Chapter 2: (2085 words)

Connor had no idea how he had ended up in this situation.

He was just strolling threateningly down the street, daring any bullies to approach him while simultaneously avoiding his sister and family, when he saw a little boy with black, unruly hair, and something in him just screamed to do something to save him, and because he never ignored his instincts, since they knew better than him more often than not, he did just that.

And why did he offer the stranger to run away with him? He hardly ever opens up to his actual family, and he had never had a friend, so how was he perfectly content with running away with a stranger?! He was stumped! And the pair of eyes on that little thing's head could keep him occupied for days, just staring at them. How did such a fragile little thing have such… such powerful eyes? And with how the little thing was fragile for a reason: he went through the same thing that Conner did! They… they were the same. Maybe that was why…?

And with the pair of rings! That feeling of… of having someone understand you was so… just so overwhelming and incredible, he never thought that he could ever experience such a thing with someone else, and with the look of awe on Harry's face told him that said little boy felt exactly the same!

Now, they were both shoved into a little room in the orphanage, the other kids not wanting to room with a stranger, so it made sense to room them two together.

Harry was freaking out, though, and Connor had no idea what to do, he never had to… to comfort someone in his day to day life, but then he realised that Harry stumbling into his life was changing things, so many things, and now he didn't even live with his family anymore! That was a definite plus!

Connor was glad he was so good at hiding his emotions, as he tried to act supportive and positive for Harry, while he was the most negative person he himself knew.

(-Line break!-)

"Hey, at least they let us sleep in the same room," Connor smiled at Harry, who was freaking out and wondering if he should be regretting his decision. Connor had pulled the little boy onto the brunet's bed and rubbed deep soothing circles on the ebony-haired boy's back, careful not to aggravate the wounds that he knew were there, while whispering words of comfort into his ear while trying not to just scream, 'I'm freaking out too, Harry!' as he knew that saying such a thing would probably make the whole thing worse.

After calming down a few minutes later, Harry nodded and took a deep breath, "A-at least…"

"Yes, Harry?" Connor whispered, happy that Harry was at least trying to speak. Harry smiled a bit at the use of his actual name, and pulled back and looked up to meet Connor's gaze.

After taking a deep breath, Harry replied, "At l-least we- we're t-together, right?"

Connor stopped short for a moment, realising that, yes, he wasn't alone anymore. He smiled – though it was more of a cheesy grin – and nodded at the little boy, who sighed silently with relief that he hadn't weirded out Connor with that reply.

The two boys fell asleep like that, Connor's arms around little Harry in an almost possessive sense, and they were still in that position when they woke up at six in the morning, a few minutes before everyone else. Connor hardly ever apologises for things he does, and Harry hardly ever speaks in the first place since he was hit hard when he spoke up at all, so it was a rather awkward affair of apologies from Harry and reassurances from Connor.

They then quickly dressed and got to work… well, Harry got to work and Connor lounged around while keeping Harry company.

Although Harry hated slaving away for others with hardly anything in return, cleaning was something he was used to, and he loved to cook, he just didn't like the fact that he never got to eat it. Well, they still didn't get to eat hardly anything, but it was still better than at the Dursleys. It was nice to be somewhere different, with different people, while still being able to do things that he was used to, and now he had company as well! It was actually pretty fun (he never thought he'd be saying something anywhere near that whilst doing the cleaning, but it's true), as he found out that day, and that week, and that month, and that year, and the following years as well.

(-Line break!-)

"Happy birthday, Connor!"

Connor grinned at the now ten-year old little ebony-haired boy as the two laid on the grass in the park near the little orphanage in mid-April. It was hidden behind what seemed to be a forest in the park, but there was a clearing behind it where the two friends hid from the matrons when they did something wrong. For example, when they accidentally make things happen inexplicably, or when the other orphans make up stories so that the two friends would get a… 'punishment'. It's not the best, but miles better than the Dursleys and the Murphys.

It was his eleventh birthday, and Connor was surprised when Harry woke up that morning and told him that he felt something significant would take place that day.

The brunet merely raised an eyebrow. He was never one for physic beliefs, but then again, he did always trust his instincts; if he didn't he would have never become friends with Harry. The little ebony-haired boy explained that sometimes he had certain feelings, that felt like his instincts but much stronger and more believable, in a way. And it had never been wrong before.

Harry admitted that he felt that very same feeling the day that he and Connor met, and Connor, having never in his entire life heard Harry lie, nodded.

After being dragged by his ten-year old friend (he was certainly going to shove how he was older than Harry in the little boy's face, it was like tradition on Connor's birthday by now) to their spot in the park, Harry had congratulated Connor about his birthday.

"Mmhm, I guess I'll just always be older than you, huh, Agni?" Harry grinned at the nickname, and nodded rapidly with mock annoyance. Harry had admitted to not minding being younger, but he still pretended, if only for Connor's ego's sake.

The two spent the morning joking around, and at exactly nine in the morning, Harry jumped at the sound of a hoot behind the two. Connor laughed at Harry's surprise before turning to see a brown owl. Harry grinned and slowly approached the owl, Connor right next to him. After spending years and years at the park, the two boys became very knowledgeable on plants and animals, and their love for them grew as well.

They were surprised to see a rolled-up letter on the owl's leg. "Cool!" Connor whisper-shouted, not wanting to scare away the owl.

Harry rolled his eyes, and took the letter from the owl. He then handed it over to Connor. The brunet spent a few minutes reading the letter and the other letters within it while Harry conversed with the owl, pretending that it could actually talk back.

Connor made an unusual sound of shock, and Harry raced over to him to see if he was alright, "Connor?! Are- are you alright?!"

"Uh," he couldn't say anything.

"Connor?"

"I-it can't be for, for me? It c-can't," the brunet stuttered before shoving the letter in Harry's direction, who took it from him. Wait… stutter? Connor hardly ever stutters. Worried now, for his friend, Harry read through the letter and by the time he finished it, his jaw was propped open, "See!"

"I… I guess, you could be this Caelum Black, and a wizard," Harry mumbled, and Connor's eyebrows raised all the way up.

"What?! I- how?! That's not my name, and my surname's Murphy, from my family," Connor replied.

"M-maybe, they adopted you? And they, they misread your name, o-or something?" Harry pondered out loud.

"Harry?"

"Mm?"

"Remind me to never doubt your weird physic abilities ever again." That made Harry burst into a spout of giggles, and Connor joined in soon after, happy to see his first and only friend so happy. The phase of laughter soon dispersed and left a fake cover of happiness in its place, the seriousness of this letter burning brightly. "I.. I guess, even if I'm not whoever this Caelum Black is, I should go to this school anyway?" Harry nodded along to his words, "You would go too, maybe our weird abilities were actually magic this whole time!"

"B-but Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon always, always told me that m-magic didn't exist, and that, that I was just a freak, a mistake the uni-universe made by accident," Harry told Connor, not realising that the brunet was honestly considering showing up unannounced at the Dursleys with a couple of shotguns… or maybe he could even use his magic. "Why don't I have a letter?"

Connor snorted.

"Pretty sure that all of that's because you're younger than me," the usually mature brunet then proceeded to stick his tongue out and laugh as Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. "Anyways, the letter said that we have to send a reply."

"You, you mean you have to, uh, to send a reply," Harry sighed, "Sure, uh, just magic up some paper."

Connor shrugged.

A few seconds later, a sheet of paper appeared.

"That enough for you?" Harry smirked, and Connor smirked right back at him.

"Yup." Harry thought for a moment about how much a pen would be useful right about now, and one appeared right on top of the sheet of paper. "Show off."

"Th-thank you," Harry grinned, and Connor wrote on the sheet of paper with the pen in scratchy handwriting. It was just as bad as Harry's, if possible, and it really shouldn't be, but turns out that it is, in fact, possible.

"Here," Connor handed the letter to Harry after finishing it.

Dear Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall,

I accept and will be at Hogwarts at the appointed time. Could someone be sent to inform
me of everything, I didn't know that magic even existed until I read this letter. If so, I thank
you, and if not, thank you for informing me of magic's existence anyway, as it explains many
parts of my childhood.

Sincerely,
Caelum Murphy, or as you addressed me, Caelum Black

"You're not, not going to tell them that you- your name's Connor?" Harry asked curiously after nodding acceptingly at the letter, "Very polite by, uh, by the way, I'll send it."

Connor nodded and shrugged, before explaining his reasoning to his friend, "I just thought that it would confuse them a ton if you addressed me as Connor, and everyone else wouldn't know who you're talking to."

"Ohhh," Harry nodded in understanding, "So you're just, just trying to embarrass me?"

Connor sighed with a smirk, "You know me so well, Agni!"

"You're going to embarrass yourself when, when you address me as that in, uh, in public. You- you know that, right?" Harry spoke absentmindedly as he tied the letter to the owl's leg, "Bye, owl!"

Rolling his eyes, Connor huffed a laugh, "Only you would say goodbye to an owl, Harry."

"I've said it be-before and I'll say it again: Thanks Connor, you're too nice to me, ho-honestly," Harry grinned as Connor sighed deeply and rolled his eyes.

"I'll take that as a complement."

"That's 'cause it was a compliment, I would nev- never lie!" and Harry engulfed Connor in a big hug, "Thanks for being my friend!"

Connor patted Harry's back, both of them no longer uncomfortable with touching the other, and he smiled, "Thank you for being my friend." The two separated, but not without one last comforting squeeze from Harry.

They watched the owl fly off into the distance before resuming their day celebrating Connor's birthday by staying far away from the orphanage, since it was rather judgemental, they found, but they had each other and that was enough. They were scared to think of what would happen to someone in there if they were categorised as 'different' like they were, but without a friend. They shivered at the thought.

A/N: And, of course, what Harry and Conner were so worried about was exactly what happened to one Tom Marvolo Riddle, poor thing.

Anyways, that's right! I made Connor be Sirius Black's adopted son! I just thought that it would be cute if they were best friends like their dads, but if they do end up together, I can't wait to write Sirius' reaction to that!

Okay, that's this chapter over and done with. I've already started on chapter number three, and I hope you all liked this chapter. I don't know if I went too fast or not, but oh well, there's not much to write anyway and I think that it's going all right.

On a random tangent, I'm thinking of including Jared, Alana, and Zoe in the story somehow, but I'm not sure how yet. I'm sure you can all try and guess though!

Also, I just invented Connor's birthday date, as it doesn't say anywhere online, so that's that. It's 15th April 1980, and Harry's birthday is 31st July 1980, so Connor is older than Harry by a few months.

Enjoy!