Title: The Potters and the Mirror of Mysteries

Rating: T/PG-13

Pairing: Bella/Harry/Ron/Hermione

Category: Fantasy/Friendship

Summary: Bella and Harry Potter are twins, but they aren't exactly normal. They are wizards. And a whole new world is about to reveal itself, that they never knew existed. But with the light and joy of magic, there must also be the darkness. Hidden away in the shadows is an evil, and it's growing. Follow Harry and Bella as they discover this whole new world, and start to discover the real origins of their family. AU. Cannon. Crossover.

Disclaimer: Text copyright- Neophobix. Based on the characters in the novel Twilight by Stephanie Meyer and the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowing. No copyright infringement is intended.

AN:/Ok so I hope you enjoyed the last chapter! Here's the next one! I must apologise for the time it's taking me to write these…. I lost certain pages from the first few chapters of the first Harry Potter book, probably due to over-reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of JK Rowling's or Stephanie Meyer's wonderful books.

– CHAPTER THREE –

Hiding the Letter's

After the events at the zoo, Bella and Harry were locked in the attic until the start of the summer holidays were upon them. They were given their meals twice a day at 7am and pm, but other than that they barely saw any of the Dursley's for two whole weeks.

Although they would never admit it out loud, Harry and Bella actually preferred each other's company; and the only part that they even considered a punishment was the fact that they weren't allowed outside. Bella, especially, loved the outdoors and spent most of her childhood off in a tree somewhere or laying in the grass watching the birds fly overhead. She would often pretend that she was soaring over the trees, free to go anywhere but back to the Dursley's. In fact, she frequently pretended she was off exploring the rainforests in Brazil or wandering the streets of Italy. But no matter how hard she wished it, eventually she would be brought back to the real world.

When they were finally allowed out, back among the rest of the household, Bella and Harry were not all that surprised to find that Dudley had already broken the majority of his birthday presents. These included but were not limited to his cine-camera, remote control plane, the small robot dog and he had even knocked over poor Mrs Figg with his racing bike. But while the twins were excited that school was over for another year, Harry felt a sense of dread overtake him whenever he heard the doorbell ring.

You see for a number of years Dudley had been in charge of his small group of friends, in fact, you could probably call them his gang. Piers, Craig, Malcolm, Eric and Gordon were all members and were frequently seen at the Dursley's house during any kind of holiday. They were each as stupid as the last, but Dudley was by far the biggest and most stupid. And since it was a holiday, they liked to join in their favourite sport: Potter-hunting.

Although Bella wasn't always a target, like Harry was, they would often push her down into the mud or laugh and tease her for her unruly hair or glasses. Harry, on the other hand, was subject to a much more physical punishment. It was because of this that they often left straight after breakfast and didn't return until just after 6pm.

Although, as it got closer to the end of the holidays they both felt a small amount of hope that when September came around the Dursley's plans would not change. You see when school started back, Dudley would not be returning with them to their local school, and would be instead joining Uncle Vernon's old school Smeltings. The uniforms were, in Harry's opinion, completely ridiculous with maroon tailcoats and bright orange knickerbockers. They wore flat straw hats called boaters and carried a knobbly looking stick that they used to hit each other when the teachers weren't looking.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were so proud when Dudley paraded it around the living room on the day that they had bought it. Aunt Petunia had even burst into tears at one point.

When they came down from their room the next morning, a horrible smell had filled not only the kitchen but most of the house. It was coming from a large metal tub in the sink, and when Harry went to have a look he regretted it almost instantly.

'What is it?' Bella asked while beginning to set the table.

'Your new school uniform.' Aunt Petunia said, while stirring it.

Harry looked down at the bowl again and said 'Wow I didn't realise it would have to be so wet.'

Aunt Petunia snapped at him then, slapping him across the back of his head with a dry dishcloth. 'Don't be stupid,' she had said in a harsh tone. 'I'm just dyeing some of Dudley's old things grey for you both. It'll look just like everyone else's when you're done.' Both Harry and Bella doubted that it would, but did not argue. It would only make things worse for them in the long run.

They both sat down at the table with a bowl of cereal and daydreamed about their first day at their new school. Stonewall High – the local comprehensive that they would be attending from September, would mean that they would be essentially Dudley-free with only some of the members of his gang present. They would both have a new start in which to make friends and maybe actually have fun. Of course, the friends that they did get would probably be limited due to the old elephant skin that they would be wearing.

Uncle Vernon came down with Dudley following close behind, each with the same look of disgust as Harry and Bella had been wearing a few minutes earlier. Uncle Vernon immediately sat down and started to read his newspaper, ignoring Dudley smacking his smelting stick all over the place.

Other than the occasional noise made my Uncle Vernon's paper, or the sound of Dudley stuffing food into his face, there was hardly any noise made at the table. Well that was the case until the familiar click of the letter box echoed through the ground floor.

'Get the post, Dudley,' said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.

'Make Harry get it,' Dudley whined.

'Get the post, Harry,' Uncle Vernon said in a flat voice.

'Make Dudley get it,' Harry replied.

'Hit him with your Smelting stick, Dudley' Uncle Vernon told his son, but Harry was already out of his chair before Uncle Vernon had even finished his sentence. Bella got up from her seat, and began to clear the dishes away as Harry made it to the front door. Sitting on the mat were 3 letters and a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge. One of the letters was a bill addressed to their Uncle Vernon, but the other two were very odd indeed.

They were both a faded yellow colour and had emerald green writing on the front. The first one was addressed to Harry, which was very odd as Harry never received mail. Nor did he have anyone to write to him. The second was addressed to his sister, which was equally as odd.

Mr H. Potter

The Attic

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

Harry stared at it for a moment and flipped over to look at the other one.

Miss B. Potter

The Attic

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

He blinked, almost unsure if they were really there and turned the letters over in his hand. As he examined them closely he noticed that there were no stamps on the front, which just added to the list of how odd it really was. Not only that, but they were unusually heavy for letters. Almost as if there were perhaps a dozen pages in each of them. On the back was a large wax seal in bright red bearing a unusual coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake all surrounding a large letter 'H'.

'What's taking so long boy?' Uncle Vernon yelled to Harry from the kitchen table.

Harry wandered back into the kitchen, slipping Bella's letter onto the side. Her brown creased and Harry shrugged. He handed the other mail to his Uncle Vernon, and began to open his letter. Of course it didn't go unnoticed by Dudley who immediately started yelling that Harry had got a letter.

Uncle Vernon's attention immediately turned to what his son was talking about and he snapped it out of his hands quickly. 'Hey that's mine!' Harry exclaimed and Bella's eyes widened. She quickly pushed her letter under the bread bin as Uncle Vernon sneered at Harry.

'Who'd be writing to you?' Uncle Vernon said, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face turned white almost as quickly as Harry could blink.

'P-P-Petunia' he gasped, yelling for his wife to come into the kitchen. Bella tried to mask her scared impression with one of confusion before her Aunt entered the room. Dudley tried to grab the letter from his father's hand, but he held it out of his

reach. Aunt Petunia curiously read the first line and gasped. Loudly.

They stared at each other, and it almost seemed as if the three children were no longer in the room. 'I want to read that letter!' Dudley demanded, smacking his stick all over the room. He wasn't used to being ignored by his parents. Aunt Petunia turned to Bella and glared 'Did you get one?' she asked in an overly loud, overly high pitch voice. Bella just shook her head with a frown on her face.

'I want to read my letter' Harry said, trying to distract attention away from his sister. She had never been good at lying, so it was best that she wasn't stared at for too long.

'Get out,' Uncle Vernon croaked. 'All of you, out.' Bella started to stack the dishes in the sink, and under the cover of the noise and Dudley's tantrum about having to leave the room, she slipped her letter into her jeans. She gasped when Uncle Vernon grabbed Dudley and Harry by the scruff's of their necks and dragged them out. Bella followed them quickly, not wanting to be dragged. Dudley and Harry began to fight over who would listen at the keyhole, and of course Dudley won. Harry lay down on the floor to listen at the crack in the floor.

'Vernon,' Aunt Petunia said in a quivering voice. 'Look at the address –'she let out a small sob of fear before continuing '-how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're you know…' she trailed off hoping that her husband would understand that she was asking if they were watching the house. He didn't. It was obvious where Dudley got his brains from.

'They are what Petunia?' he asked loudly before his wife shushed him.

'Watching the house.' She all but blurted the sentence out, her nervous energy getting the better of her.

Uncle Vernon thought about this for a moment before replying quieter this time. 'Watching – spying – maybe even following us,' he muttered, paranoia leaking throughout his body.

Aunt Petunia gasped out loud. Bella could almost picture her with one hand clasped over her mouth and the other gripping at the table cloth or Uncle Vernon's shirt. Bella closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her waist, holding the letter close to her under her shirt. She desperately wanted to know what it was that had Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia so scared about, and what it had to do with the letters.

'But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want them to –'

Uncle Vernon interrupted her then, and Harry could see the shadow of his legs pacing back and forth in the kitchen. 'No,' he said sharply. 'No, we'll ignore it. Pretend that we never received that damn letter.'

'But –' she said weakly, thinking that this was the wrong course of action. Of course, she would never tell her husband that.

'I'm not having one of those in the house, Petunia!' Uncle Vernon whispered loudly, obviously suspecting that the three of them were trying to listen in to the conversation. 'Didn't we swear that when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?'

That was the last thing that Uncle Vernon said to do with the letter that day. In fact, that was the last thing Uncle Vernon said at all that day until he came to visit Harry and Bella in the attic that evening. They had not had a chance to open Bella's letter yet as she had been kept busy by Aunt Petunia most of the day.

'Where's my letter?' Harry said the moment Uncle Vernon had finished climbing up the stairs into the dusty room. 'Who's writing to me?'

'No one' Uncle Vernon said with a weird and unusual smile on his face. 'It was addressed to you by mistake.' Both the twin's found this highly unlikely, but chose not to say anything about it. It would just cause an argument. 'I've burned it.'

Feelings of anger started to rage through him, and everything seemed to vanish around him. His thoughts were focused on wondering how he dare to burn a letter that clearly wasn't his. It wasn't until Bella placed a hand on his shoulder that he even remembered where he was.

Harry sighed, and Uncle Vernon revealed the real reason why he had come to the attic at all.

'Er- we – that is your Aunt and I – have decided to move you both out of the attic.' Bella's eyes just widened, while Harry just stared at their Uncle.

'We have agreed that you should both move into Dudley's second bedroom,' They both just stood their completely shocked until Harry said 'Why?'

'Don't ask questions!' he snapped, and Bella and Harry almost jumped out of their skin at the noise. 'Take this stuff downstairs now!' and then he left, mumbling something under his breath that neither of the twins could quite hear.

Number four was a rather spacious house with six small rooms on the top floor: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one guest room, one where Dudley slept, Dudley's second bedroom where he kept all his toys, a small bathroom, and a small room that they tended to just dump all the things they couldn't find a place for. Bella often used the room to hide things, and that day had not been an exception as she had hidden her letter in a small grey tin on the back shelf. It had taken a while to stuff it in around the small chocolate bar that she had put in their two months earlier, but it was worth it. For all intensive purposes, her letter was safe and away from unwanted eyes.

It only took Bella and Harry one trip each to bring their things from the attic down to their new bedroom and as Harry sat on one of the beds, he wondered what could possibly have gotten into his aunt and uncle. This was a level of kindness that they were not used to.

The next morning, when the twins went down for breakfast everything was absolutely silent. It was like the Dursley's weren't in at all. Aunt Petunia smiled at them as they walked through the door, and although it was obviously fake the twins would take what they could get. Even Uncle Vernon appeared to still be trying to be nice to them, as when the mail arrived he made Dudley go and fetch it.

Dudley's face was a shade of white-ish grey, a similar colour to the porridge that both Harry and Bella were used to eating for breakfast. He banged his Smelting's stick all along the wall, and Bella listened closely to see if there would be another letter.

She had yet to read hers as she had simply not had the time to sneak back into the junk room to collect it.

'There's another one!' Dudley cried from the hall. 'Mr H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive –'

Mr Dursley let out an unusually strangled cry and leapt from his seat faster than Harry thought the man could move. He snatched the letter from his son and turned it over in his hand.

'Go to your bedrooms!' he wheezed, his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. His face was flushed red, but he still managed to glare at Harry as he breathed deeply.

As Harry walked up the stairs to his new bedroom with his sister and cousin in tow, he thought about how whoever was sending him the letters had known that he had changed bedroom's and also that while Bella had received her letter he had not gotten his.

Dudley sat down in the hallway outside his bedroom with one of the birthday presents he hadn't broken yet from all those weeks ago. Bella frowned as she turned into her room. There would be no chance of getting the letter with Dudley in the hallway, and she desperately wanted to know what was written there. And who was writing. And why they were writing. She lay down on the bed, and watched as Harry paced back and forth trying to come up with a plan to get his letter.

The morning after, Harry awoke at six o'clock, ready to wait on the corner of Privet Drive for the postman. The alarm blared loudly, almost waking his sister. But thankfully it didn't. He turned it off quickly and got dressed, almost bouncing with excitement. He tiptoed down the stairs as quietly as he could without putting any lights on and stepped on something squishy.

'AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!' the squishy thing said. Harry froze.

The lights clicked on upstairs and to Harry's absolute horror he saw under his foot the face of Uncle Vernon. He had had a similar idea as Harry's about waiting for the post, only Uncle Vernon's had involved sleeping under the letterbox.

Uncle Vernon shouted at Harry for about half an hour after that. After he had finished yelling at Harry, he told him to go make him a cup of tea. But by the time Harry had returned, Uncle Vernon had three of the faded yellow, green-inked letters sitting in his lap. He tore the letters up quickly and pocketed them.

Harry probably would have tried to sneak them out of his Uncle's pyjama pockets later after he went to work, but Uncle Vernon never did. He stayed at home that day and nailed the letter box shut.

'See' he explained. 'if they can't deliver them they'll just give up.' Aunt Petunia frowned at his logic. She knew this wasn't the case but Uncle Vernon was completely stressed about the whole ordeal, so she didn't say anything and hoped that they would indeed stop for the sake of her husband's mental health.

He would hover around Harry as often as he could, whether they were outside on the front lawn or in their bedroom.

Bella inwardly sighed in frustration. At every turn she was being blocked from reading her letter, and it just got worse as time went on. Both Harry and Bella never had time to themselves in the house, or even out of it, and by the time Friday rolled around it had just gotten worse. No fewer than twelve letters arrive for Harry. Each day they had had found new ways to get the letters into the house and each day Uncle Vernon had blocked them off.

They had tried stuffing them under the door or sliding them in through unlocked windows, but Friday was a particularly bad day. Uncle Vernon had been boarding up the front door, blocking anything and anyone from getting in or out while humming along to 'Tiptoe through the Tulips'. But while this was going on, Aunt Petunia decided that she and Bella would clean out the junk room.

Bella began to panic as they went into the room, and she desperately tried to direct her Aunt away from her letter until she had an opportunity to smuggle it out. But with Dudley sat in the hallway playing with a build-your-own-model-aeroplane set, it would be difficult to get the tin out.

She would need to find something to distract him with, but couldn't think of a way to do it. Thankfully though, Aunt Petunia got distracted by some of Dudley's old baby clothes, especially a pair of tiny white shoes. She started balling like a baby, and Bella took the opportunity to shove the tin under her shirt. She practically ran back to the room she shared with Harry, which was just across the hall, and shoved the tin among Dudley's many broken toys. Harry looked up at her confused and she shook her head. She would have to tell him later, as there were far too many ears around. She dashed back across the hall and breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that Aunt Petunia was still crying over the baby shoes.

That night when Bella returned to their room, not only was Harry asleep but she herself was exhausted.

'Tomorrow' she promised to herself, under her breath so she didn't wake Harry. But she never got the chance.

Saturday brought around twenty-four letters stuffed inside two dozen eggs, and Uncle Vernon lost it. He locked Bella and Harry in the attic for the remainder of the day, probably having forgotten that that wasn't even their room anymore.

'Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?' Dudley had said as Uncle Vernon dragged them up the stairs.

Sunday was, however, the worst. It had started out as a perfectly pleasant morning, with even Uncle Vernon smiling.

'No post on Sundays' he muttered over and over as the twins entered the kitchen. Bella and Harry just helped themselves to toast, watching as Uncle Vernon spread butter onto his newspaper.

'No letters today –' he said in a smug tone, only to be hit in the moustache by something flying across the room. Harry and Bella's eyes widened before looking at each other. Neither of them had thrown anything at their uncle so who had?

Something else came whizzing through the kitchen, and Harry recognised it immediately. It was one of his letters. He reached to grab it, but Uncle Vernon caught his wrist. It was then that perhaps thirty or forty letters came flying down around them from the direction of the fireplace.

Bella looked over and tried to hide a laugh. Harry leapt into the air and tried to catch one as it flew around the room, but Bella was more sneaky. She slid to under the table and placed her hands on her head, feigning hiding from the letters but instead she slid one into the backs of each of her socks and one into the waistband of her jeans. Even if her Uncle or Aunt searched her now, they would probably think she were hiding only one.

Thankfully they didn't think to, and instead, they just dragged the twins and Dudley out and shut the door. The phrase 'out of sight, out of mind' rang through Bella's head, but she bit her tongue. Those were the kinds of smart remarks that got Harry in trouble. Once they were all in the hallway Uncle Vernon snapped.

'ALRIGHT! EVERYONE BACK HERE IN FIVE MINUTES, READY TO LEAVE!' he screamed, his face a worrisome purple colour.

Everyone just looked at him confused and a little scared. He sighed.

'Just pack some clothes, we are going away. No arguments!'

Even Dudley decided not to argue. Bella thought that maybe he did have some brains after all, but quickly dismissed it as she carefully walked up the stairs. As they entered their room, Harry sighed and collapsed onto the bed.

'I just want a letter, is that so bad?' he said, placing an arm over his eyes and Bella smirked. She grabbed a rucksack off of the side and quickly crammed as many of Harry and Bella's clothes into it as she could. She then walked over to the tin and waved, trying to get his attention. When he finally noticed, she placed a finger to her lips in a shushing motion. She opened her tin and emptied the contents into their bag and then proceeded to lift her top, showing him the letter that was tucked into her belt. Harry beamed and went to speak but she shushed him again. The last thing either of them needed was for anyone to catch them and take both of their letters away.

With both the letters stashed at the bottom of their bag with 4 small squares of chocolate wrapped in the bright purple cover, their clothes concealing them all, they headed back downstairs to meet their extended family, who were already waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Well with the exception of Dudley who was trying to delay leaving by walking down the hall at a snails pace.

After getting into the car, they drove. And they drove. And well, they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask her husband where they were going, and instead focused on staring out the window while her husband muttered 'Shake 'em off…. Shake 'em off' over and over. Every now and again he would turn the car around and drive in the opposite direction for a while. They didn't stop to eat or drink all day, and Harry was desperately tempted to fish around his and his sister's bag for their chocolate just for something to eat. He didn't though.

Every year, Bella and Harry tried to sneak some chocolate from Dudley just in time for their birthday and would share it as a sort of gift to each other.

By nightfall, Dudley was howling. He had never gone so long without eating something or playing on his computer games. He'd apparently missed five television programmes he had wanted to watch, and had never gone so long without blowing up an alien. Uncle Vernon finally gave in and pulled in at a grubby looking hotel on the outskirts of some big city, and although they were grateful for the stop they had to share a room with Dudley. They would not be able to open their letters. Bella frowned deeply and silently walked over to one of the twin beds that she would have to share with Harry. She lay her head down on the pillow, finding little comfort and lay with her eyes open listening to Dudley snore. Harry just sat in an armchair and looked out the window at the shimmering lights of the city in the distance.

Breakfast the next morning consisted of stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast, and just when they had finished Uncle Vernon sat up sharply and almost shouted for them to hurry up and leave.

What Harry and Bella didn't know, was that Uncle Vernon had been spooked by an off looking man wearing a maroon coloured cloak. He immediately remembered the day in which the Potter twins had arrived on their doorstep and all the strange people around wearing exactly that kind of attire.

'Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?' Dudley said as Uncle Vernon hurried them out of the hotel and into the car. They didn't stop again until they reached the coast. Uncle Vernon jumped out of the car, locked it and began to walk away. Rain splattered against the roof of the car, and Harry briefly wondered if maybe Dudley was right and Uncle Vernon had indeed gone mad. The thought, however, was short-lived as Uncle Vernon came back about an hour later with a man in tow. He handed Mr Dursley a set of keys and then he smiled brightly. Harry looked over his sister, only to see her as confused as he was.

'Come on everyone! I've found the perfect place!' Uncle Vernon cheered enthusiastically. He unlocked the car and pretty soon after, all of them were seated in a small rowing boat. They were headed to a small island, that Harry and Bella could barely see as the rain splattered on their glasses.

'I've got us some rations!' Uncle Vernon cheered over the rain as he rowed, and Bella shivered. Harry wrapped his arms around her, trying not only to keep her warm but to possibly warm himself up too. When they reached land, the Dursley's jumped out of the boat desperate for some shelter and pretty soon they were inside.

It wasn't much warmer inside, but it was dry at least. Uncle Vernon started rambling on, assigning the sleeping arrangements and to their dismay they had to share with Dudley again. The twins tried to wipe the water off their glasses but failed as there was more water in the clothes they were wearing than on the glasses themselves. They stumbled around until they reached a small bathroom of some kind and immediately started to get changed. Most of the clothes in their bag were dry, and Bella hoped that they letters were ok. Harry went to dig them out but Bella shook her head. One of the Durlsey's banged on the door and Bella raised an eyebrow. Harry nodded knowing that they once again had to wait, and they left the bathroom feeling warmer and dryer than they had since they left the car.

As night fell, the storm raged around them, and Bella and Harry were the only ones who weren't asleep. They could hear the constant rain and wind echoing around the creaking hut, and moved closer to one another. There hadn't been enough blankets for all of them, so Bella and Harry were left to using two of Dudley's over-sized jumpers for warmth. They tossed and turned, but sleep was unable to come to either of them. 'Bella' Harry whispered and she rolled over on the floor to look at him.

'Yeah?' she whispered, and it was barely heard over the noise from the storm and the pig they were sharing a room with.

'Wanna read them now?' Harry asked and Bella grinned brightly. She nodded and quietly pulled the bag closer to them. There were a few candles dotted over the fireplace, but hardly any light otherwise. They shuffled closer and pulled out each of their letters.

Dudley's watch beeped, causing Bella to jump. Harry looked over at the screen as it lit up.

'Happy Birthday Bella' he whispered.

'Happy Birthday Harry' she replied, and pulled the chocolate out of their bag. They split it evenly quickly and bit into the chocolate. Grins flooded their faces, and they couldn't contain their joy. They rarely got chocolate or any dessert of any kind unless Dudley didn't want it, and it just made them love it all the more. After they finished they grabbed their letters and began to rip the seal open. Taking a deep breath, Bella began to pull out the letter when a loud noise made her jump and drop her letter to the ground.

BOOM!

The whole shack shook and Harry's face turned to face the origin of the offensive noise. Someone was outside, knocking.

Reviews are welcome.