Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for the reviews for the first chapter. Now on with the second.


Starting the Game

Albus Dumbledore didn't like one bit how things were going. It had now been three years since Harry Potter had arrived at Hogwarts. This year Aaron Potter would finally start school, but he had had no contact with the boy, thanks to his parents blocking any attempt to interfere how they raised their children. Harry Potter had proven time and again his incredible talent in magic. There wasn't one class the boy didn't excel at; even in History of Magic he was top of his class. Harry was clearly his mother's son, but he had also inherited a lot of his father James besides his looks.

In his first year, he had simply shown up at the Quidditch try-outs of Gryffindor, stating that there wasn't a single rule that forbid a first-year to try out for the team, first-years were only not allowed their own brooms. Thus, he had borrowed the broom of Nymphadora Tonks, his cousin, and had out flown the competition. There had been nobody that had any complaints about Harry Potter winning the seeker spot for the Gryffindor team, especially not as Charlie Weasley had graduated the year before and Gryffindor needed a new seeker. After making the team, an exception of the no broom rule that was written in the Hogwarts Charta came to pass, meaning that every player for a house's sports team was entitled his own training equipment. That included a broom, even if Harry Potter was only a first-year.

After Lily had sent a vicious howler to Severus Snape to stop bullying her son over a petty old school grudge, or she would personally deal with him, Harry had been left alone by the Potions teacher. While Severus still wasn't the best teacher, he didn't dare directly bully any student after the howler, as Lily's temper was widely known and feared. She was the witch that had killed Bellatrix Lestrange and was not to be trifled with. And it had already been a battle and a half to install Severus as a teacher at Hogwarts at all, what with James' vendetta against all Death Eaters. Lily's very pointy howler had caused new waves, which forced him to reign Severus in, even if he feared it would worsen his chances to become a spy again, once Voldemort returned.

But Lily, when he had tried talking to her about the need of Severus being seen as favouring the purebloods in Slytherin and especially the children of those that had supported Voldemort's cause, she had been utterly unreasonable and had declared that no possible need to spy outweighed the right of the hundreds of students of Hogwarts for a quality education in a core subject. With the backing of James, Sirius and Frank, it was better to retreat on the matter, as the three wizards had seats on the Wizengamot and having them against his plans openly wasn't smart. Better retreat on a less important issue. He had hoped that he could, over time, regain some of the lost trust from the powerful and influential group, by using Harry as a medium. He didn't have access to Aaron after all, so perhaps influencing his brother to be more open could have been the key to the Potters.

All the teachers sang praises about Harry's abilities and how he was still polite. Even if there was a mischievous streak in the boy. Some of the pranks that were pulled he suspected Harry had been responsible for, but nobody could prove anything, so he got away with it.

Then, in Harry's second year, the Weasley twins Fred and George arrived at Hogwarts and they and Harry hit it off immediately. With Cedric Diggory as the fourth one, it was like seeing the Marauders again. Harry was the leader with Cedric as his best friend and the twins were another pair that understood each other blindly. Thanks to Harry's smarts, the group didn't get caught often. And Harry had a knack for talking himself out of trouble. And their pranks never went too far, so nobody could say they were bullying others, even if Severus insisted that Harry was as bad as his father.

In Harry's third year he took Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures as his electives. He clearly showed the Potter gift with Runes and Bathsheba was as taken with the boy as the other teachers beside Severus, even if even he couldn't pretend that Harry wasn't good at Potions. That year the twins joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Cedric the Hufflepuff team. The twins played beater while Cedric was seeker like Harry. Harry seemed to be really happy to have friendly competitions with his best friend. The other teams in the school liked the oldest Potter's talent a lot less. Harry had managed to win Gryffindor the Cup all three years that he had been at school.

Now, if Albus had had his will, Aaron Potter would have grown up either isolated from the magical world or believing that Albus Dumbledore couldn't do wrong. But thanks to Lily and James taking offense to the suggestion to send Harry away, or even just concentrate on Aaron's education, he hadn't seen the boy since he was a baby. No, James, Sirius and Remus had been the major influences in the boy's life, with some influence of Frank and Alice Longbottom. Next to Harry Potter of course. From what he had heard, Aaron looked up to his older brother. Aaron was a bit shy, much like his best friend Neville Longbottom. Where Harry was outgoing and had an easy time making new friends, Aaron needed time to get to know people to trust them. If he did, he was a great friend and fun to be around.

At least that was what Molly Weasley could tell him. Her son Ron had tried to befriend Aaron, but had gone about it the wrong way and Aaron didn't like fangirls at all, so he found the adoration Ginny Weasley showed more than creepy. Molly's information was mostly second hand from what she had heard the twins tell at home. It didn't make planning how to direct Aaron on the path to his destiny any easier. Especially as Harry Potter had a giant protective streak. He would never allow for his brother to be put in danger if he could prevent it. Thanks to Harry, having Aaron go through the test he had designed would be really hard to do.

And Harry didn't seem to be as taken with the myth of Albus' infallibility as other students from wizarding families. Harry took everything others said with a grain of salt, analysed the information he got and made his own decisions based on what he had concluded. So far it had served him well. The boy seemed to be a natural leader. He had the skill, the charisma and the smarts to attract people and if he took the lead in something, he rarely led those that followed him astray. It was always difficult to deal with such a person.

And he had tried over the years to entice the boy to his cause. He had tried to make it look as if the boy got special treatment over the Quidditch Team permission, but as Harry could point out, it was just application of an old rule. No matter if nearly forgotten or not. And as the group didn't get into as much bad trouble as the one of Harry's father, he couldn't play the 'nice fun-loving headmaster who forgives pranks' card either. There was no way to spy on the boy either, as, while the Weasleys were generally fully on his side, the twins had their own heads and refused to give up any confidential information on Harry and they had been taught occlumency as well. Probably Harry had done so, as it was known that Blacks, and James' mother had been a Black, taught their children very early on how to protect their minds.

And then there was this annoying distrust that Harry only barely managed to conceal. He didn't trust him like he should. He kept his distance and as long as the boy didn't do anything that absolutely required his involvement as the headmaster, he couldn't simply call him into his office. James and especially Lily would storm to the castle to protest that treatment, and it would be counterproductive.

Ollivander had written him that the second feather from Fawkes was now the core of Aaron's wand. That proved, in his eyes, Aaron's destiny. Just how to get the boy into the direction was the question.


Aaron looked around at King's Cross nervously. Of course, he had been here the previous years when they had seen Harry off to Hogwarts. But now he would go himself and learn how to use his magic fully. He was grateful that Neville was starting too, so he would have at least one friend already that he knew. He was envious of Harry's ability to make friends so easily. Harry had assured him that he would find more friends too. There had to be more people that were able to ignore the scar on his forehead and see Aaron. A nice, but a bit shy boy, who was nervous leaving his home for months on end for the first time. Harry's advice had been to look for a compartment with Neville and if possible get to know some other first-years. The long train ride was a good opportunity to meet more people.

Aaron hoped that Harry was right. Well, normally he could believe his brother's advice. He looked at his bother and saw him stroking the silver feathers of his familiar Hedwig. It had been a big surprise for the Potters when Harry's snowy owl turned out to be a real moon owl during the first full moon that she had been living with them at Potter manor. A bonded moon owl was unheard of; even all research that his mother had done over historic texts hadn't brought up anything. Therefore, Harry had taken a trial and error approach with Hedwig. He had by now figured out how to telepathically speak to her. If you believed Harry, Hedwig was quite vain and proud, but completely loyal. She also had no reservations to hit Harry over the head with her wing when he was an idiot. Well, sometimes Harry needed to be brought back to earth. He was so talented that he might get a big head.

He would never intentionally hurt anybody, but with Hedwig keeping him grounded, there was less danger of it happening unintentionally. Right then, Aaron saw the Longbottoms come in through the barrier. Neville looked a lot like his mother Alice with his father's blond hair. He walked over to greet his best friend. Neville too looked glad to see Aaron and soon the two were talking about the things they would finally be allowed to do. While their families had trained them in basics of defence, both muggle and magical, they weren't very advanced with spells. What they had learned had been channelling their magic through training wands, which would make learning real spells with their own wands much easier.

It was the way the Potters had always trained their children and it had proven to be a good way. Neville had simply been included in the training, as the Potters and the Longbottoms were good friends. The same had been true for Cedric when Harry was ten. Harry was already wearing his robes with his Quidditch Captain badge pinned on it. It had been a major surprise when, with Harry's Hogwarts letter, he had got the badge. The previous captain had graduated last year, but Harry had thought that Oliver Wood, the team's keeper, who was a fifth year, would get the badge, thanks to being a year older than Harry. But then again, he had only been on the team for two years while Harry had been for three years and was a better leader. Well, Aaron would see if he could try out for the team. He had decided to first wait how the first two weeks went and then decide if he could take the work and the team practice simultaneously. It would be totally different at Hogwarts than at home.

On top of that he feared that many students would make a big deal about him being the Boy-Who-Lived. Until now, his parents had managed to limit the bothering, but what would happen at Hogwarts? At least he knew that Harry would do his best to get the other students to behave. Then he and Neville went onto the train to store their things in a compartment with their fathers' help. The compartment was next to the one that Harry and Cedric had chosen, so, if there was a problem, the older boys could help, otherwise they could be for themselves. Aaron also didn't want to look like he needed his older brother for everything.

Aaron and Neville put their pets into the compartment and then closed the door so that they wouldn't escape accidentally. Aaron had chosen a Russian Blue cat, which he had named Cleo, much to his uncle Sirius' horror, the dog animagus didn't get along with cats, and Neville had a brown owl called Cesar. They had thought it was funny to name them after the historical figures. When they were outside again, they said goodbye to their families and honorary uncles, who had come, like every year, to see the kids off to Hogwarts. They were reminded to write regularly and to not break the school rules (too often that was) and do well in their classes. Too early the whistle blew and Harry, Aaron and Neville climbed into the train. Harry left Neville and Aaron in their compartment and went to sit with his friends.


A bit into the journey, when Harry, Cedric, Fred, George and their friend Lee Jordan were playing poker, thanks to his mother Harry knew a lot of muggle games, they heard a small commotion in the neighbour apartment. When the noise got louder, Harry decided to check. He walked over and saw Aaron and Neville glaring at a blond boy who had two bigger boys backing him up behind him. Behind Aaron and Neville were a brown-haired boy and a bushy haired girl that looked confused.

"Apologize at once, Malfoy!" Aaron demanded.

"Why should I, Potter? They are mudbloods," Draco Malfoy, as Harry now identified him, said.

Only to be surprisingly hit with a soap charm that made him spit soap bubbles. When he turned around he looked into the glowing, furious green eyes of Harry Potter and had a hard time not wetting himself. That boy was scary in his opinion. Especially as Draco Malfoy knew all about how Lily Potter, who Harry got his eyes and glare from, had killed his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange.

"So, your mother didn't teach you proper manners, Malfoy. Let's see how long it will take for you to understand that talking like that won't win you any points in anybody's book," Harry stated dangerously, "This time, let the charm to wash your mouth after using such a dirty word be a lesson. Next time I won't be so nice. And if I ever hear you using that word again, you will be reported to all the heads of the houses and lose masses of house-points. While some others might be negligent with this, I am not, and as Quidditch Captain I have the same rights as a prefect, even if I am only in fourth year. I can deduct points and I can hand out detention if justified. And using that word is such a case. No matter who your father is and how he got away from being pursued for his involvement in the war, nothing will get you out of this."

Aaron had never seen his older brother like this. Sure, he too was really angry that Malfoy had used that word, after all, his mother was a muggleborn witch, but to see just how much power Harry showed was incredible. He knew of course how Lucius Malfoy had hidden in France with his family on an older estate of his family, claiming that his business demanded his presence in France, which was why he had slipped through the net of the aurors that had rounded up the Death Eaters after the war. The Malfoys had only returned in 1988 when there hadn't been all-out raids on suspected Death Eaters and Malfoy had got away saying he had been imperiused just a few days after Voldemort's fall.

Aaron's Dad had ranted a lot when he heard it after returning to his job as an auror and he and Sirius had made sure that no other Death Eaters were able to use that excuse in combination with a good amount of gold anymore. Use of veritaserum was made mandatory in all trials that dealt with suspicion of being a Death Eater, after James had used the fame Aaron had gained to bully the Wizengamot into agreeing to that practice. Many 'imperiused' Death Eaters had gone to Azkaban after that and James Potter had been seen as a hero for that law.

The three boys quickly ran away from Harry's glare.

"I'm sorry that you had to see the dark side of our society on your first trip to Hogwarts," Harry addressed the two confused kids, "I'm Harry Potter, Aaron's older brother. If those gits ever bother you again, come and tell me and I will put an end to it. Nothing justifies that behaviour and they should know it."

"Uh, nice to meet you, Harry. I'm Hermione Granger and this is Terry Boot. What did the word mean that Malfoy used? I never read about it in any of the books I read," The girl asked.

"It's an extremely nasty term for muggleborns. People that were raised in the darker families like Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, the three that were just here, believe that they are better than others just because they are what is called purebloods. It means that up to your great-grandparents each of your ancestors was a witch or a wizard. It's nonsense, but some families still believe in it. Your blood has nothing to do with your potential. Look at me; I'm a halfblood and still top of my year," Harry said smirking, "And my Mum is muggleborn and puts the fear of Morgana in every witch or wizard stupid enough to cross her after she defeated the top lieutenant of Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, single-handedly."

"Oh, okay," Hermione said, glad hearing that.

"Now, if anything happens, I'm next door. I have a poker match to win," Harry commented.

"Don't lose too much; you know what Mum thinks about your poker excesses," Aaron reminded him.

"Don't worry. I already won twenty sickles so far," Harry waved Aaron off and left the compartment and closed the door behind him.

"Wow, that's your big brother, Aaron?" Terry asked impressed, "He's so cool."

"Yes, I'm really glad that Harry is at Hogwarts in case I need some help. He has always been there for me and my two younger sisters if we didn't want to go to our parents," Aaron said smiling.

"Sounds like a really cool big brother," Hermione commented.

Aaron and Neville both nodded.


Back in Harry's compartment, he told the other four how he had dealt with the Malfoy brat and got tremendous laughter from his friends.

"Man, Harry, that is rich. Washing his mouth with soap," Fred chuckled.

"Could we replicate that on a bigger scale for a prank?" George suggested.

"Should be possible. A Potion that imitates the effect is easy to brew," Cedric said.

"We only need to make sure that Snape doesn't find out too early. I would also like to add a trigger. I mean, the lesson would be learned best if it activates if they say certain derogative words," Harry suggested.

"Hm, let us do some research when we are back. We would need a combination of Charms and Potions to make it efficient," Cedric commented.

The others nodded and continued their game.


Harry looked at the first-years that had just heard the song of the Sorting Hat. They looked truly relieved to only have to put on a hat. He grinned. He had never told Aaron how the sorting worked. It was after all tradition to only find out when the Hat sung its new song. And, contrary to Fred and George, he didn't rile his little brother up with horror stories of how it was done. He just smiled and told him he would find out soon enough. McGonagall started to call up one name after the other. Harry clapped loudly when one of the new first-years was sorted into Gryffindor. The girl that had been in Aaron's compartment was one of them and she looked really pleased with herself for getting into Gryffindor. Neville too went to Gryffindor. Then McGonagall called Aaron's name and whispers erupted. Really what was so special about Aaron coming to Hogwarts? It wasn't as if they hadn't all known that he would start this year.

Harry noticed that the Hat took its time for Aaron. Well, Harry could guess that it had more than one option for his brother, he strongly suspected Hufflepuff, then it called out Gryffindor and his table erupted in cheers and applause. Harry could only snort at this. They wouldn't win any favour with Aaron if they continued like this. He could see the pleased look on the headmaster's face. Harry's eyes narrowed. He had been warned by his parents to keep an eye out for Aaron not falling into any schemes that Dumbledore might come up with. The old man had tried time and again to get back into having a say in the Potters' lives. His parents had blocked every attempt, because Dumbledore was trying to manipulate Aaron. And over the three years he had been at Hogwarts, he had carefully avoided him getting close to himself as well. He wouldn't let him succeed now.

The announcements after the feast didn't do much for Harry's peace of mind as well. While Fred and George seemed to think that a dangerous corridor would be a great adventure, he feared that it was a scheme to involve his little brother. Well, not on his watch.


The next weeks went like they normally did at Hogwarts. The first-years got lost more than once on their way to classes, the fifth-years groaned over the amount of homework they got in their OWL year and even the fourth-years got a lot more homework than before. Harry could only shake his head over the new DADA teacher. He had now had three different ones before, but whoever thought that the former Muggle Studies teacher would make a good Defence instructor was out of his mind. While Quirrell had been fine two years ago, when he had sat at the head table during meals, Harry had never had him in class, as he didn't take Muggle Studies, now he was afraid of his own shadow, from what he told the classes he had had a bad run-in with a vampire. But something didn't seem right in Harry's opinion. He couldn't really tell what, but he would keep an eye on the man.

Next was that after the first-year Gryffindor-Slytherin flying lessons, whoever thought up that plan should be hit with stinging hexes all over his body for ten minutes to realize what a bad idea pairing the two rival houses in an unsafe class like that was, not that being in Potions with Slytherin was any better for Gryffindors, Ronald Weasley, Fred and George's next younger brother had taken the liberty to sign Aaron up for a midnight duel with Malfoy, who had taunted Aaron. Aaron didn't want to go, because he thought it was stupid, but Weasley had nagged and nagged that it was cowardly to not go to a duel.

Harry had then stepped in and told Ron that if Aaron himself hadn't agreed to a duel, he was not obliged to go and why he thought that he had the right to agree to a duel for Aaron. The red-haired boy had angrily stomped away and Fred and George had taken him aside to talk some sense into the rude boy. Aaron hadn't gone to the duel after that and the next morning Harry saw that Malfoy looked angry about something. Probably the whole duel had been a set-up to get Aaron in trouble. He would have to keep an eye on the blond. It seemed he wanted to create trouble for Aaron by any means.

Harry was glad that Aaron had more sense in the choice of his friends. He and Neville had taken Hermione Granger under their wing and explained to her how the wizarding world worked. They also still kept regular contact with Terry Boot in Ravenclaw, the boy that had been in their compartment on the train. Terry's best friend Anthony Goldstein could often be seen joining the four for studying in the library. Overall Harry had little reason to worry about his brother. He was happy about that, as he was busy enough training his team for the first Quidditch match of the season against Slytherin.


During the staff meeting in mid-October Dumbledore asked all the teachers about their impressions of the new first-years mainly. Otherwise he only wanted to know if there were problems with any of the older students.

"Well, I have no trouble with my new first-years. They enjoy learning magic and some look forward to seeing the first Quidditch matches. The team Mr Davies put together this year should be strong in the matches coming up," Professor Flitwick reported.

"Nothing out of the norm on my end either. They are sorting the pecking order and trying to establish themselves in powerful positions within Slytherin. The older Slytherins are making sure that the younger students behave," Professor Snape added.

"I had a case of homesickness in the first week, but it was settled already. The group has found into the routine well and my prefects are making sure that none of them are falling behind in their work. The house evenings that I hold once a month also help to let the new first-years feel at home," Professor Sprout gave her impression of her new batch.

"A slight problem with Ronald Weasley mouthing off too much, which grates on the nerves of the other first-years, but otherwise they are getting along well. No problems with the older students and Mr Potter put together a really strong team too. I am sure they will win me the Quidditch Cup again." Professor McGonagall stated smiling.

Dumbledore listened to this intently. He didn't like that the boy he thought he could use to get closer to Aaron Potter was alienating the rest of his year already. But there always was the problem of Harry Potter watching over his younger brother. It was obvious that Harry was making sure that Aaron didn't get into stupid trouble. But for his plan to work Aaron needed to be interested in the secret of the third-floor corridor. Well, there was still time. Perhaps he could use Hagrid to let a few hints fall over tea. He knew that Harry Potter was friendly with Hagrid and that he and his group were down at Hagrid's often, so he wouldn't stop Aaron from visiting too.


That's it for today, until tomorrow.