we are back at Hogwarts!" He smiled at Harry desperately.

Harry shook his head slowly. Why hadn't Lord Nott done anything about this? If his own child was reduced to eating bread, wouldn't any father ensure. . . well, something? Another house elf or a cook or something? But he hadn't. Harry had a sudden, sinking feeling, that maybe it was better that Lord Nott was away on business right now.

"You got the bread from over here?" He asked, hopping off the stool at the tale and crossing to the strange wall with all the doors. One of the doors, the one Theo had opened, had a broken hinge and was having a little off-kilter. Harry opened the door and peered inside the small, stone cupboard.

"I think we get regular deliveries from one of the farms," Theo explained as he trailed after her. "At least, there is always a new loaf of bread in the morning."

"What is in the other ones?" Harry asked, trailing his hand over the closed doors. His fingers looked weird- thin and delicate with large, oval nails. Harry made a fist and tucked his hand in his pants pockets. He had forgotten for a moment that he wasn't in his own body.

"I don't know." Theo admitted and then, at Harry's look of shock, raised his hands placatingly, "I can't open them. The bread one is broken, but the others- only the house elves, the cooks, or the Lady of the House can open them. It's an old rule."

"I wonder…" Harry ran his fingers over another door and then gave the handle an experimental tug. The door resisted for a moment, then unlatched with a click. Theo gasped and Harry grinned excitedly, "Brilliant! Eggs!"

. . . . . . .

"Where did you learn to do this?"

Theo watched in fascinated amazement as Harry fried up onions, potatoes, eggs and bacon in a large frying plan. After the initial success of the eggs, Harry had been quick to investigate the other cupboards to find that they had a lovely collection of vegetables, bacon, butter and more on hand. It didn't take long to find a frying pan and convince Theo to make a fire in the old, iron stove in the corner.

"I… don't know." Harry hedged as he flipped the eggs. He wasn't about to admit that he'd spent most of his childhood in a kitchen, making breakfasts for the Dursley's. Snape's excuse about losing his memories was working in his favor.

"Well, it smells brilliant."

"Thanks," Harry was horrified to feel his cheeks heat up at the praise- he never blushed! But it was nice to have a compliment for his cooking- rather than being yelled at for taking too long or making a mess. "Why did you make the fire by hand?"

Theo sighed, "I'm still underage and Lord Nott never got around to taking the trace off my wand."

Harry frowned at their dinner. So, not only was Theo abounded for weeks at a time, but he also had to live like a Muggle? That was barbaric!

Harry paused. That didn't sound like how he thought. . . Could being in this body be changing the way he thought? Or just… did having magic make things really that much easier?

Shaking his head, Harry dished out their breakfast hash onto two plates.

"Dinner is served!"

It was gratifying and horrifying how quickly Theo inhaled the basic food.

. . . . . . .

After they had tried to feed Euphie some of the dinner and replaced her water, cleaned up the kitchen and bid the house-elf a good night, it was too late to return back to Hogwarts. Also, Harry didn't quite want to deal with the stress of explaining to Ron and the Headmaster where he had spent his evening or figuring out where he would sleep. It felt awkward, in this new body, to sleep in his usual bed in the Gryffindor Boy's dorm. But at the same time, sleeping with the girl's would be just as embarrassing!

Plus, it just didn't seem right to leave Theo all alone in the Keep by himself.

. . . . . .

"This is your room!" Theo announced, opening a heavy wooden door. Harry peaked in to see an enormous room - easily the size of one floor of the Dursley house. A four-poster bed with dark wood and pale green hangings sat in the middle of the room- an island of comfort. An enormous armoire hulked in the corner. A writing desk and a comfy chair in green velvet sat on the other side of the room. The walls were decorated with exquisite tapestries of -

"Unicorns!" Harry breathed, as the luminous white animals serenely grazed over the green hills. He walked up to a hanging and hesitantly lay his hand against the woven cloth. It felt warm to the touch and as though he could pick out every thread if he just concentrated.

A unicorn mare looked up and walked over to his hand, lowering her woven nose to nudge his fingers. Harry laughed in delight, which seemed to attract the other unicorns. One or two left their hangings to appear in the one beside the door.

"They like you," Theo whispered in awe, coming up behind him.

"They're wonderful," Harry said. He reached up on his tiptoes and tried to stroke the threads of the unicorn's mane. The animal shook its head as if it could actually feel the touch. This was amazing magic- much better than the paintings in Hogwarts. It felt real and tangible in a way that much of the magic in class didn't. Was this what family magic meant? If he had grown up in a Potter house, would he have felt this level of calm and comfort around Potter artifacts?

"Where's your room?" He asked suddenly, turning to Theo, "What tapestries do you have?"

Theo grinned and showed Harry where his room was located across the hall. It was a similarly enormous room but looked more lived in- with old clothes were strewn about and school books piled on the desk. Theo's room housed tapestries that depicted a deep forest- with trunks of the trees stretching from floor to ceiling. Woven birds flickered between the trees and Harry thought he caught sight of an elusive deer sipping from a cloth stream. Even Theo's bed hangings around his bed were made of the same, forested tapestry.

"It's beautiful," he breathed. Theo nodded happily.

"I like the forest," He confessed. "It feels safe. Like there are lots of places to hide."

Before Harry could comment on that odd remark, Theo dashed towards the armor and began rummaging through the drawers. He emerged a second later with a rumpled piece of linen.

"A nightshirt!" He explained triumphantly. "I know it's for wizards and not witches, but it's better than sleeping in your clothes."

"Thanks?" Harry unrolled the shirt and held it up to his body. It was long enough to cover his toes and seemed unisex as far as he could tell.

"You need a new wardrobe," Theo said seriously, "We can't have you wearing boy clothes or Gryffindor colors. Oh! I know! We can go to Diagon Alley tomorrow. I bet you need a wand too!"

Harry started to protest that he had a wand, but then remembered that his holly and phoenix feather hadn't responded to him at all. It felt like a betrayal to buy another, but he didn't want to spend the next three months without magic! Especially if he was to keep up with his classes at Hogwarts.

Diagon Alley wouldn't take too long anyway, Harry reasoned. He could always stop by Hogwarts afterward and check on Hermione and Ron then.

Before Harry bid Theo goodnight, the boy flung his arms around Harry and gave him a tight, rib crunching hug.

"Sleep well, Dora," He whispered. "This was the best day of my life."

. . . . . . .

Harry woke in a cold sweat and at first couldn't tell where he was. The room was too cold and echoing to be either of his rooms at Privet Drive. And he couldn't hear the familiar snuffling and snores of the other boys in his dorm.

Suddenly, he remembered: he was in Nott's Keep. Something had awoken him in the very early hours of the morning. Harry tensed- wishing he had his wand with him to cast a Lumos if nothing else- and listened intently for what had woken him.

Then, a sharp pain echoed just under his heart and Harry gasped, as the urgency radiated through his magic. Theo! Something was happening to his twin!

Harry through the heavy covers off the bed and dashed out of his room and into the hall. The Keep was pitch black at this time of night, but after stumbling into a wall only once, Harry found the door to Theo's room.

Pushing open the door, Harry peered into the darkness- not remembering where Theo's bed had been located. Suddenly, a faint, glowing light appeared at his right. He glanced over quickly and, to his amazement, saw a unicorn appear between the trees of the forest. It nodded at Harry once and then began to pick its way through the trees until it disappeared.

Harry waited, then saw the glow appear before him. That must be Theo! The unicorn had found its way onto the tapestries around his bed.

Breathing a quick thankful prayer, Harry hurried across the cold floor and pushed the tapestries open. Theo was lost in a nightmare. His sheets were soaked with sweat and knotted around his legs. Alarm leaped in Harry's chest.

"Theo!" He cried, shaking the boy's shoulder, "Theo wake up!"

The boy jerked away from his hands, then startled up in alarm- arms raised as though to ward off a blow. When no strike came, he slowly lowered his hands and glanced up.

"Dora?" He whispered and Harry nodded, before realizing that Theo couldn't see him.

"Yes. Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Theo muttered. "I'm fine." Harry could hear a sniff and then the sound of a face being hastily scrubbed with the back of a hand. How many nights had Harry woken up from some nightmare, alone in his cupboard under the stairs, to do the same thing? No one had ever been there for him.

But something in his magic had reacted when Theo was in pain. Had alerted him to the boy's terror and suffering. Was this just because Harry had used one of Theo's hairs in the polyjuice? Or was there something else- family magic that let you know when someone you loved was hurting? If so, how could Lord Nott stay away!

"Sure," Harry agreed pleasantly, climbing up on the bed next to him. "Do you mind if I sleep here for the rest of the night? Being alone in the room can be scary."

"Ok," Theo agreed almost too quickly. "That's a good idea. I don't want you to be scared here." He scooted over to the far side so that Harry had plenty of room.

It should have been uncomfortable to share a bed, but Harry was asleep before he could think of it too much.

. . . . . .

A/N: Hope you are enjoying reading this story as much as I am enjoying writing it!

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