Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter.

One of the things I have never understood about the whole 'Harry's twin sister/brother becomes a Death Eater' is why they would do that. Really, why would they do that? Why join the people who murdered their family? Ever since I was inspired to write these stories, taking notes from 'Rose the Death Eater' and The Potter Twins by a amadgirlwithabluebox, I was wondering that for ages.

Voldemort murdered their family, yet they would join. It never made sense, just like the trope where the moment the twins, who knew each other for years and were abused by the Dursleys, would suddenly hate one another by going into different Houses. This story wasn't just inspired by amadgirlwithabluebox, but by WokFriedRice, who wrote a lovely little sister for Harry in Unwanted, but also Emiliya Wolfe's A Tale of Two Sides, where James Potters sister became a Death Eater, only to see the consequences.

For this story, I hope you enjoy it.

Harry was left reeling after hearing the conversation inside Mr Weasley's private room, Moody's question was reverberating around and around his mind until he could hear nothing else in his head.

His mind just went blank; he ignored the Weasley children, and a part of him knew while a part of them resented him for what happened to their father, this would give them another reason to be suspicious of him, and he had to admit, it wasn't like he had been very endearing to others over the last few months.

The idea of Voldemort taking control of his mind…

Ever since the dark wizard had come back, Harry had been feeling angrier than he had ever been before, and he had been lashing out at everyone who'd provoked him even if he had tried his best to not lose his temper. He knew it was not like him at all, and even when he had made his landmark decision to not try to correct people who believed in Fudge's lies about Voldemort's return since he didn't have any proof except his own word, and after the way Lexi had refused to hear him out, and learning she had gone with the Malfoys for the summer, to say nothing of how she'd had Crabbe and Goyle stop any of his attempts to actually speak to her, the red mist had descended whenever he had seen her in Malfoy and Parkinson's gangs and seen them bully muggle-borns and anybody else their sick philosophy told them to despise.

And Lexi had been helping them.

It was…hard and painful to see the girl he loved with all his heart become someone so different.

Lexi, Alexis Dorea Potter, was Harry's twin sister. She was a Slytherin while he was a Gryffindor, and how many times had Harry come to resent and regret the decision he had made because he had wanted to lull the wizarding world into a false sense of security? Sometimes Harry wished he had gone along with the Sorting Hat's original decision, and gone into Slytherin despite how unpleasant it had been to meet Draco Malfoy!

The Potter twins had learnt how the Wizarding world viewed the House, and Harry had thought she had agreed with him they should go anywhere but that House.

Harry and Lexi weren't easily led; their years at the Dursleys had taught him that misleading people was relatively straightforward. Look at the Dursleys, who were a prime example; behind closed doors, they were obnoxious, abusive, arrogant people who possessed a narrow view of the world and were so prejudiced against others who were different from them.

Neither of them believed the shit that said all Slytherins were evil.

No, they both knew that was not true. Pettigrew was a prime example, and Harry'd lost count of the number of times he had met unpleasant Gryffindors, who spouted the same dogma as Malfoy and the others.

But what he could not work out was why his sister was suddenly spouting their views when she knew full well the pureblood supremacism was a lie. Lexi had been with him in the Chamber of Secrets, she had heard Slytherin's portrait tell them that the whole argument between him and the other Founders was down to wanting to protect the muggle-borns by taking them from their families, so they wouldn't be killed. History had rewritten it to favour the blood supremacism movement, so why was Lexi forgetting that?

Had she been more affected by the Dursley's abuse than she'd let on?

To this day, Harry didn't know. All he did know was he was starting to become scared by what his sister was turning into, and he had been watching her for the last few years to become really worried.

Like him, she had survived that terrible Halloween night 14 years ago.

They had both survived at the Dursleys, and like himself, she had learnt how to be sneaky and deceptive as she tried to survive every day alongside her twin brother at the abuse the Dursleys had showered them with after Voldemort murdered their parents, and Sirius stupidly got himself arrested and thrown into prison.

Harry and Lexi had originally shared the Cupboard under the Stairs, he had nursed her injuries whenever he wasn't able to get between Vernon and her, and they had shared a plan to become emancipated when they were old enough, and could prove to the world they could take care of themselves.

At the same time, if they could prove to everyone what the Dursleys were like, win-win.

But as the years passed, Harry had discovered Lexi was less interested in spending time with him, following their Christmas and Birthday traditions to swap cheap presents around like they'd done when they were younger.

More worryingly, Lexi didn't seem interested in helping him with the plan to emancipate themselves, especially when they learnt it was Dumbledore who had dumped them at Number 4 in the first place.

But he had become scared for her.

Seeing her laugh as they tormented muggle-borns like it was the best joke she had ever seen had been a strong reminder to Harry how much they had split apart, and how, every time he remembered the way she had looked at him with her own emerald green eyes, he had shuddered since it was like looking into the eyes of a stranger, an angry stranger. But that was nothing compared to what she had said to him when he had tried to speak to her about how Cedric Diggory had died….

"Lexi?" Harry had been surprised to see her approaching him in the library; he had tried to speak to her for months now, but she'd always been surrounded by her Slytherin friends. Unlike Weasley, and some of the other Gryffindors, Harry didn't have any problem with Lexi having friends in any of the Houses anymore than he thought she was automatically evil by being a Slytherin, but they had a problem with him and they'd attacked him constantly over the last few years.

But Lexi had not listened to him at any point this year, and it worried him and upset him.

She had ignored him, defended them, and as a result their relationship, which was extremely strong during their life before coming to this fucked-up school…

And then she had become somebody totally different. Lexi was darker, less sympathetic, and she jeered much like Pansy Parkinson. It was at times like that he wished they had both gone into Slytherin together; perhaps if they had, she wouldn't scare him as she did. Looking into her eyes right now frightened Harry, because it was like looking into the gaze of a stranger.

"I want to know what happened that night," Lexi folded her arms. "Dumbledore took me up to his office, and he told me the story of how you were captured and taken someplace, and Diggory was killed by Pettigrew. Oh," Lexi added as if it was an afterthought, but Harry knew his twin well enough to know that was far from the truth, "and Dumbledore told me something about our parents appearing. What happened?"

While he was stunned that the Headmaster would interfere with a personal moment even though the twins had never trusted him, and he was upset she had not come to him herself afterwards, Harry felt his heart break completely. He sighed and took his wand out, his hurt increasing when he saw Lexi stiffen as if she expected him to curse her - the fact she didn't trust him to hurt even more. But he waved his wand, creating a silencing ward layered with privacy wards.

Lexi raised her eyebrow, fascinated and impressed. "You certainly improved your spell repertoire when you got away from Granger and Weasley," she commented.

"I didn't have much choice," Harry said, placing the wand gently on the tabletop and falling silent for a moment so he could find the words to describe what happened. "Cedric and I reached the centre of the maze together. Krum and Delacour had been dealt with by Crouch Junior, but Cedric was not touched. Anyway, when we got there, we argued about who was going to win the Tournament."

"Go on."

"Cedric kept telling me I should take it," Harry replied, knowing he was condemning himself because it was true; if he hadn't decided to host a joint victory, Cedric might have just survived. "He was honourable like that."

Lexi's cold expression shifted to one of fond sadness. "Yes, he was," she agreed with a smile that lightened Harry a little, even if the subject was so fucking depressing.

How long ago had it been since she had smiled in his presence?

Too long ago.

For a while now, their relationship was so tenuous and Harry was frightened of what was happening with his twin sister. He did not want to lose her, but over the last few years, especially last year and the start of this one, she had refused to speak to him and he'd felt his heartache at the loss.

But the cold expression came back as Lexi resumed her business-like attitude. "What happened?"

Harry felt his heart break as he took in his sister's attitude, and he went on while he mentally prepared himself for what was going to come. "We kept wrangling about who would take it, and then we decided on a joint victory. And we took the trophy. It was a portkey, and it landed us in a graveyard. When we got our senses back, I found a grave with Thomas Riddle's name on it."

Lexi's breath quickened. She discovered the truth about Lord Voldemort in her second year.

"Voldemort's father," Harry whispered. "The moment I saw it, I tried to get us away, but my scar hurt and Pettigrew appeared. He was carrying in one arm Voldemort's homunculus, who ordered him to kill Cedric…"

From there, Harry told her what happened in the graveyard; how Pettigrew took advantage of the agony the scar was putting him through, how he had been held by that statue, how Voldemort was returned with a droplet of Harry's blood and Pettigrew's hand and bone dust from Voldemort's father. He told her of the duel, how he had managed to fatally injure some of the Death Eaters before his wand and Voldemort's reacted, and the past victims of the Dark Wizard had appeared, including Lily and James Potter.

Harry paused when he let that out, and he felt his heart shatter when he saw the tears trickling down his sister's cold face. There was something about the way she bit her lip, and he noticed her frown. She was jealous, he realised. Jealous they had appeared to him instead of her, but Harry could see where it was coming from.

"They told me to look after you, that they hoped we would be with one another, no matter what," Harry said tentatively, "M-mum asked me what you were like, but the thread broke before I could say anything."

Lexi's mouth was twisted. "Why?"

Harry blinked at her in surprise. "Why what?"

"Why does it always happen to you?" Lexi's voice was bubbling with anger, with resentment. "The Triwizard Tournament, where you proved your skills with your wand. Outflying a fucking dragon! All that press attention-!"

"That is not fair!" Harry's nostrils flared when he remembered Skeeter's campaign. He had been horrified by the stories put forth by the poisonous bitch, who'd written so many disgusting articles about him and Lexi. What made it worse was when the Slytherins and some of the more unpleasant students dropped stories into her lap, which she had used for more ammunition. "I hate my fame. You know that."

But there was a little voice in his head that wondered if she genuinely realised that. He had always been uncomfortable with the press attention, the autograph crap and so on, but he had also noticed as the years passed his twin's subtle disdain. Aimed at him.

"Lexi," he whispered, "you do know I hate my fame?"

He hated having to ask that question, but Harry was becoming genuinely frightened for his sister.

What the hell was she turning into?

Why was all this anger bubbling out like this?

"If you did hate your fame, why haven't you done anything to stop it?" Lexi demanded.

"I have! I set up that counter interview thanks to Luna Lovegood-."

"Oh yeah, that rag!" Lexi snarled, her eyes burning.

Harry gasped. He remembered meeting the little blonde Ravenclaw with Lexi; the two girls had gotten along, even though Luna had commented her future was murky. He had never comprehended what that meant until now.

"The Quibbler was the only thing that I felt would counter the Prophet; there was no way in hell or heaven I'd think of putting anything in that thing, not with Skeeter writing for it," Harry felt his anger blaze away inside of him. He couldn't believe this was happening. He was having an argument with his own twin sister, who should have known how he had felt about the whole thing, but all he was getting was this much grief and misery before he realised where the true root of this resentment was coming from. "Lexi, I'm sorry you were not there to speak to our parents-," Harry tried to say.

He was planning on offering to show his sister the memory of what he'd seen; he had found the Room of Requirement, which had become his secret weapon last year, and he had found the spell there when he had a momentary second where he was tired of being called a liar, and he was hoping he could stop this disaster before it got out of hand.

"No, don't you dare mention them!" Lexi shrieked; thanks to the wards, nobody came anywhere near the Potter twins to confront her. "You're the reason my parents were killed!"

"That's the reason why I kept telling him to take the fucking trophy, Lexi," Harry argued back. "I did it for you! I want us to talk again, to carry on our little tradition of passing gifts at Christmas, or over our birthday, but that never happened. What happened to the promise to do that forever?"

Lexi did something Harry never expected her to do.

She sneered at him.

"Did we actually promise to do that, because you didn't seem interested in me last year when I came to you, and when I tried to apologise to you for wearing that stupid badge you blanked me out? You showed that despite what mum and dad's ghosts said, you had no intention of spending any time with me."

The wind was snapped completely out of Harry's sails as he gazed back at his twin sister with unbelieving horror. "That's not true, and you know it," Harry said in a whisper as he tried to mask the pain he was feeling. "I love you, but do you have any idea, any concept about how I felt when I saw you wearing that Support Cedric Diggory badge, only for it to say Potter Stinks? Seeing that pinned to your chest hurt me more than you could imagine."

"I don't care what hurts you. You're the reason I've had a life of utter shit. You're the reason why mum and dad are dead!"

Harry took a deep breath as he tried to calm his heart down. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. You've changed, Lexi. You really have. What happened to our hopes to travel the world, and see the sights together?"

Lexi sneered at him again. "I should never have made that promise."

"Lexi-," Harry was so shaken by what she'd said he…he couldn't breathe.

"No, I wish you were the one who'd died instead of him!" Lexi stood up so fast that her chair fell over, but she ignored it and walked away. "I don't want to know you anymore! Keep your stupid presents!"

"Lexi," Harry called, ignoring the librarian. As far as he was concerned, she could have been a particularly annoying tree or a kid in a tacky Halloween costume.

But his sister wasn't listening to him.

"Lexi!" He shouted, but this time she stopped and turned at the hollowness of his voice. "You're changing into something horrible, cruel. Lexi, you're breaking my heart," he finished with a gasp. "Come back. Please, be the girl you were before we came to this school. You're going down a path I can't follow. Please, come back," he pleaded, not caring how pathetic he was sure he looked.

Lexi didn't have any expression on her face, she just turned and walked away, leaving her brother behind. Harry, ignoring the librarian who was rebuking him and banning him from the library for the scene, rushed out of the library but Lexi was gone.

"Lexi?"

No response.

Tears welled up in Harry's eyes and he left to one of the nearest disused classrooms. Once he got there, he silenced and locked the door. For a moment, he sniffled and cried before he transmuted the pain into rage. He took out his wand, and blasted the classroom to bits, yelling and screaming while he sobbed his heart out. Finally, he leaned against the wall and sobbed, slowly crumpling down to the ground, crying his heart out.

"Lexi, tell me it's not true!" Harry sobbed as his hand shook and he took out the photograph. It showed him and Lexi. It had been taken a year before Hagrid found them and brought them to the magical world. Seeing the expression on his sister's face in the photograph, the look of love she had for her brother, reflected in his face, compared to the girl he'd just argued with was so heartbreaking. Who the hell was the stranger in Lexi's body?

She had become something disgusting, cruel.

He had spent the last few years trying to be there for her - last year was an exception; he had been so hurt when Lexi had shown up with that badge, and she hadn't been any the wiser, almost like she'd been mocking him before she saw it, and he had spent so long struggling to keep himself alive while Granger and Weasley had shown their true colours, and he had taken to avoid them like the plague.

But she had been spending too much time with the Slytherins. When they'd come to the school, it wasn't long before the twins discovered the divide between the houses, and they had sworn to not let it stop them from being brother and sister. But sadly the divide had polluted that promise, that bond.

Harry cried, even more, harder as he clutched the photo to his chest, trying to nurse his breaking heart. "Mum, dad, I'm sorry," he gasped. "I've failed. My sister hates me!"

He continued to look at the photo, seeing the love on Lexi's face, and he sobbed harder.

With that, Harry had no idea if they could fix their bond. Lexi wanted nothing to do with him, blaming him for what happened with Cedric, which she had the right to do, and in her anger, she had denounced him for seeing their parents' ghosts. "Lexi, please tell me it's not true," he sobbed as he looked at the photo, "please..!" He cried harder.

After that, Harry had avoided his sister like the plague, but whenever he mustered the courage to look at her, to see if she regretted her outburst, he was pained when he saw her sneer, and he shuddered at her cold expression. And she realised she had meant it. His treasure hated him. She… wished he had died.

But that was nothing compared to the horrible vision he had seen…

He was standing in a massive room that was richly decorated and gothically lit room. All around him were an array of faces. He recognised some of them - he recognised the Malfoys and the Crabbes and Goyles, but he also saw many others whom he did not recognise.

"The next generation of Death Eaters, step forward," Harry said. What, would make him say that? Why would he say that?

A small group of teenagers stepped forward, and Harry cast his gaze along the line. All of the teenagers…he knew them. He recognised the Greengrass sisters, the Carrow sisters, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, Malfoy, Parkinson, and even a few others he had never seen before. But then he saw someone that made Harry want to gasp, but he couldn't.

Lexi.

Lexi, his precious treasure, his twin, the only member of his family…she was there. She was looking at him with uncertain determination to prove herself. But then Harry realised what he had said.

The next generation….

No.

No, Lexi wouldn't. The twins had grown up knowing better than to just become servants to any kind of ideology. Harry had never had the time for the preaching rubbish of Dumbledore or the Light; some of it was so wrong that it made very little sense to him, and besides Lexi had wanted to get away from the magical world, for genuine freedom as he had, and for the first few years Harry and Lexi had worked and researched looking for ways they could escape from under Dumbledore's thumb. He had been worried about his twin for so long since the start of this new year, to say nothing of the hurtful things she had said during that horrible confrontation in the library, but what would make her want to become a Death Eater?

For a moment, Harry wondered if his twin sister was doing this as part of some big scheme. A plan to gain Voldemort's confidence and become a part of his ranks so then she could destroy the organisation from within, and since she had publicly hurt and humiliated him, she would be in better standing with the Death Eaters. Was that it? Harry tried to focus on his twins' face, but the look there was not encouraging. He knew Lexi. She had never looked like that before. Was this real? Was this really happening?

"I will not be marking you for this year," Harry found himself saying, "but next year will be a different story. For now know you will have a place within the ranks of the Death Eaters. Lexi," he said suddenly.

Lexi jumped, startled but she quickly righted herself. "Yes, My Lord?"

"You surprised me. Unlike your brother, you seem to accept the winning side."

Lexi's face was a cold mask. "I like winning, my lord."

"Good. You will prove to be a valuable Death Eater. You will receive everything I have promised to you."

A flash of relief and anticipation flew over Lexi's face. "Thank you, My Lord."

Harry dismissed the girl although he wanted to speak to her urgently to get an idea of what was happening. Lexi? A Death Eater? Liking the winning side? Lexi should know that they had to fight this stupid war because of the sheer incompetence of the magical world and they had to deal with that as quickly as possible so then they could make their plans. But had Lexi decided she wanted a life without her twin brother? The idea hurt him so much since all they'd had was each other. Harry had never known his parents and while he loved them, they were just ghosts who didn't tell him what to do. And he knew Lexi was the same; she had only become jealous and bitterly resentful because she had like he had, wanted a moment with their parents, to know them and then be at peace. But what the hell was she promised, why sell her soul to the devil?

"You will all be tested on your resolve to become a Death Eater when you turn 16 years old, and no older," Harry went on, the words tumbling out of his mouth without him being able to stop it, "In the meantime, you will remain watching and to send information to here, Malfoy Manor for anything that may prove of critical importance. Is that understood?"

"Yes My lord," the teenagers chanted as one, and Harry was chilled when he saw the excitement on Lexi's face as she chanted with them.

Harry had woken up and found Sirius shaking him awake; his godfather had placed wards around his room, so if he received any strange visions like the ones he normally got, he would know instantly, and he got it. Harry had told him what he had seen, breaking the news sadly while he had spoken in a heartbreaking voice.

He didn't care about Lexi's allegiance, but the idea she would just destroy their bond and join the psychopath who had murdered their parents hurt them a great deal. Sirius had told him not to tell Dumbledore; the older wizard had told Harry that while Dumbledore might give the pretence of caring, that didn't mean he did. After all, he never tried to stop the Death Eater recruitment drives in the past. Sirius had realised that when he had been in Azkaban.

The news his goddaughter, the little girl who like her brother had laughed and clapped her hands when she had seen him perform as an animagus, was turning to the Dark Side hurt Sirius a great deal. Harry knew it was another blow that was partially Sirius' own stupid fault, although realistically he knew Dumbledore would have found some way of sending Harry to the Dursleys. But what hurt, even more, was how Harry had told Sirius that, looking at it through cynical eyes, it wasn't a surprise one of them would turn this way since he and Lexi had been badly abused as children. Sirius was horrified when Harry gave him the full story, and how Harry had admitted that if he was not the Boy-Who-Lived, and the number one target of Voldemort, he would have gone dark as well.

Sirius had not liked that.

But right now he had a massive task on his mind. Escaping the Order was easy and he had managed to get close to the front desk, but he found a passing Healer and he approached the witch, hoping she didn't have some job or errand on her hands.

"Excuse me, can I get some help?" Harry asked.

The Healer looked at him patiently with the air of someone who had a lot on her plate but was thankfully extremely polite enough to be nice about it. "I'm sorry, I've got a lot to do," she replied.

"Please, this is important. I want to know what's in this," Harry lifted up his curse scar. "Look," He went on, "I know there's a lot of garbage being written about me, but please I want to know what's in this scar. Please. I need to know if there's some kind of contamination inside it."

The Healer bit her lip, but she nodded. "I'll take you to one of my colleagues, who has a great deal of knowledge and expertise in Dark Magic. Come with me, Mr Potter."

Harry nodded before he remembered the Order. "There's one problem; I came to the hospital today with a group of people who will likely try to stop this. But I need to get this checked out. This group is led by Albus Dumbledore who has an unhealthy obsession in my life and the life of my twin."

"They have no authority to meddle in the affairs of Healers. St. Mungo's is under our jurisdiction, not theirs. Besides," the Healer added with a smirk, "we have our own internal Floo network. Now, we'd better hurry," she said, leading him to a group of fireplaces.

The Healer took out some floo powder and threw it into the flames. She gestured for Harry to step in and took hold of him. "Curse Examination and Care," she bellowed, and Harry shut his eyes as they went through the Floo network. The journey took them about a minute, and Harry stumbled out of the fireplace, and he opened his eyes and found they had arrived in a fairly large examination room where there were three other Healers.

"Karen?" One of the Healers said before he looked at Harry and his eyes widened. "I see we have a distinguished visitor."

Harry stiffened a little at the way the Healer said that. This person likely believed Fudge's lies.

"He says he wants to have his curse scar examined for dark magic contaminates," the healer, Karen, said.

The other Healers came to attention and led Harry to sit at a consultant's desk while the others flanked him. "Alright, Mr Potter," the Healer began, "tell us why you have decided to come and ask for something to be examined when you've had this long?"

Good question.

"I didn't know I was a wizard until I was 11, and my sister didn't know she was a witch for as long," Harry explained, feeling the painful pang in his chest at the thought of his twin sister, and what he'd seen. "Also, we weren't exposed to too much of the magical world, so we only heard about St. Mungo's once or twice, but it never occurred to me to get a checkup."

"You….you were given the potions needed to protect you from magical illnesses, weren't you?" One of the Healers asked.

"No, we didn't," Harry licked his lips, "should we have?"

"Yes!" The Healers said.

"Mr Potter, there are many dangerous magical illnesses that could cause a small outbreak if not treated properly. Muggle-born children are especially vulnerable, as they have no experience of handling it, and if they got out into the muggle world, the results would be incalculable; once they've been potioned, they would be immune until their bodies develop the immunities on their own. But whoever showed you into the magical world was foolish and irresponsible. Who was it? I can't imagine one of the teachers being such a fool."

"Not even Snape would be so reckless," a second Healer said.

"It technically was not a teacher at the time, although he has been promoted to one," Harry said hesitantly, unsure if he was going to get Hagrid into trouble. While he still liked the half-giant, Harry's feelings of affection towards Hagrid changed when he heard him say nasty things about Lexi. It turned out that over the last few weeks, Lexi and some of the other Slytherins had been mocking him about his heritage and he had taken offence he was hurt about what Lexi had said about him and to his face. Harry had been shocked and horrified, but between a friend and his sister, he would protect Lexi every time. If she wanted it or not.

The incident had made Harry look at Hagrid with cynical eyes. Over the last few years, Harry had been dragged into so many of Hagrid's disasters thanks to his love for his pet monstrosities, and as much as he hated to admit it to himself, he had to admit that even if Riddle hadn't exposed Aragog then the chances were Hagrid would have been expelled due to his reckless stupidity. Then, not learning from his mistakes, Hagrid had tried burning his house down with the help of Norbert, and there was that mess with Buckbeak, and then the Skrewts. Hagrid's problem was he forgot that while he was tough and capable of dealing with dangerous magical animals, human beings were not.

The healers looked at each other before the one sitting opposite Harry shook his head and muttered, "Dumbledore," under his breath irritably. "Mr Potter, we'll check you out to make sure you are safe, although what the hell they were thinking is something I can't work out. But for now, we should carry on with the check-up."

"Will you come over here, please?" One of the younger healers beckoned him over to stand on a slightly raised platform. The moment Harry stepped on it, the floor glowed amber and then blue and then green before going to white.

"What was that?" Harry asked, watching as a scroll unrolled and a quill suddenly got to work.

"It was a scanning platform. It's far more in-depth than our usual spells, and we've heard enough to worry us all," one of the healers said.

The scroll finished and the healers crowded around it to read the results. Within seconds of reading the results, they were instantly worried. The boy had suffered from tremendous abuse; his body was showing clear signs of malnutrition and old injuries that had been poorly treated. It was a miracle the boy was still able to walk as he was. They discovered some of his magical core had been blocked, by an expert. But what bothered him the most was that the injuries and the malnutrition had never been properly treated.

However, what horrified them the most was the detection of something dark in the scar. The three of them were experienced and had a lot of experience with dark magic; they might not have seen one before, but they knew enough about Horcruxes to know what they were.

The scanning platform had also found two other things of interest, the first was there seemed to be a third soul in the place, and the second was the scanning platform had found something wrong with the sibling bond; it seemed to be polluted by the Horcrux.

Harry was smart enough to realise something horrible was wrong. "What is it?" He asked, seeing their expressions. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

The older healer sighed and pointed at the chair. "You'd better sit down, Mr Potter," he said.

Harry did as he was told.

"Whenever I see a report like this, I start from the beginning and end with the worst aspects of the diagnosis. That way everyone I see understands the growing seriousness of the situation, do you understand that?" The healer asked.

I sure do, you morbidly build up their concerns more than you should instead of getting to the point, Harry thought, but he nodded and waited patiently.

"The first part of the diagnosis is that your body is showing signs of malnourishment and old injuries where your bones were badly damaged and then poorly reset," the healer speared him with a penetrating look. "Mr Potter, I have seen many abused children over the years; many muggle-borns are treated like animals by their families because of their magic. It's a wonder you didn't become an Obscurial."

Harry bit his lip. He and Lexi had learnt that some muggle-borns had turned a blinding hatred towards their own magic, ripping them apart and then transforming them into monsters. For Harry and Lexi, it had been proof positive the magical world should work on taking muggle-borns out of the muggle world at the earliest opportunity.

But the twins were scared.

They had both asked themselves…what if it had happened to them?

The Dursleys had never stopped reminding the twins of why they'd come to them, even if they'd dressed the truth up and said their parents died in a car crash. But the filthy muggle animals never once, not once, not ever, considered their abuse could have terrible consequences.

Lexi had even wondered what Dumbledore would have done if they were both transformed into obscurials because of his lack of interest in their health and wellbeing, and after hearing from the shade of Voldemort back in their second year, they knew the old man had not learnt his lessons. At the same time he seemed to be oblivious to the way abused children developed sneakiness to survive.

"My sister and I…we wondered the same thing," Harry whispered but the healers heard him. They exchanged a look and carried on.

"Your body has a number of scars and injuries consistent with whippings and brandings," the healer went on, choking on his fury while the others looked on in pity.

"Yeah, hardly the life of a so-called spoilt prince," Harry spat, thinking of the horrible things the Prophet, the Ministry, and so many people had called him. He didn't care what they called him, he had gone past that point long ago, it was what they said about Lexi, the things she was called that annoyed and frustrated him. Lexi was his twin, even if she was changing into something he didn't recognise. Judging from the way two of the healers flinched, Harry knew he had struck a nerve, but he didn't care. They clearly believed that Fudge had a point until they'd had the truth so uncomfortably rammed down their throats.

"What else did you find?"

"There's an unusual blend of Phoenix tears and Basilisk venom in your system," the healer read his expression one of wonder and disbelief.

Harry silently rolled up his sleeve and showed off the round scar where the fang had embedded into his wrist. One of the healers rushed to it and scanned it with her wand. "It's incredible," she muttered.

"And it was painful," Harry added with a grimace as he remembered fighting the basilisk in his second year; Lexi had burnt his old contaminated robes, something Dumbledore, who'd been more interested in getting answers than thinking of his health, hadn't thought of.

"Two magical substances at war with one another, and yet balancing themselves out," the healer muttered in fascination.

Harry was tired of this healer scanning him. "What else did you find?" He asked, fed up with repeating himself.

The older healer saw his frustration. "For Merlin's sake, Agatha, enough," he said, "The boy doesn't know how the two substances of the venom and the tears are interacting in his body; it's fascinating, and we should gather samples so then we can examine them later if you don't mind, Mr Potter?"

Harry didn't like the thought of his body being used for scientific experimentation, but he wanted to keep the Healers' happy. "Okay," he said, "but what else did you find?"

"Mr Potter, would you care to tell us why you have not one, but three souls - one of which is yours - in your body, centred on your scar?" The healer asked.

Harry stiffened; he didn't know a great deal about magic, but he knew the soul existed, especially after hearing about the Dementor's kiss and what it did, but he didn't know he had two extra souls in his head. And in his scar. "No," he said, unsure which answer was going to satisfy the healers, but he decided to be honest, "I have occasionally had visions of what Vol-You know Who has been doing. When I first went to Hogwarts, he was a disembodied wraith; the only reason he had gotten into the school, to begin with, was that he had hijacked a teacher's body. He escaped when the teacher died. In my next year, I encountered a memory of him when he was a student at Hogwarts."

Harry sighed when he saw the looks of disbelief on the faces of the Healers. "Look, I know what kind of rubbish the Ministry is letting out-," he began.

The older Healer held up his hands. "It's alright, Mr Potter. I believe you, and after examining your scar, I now know how the Dark Lord survived. He split his soul in a foul dark magic ritual known as a Horcrux. A Horcrux is a specially prepared piece of the soul, split off from the main piece and placed in a specially prepared container. They're designed as a means of immortality."

"Immortality? Something Voldemort has always wanted," Harry whispered, not checking the way he said the Dark Lord's name. He ignored the flinches from the Healers, he was too busy thinking about everything that Voldemort had done. But then he remembered the way the shade of Tom Riddle was destroyed, back in the Chamber of Secrets. That had been a Horcrux, and he remembered the way Dumbledore had stared at it.

The old man had known, and yet he hadn't done anything as far as Harry knew, or else Voldemort would have been dead by now.

"Is there anything you can do to remove the Horcrux from my scar?" Harry asked.

"I'm afraid not; we only know about this particular branch of magic because it's our duty to know about the effects of dark magic. But beyond that our expertise is extremely limited. Very little research has been made on it, and soul magic has been banned because of Dumbledore's legislations," the older Healer grimaced.

"You don't like Dumbledore, do you?" Harry asked wryly, seeing another person who had good reasons for disliking the old wizard.

"Not really," the older healer said nonchalantly, seemingly uncaring about the consequences of speaking about this so freely. "He's a powerful wizard and one who deserves a great deal of respect. It's just what he does with that respect that makes you wonder if it's worth it."

"I never attended Hogwarts, but Shamrock in Ireland," Agatha said. "I only came here because I wanted to apprentice to a renowned Healer, and over the years we've seen a significant drop in people who wish to become Healers. Most of the new ones we employ are apprentices, but we want and need new people and we need them now. Hogwarts has lost its standards."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked once he sensed how serious matters were.

"I was a Slytherin at Hogwarts, Mr Potter - try not to look worried-," the elder Healer said.

"Don't worry, my twin sister is a Slytherin, and unlike the other Gryffindors - and everyone else in the school, more or less - I never saw Slytherins as evil the moment they were sorted," Harry interrupted.

The elderly Healer smiled gratefully. "Thank you for that," he said with genuine warmth. "It's so rare to meet someone who does not share those same annoying prejudices. The House, though," the healer sighed, "the House has lost some of its edge. In my day, Albus Dumbledore was a teacher. The DADA teacher before he moved on to Transfiguration. He was excellent but he favoured the Gryffindors openly, and he rarely listened to the Slytherins. Over the years, since You-Know-Who's time, the Dark Lord has polluted the minds of so many people in all Houses, but Slytherin was the most heavily impacted. In my time, Dumbledore was still in Hogwarts, while Grindelwald was razing the magical world, cracking open the wards at Beauxbatons and exposing the school to the warring muggles; Grindelwald was active during the 1940s, Mr Potter, and if you know anything about muggle history, you would know how serious that point in time was."

Harry gaped. "Grindelwald didn't expose Beauxbatons to the Nazis?"

He had read about the two World Wars when he and Lexi were kids, and he knew how dangerous the Nazis had been. In many ways, the garbage they spouted was not too dissimilar to that of Voldemorts.

"He did. In many ways that makes him worse than You-Know-Who, because Grindelwald acted on an international level whereas You-Know-Who barely scratched the surface of the Isle of Wight. But the problem with Hogwarts now is because, unlike back then, standards have dropped. The DADA post is being continually changed; that is bad enough, since a strong, thorough grounding in DADA is important for Healing, its worse in other subjects, and ever since he took over Potions, Snape has ensured posts like aurors and healers are dropping."

"I knew he was a terrible teacher, but I didn't know it was that bad," Harry breathed, his mind racing as he wondered just how many lives had been ruined by Snape. "That's why you don't like Dumbledore, isn't it? Snape is crippling the magical world and Dumbledore refuses to do anything about it. That's just like him, all talk no action, and it's just like my scar; he knows there's a Horcrux in it, but he won't do anything about it. But you can't remove it yourselves?"

"We can't, no, but I have it on good authority that the goblins are masters of soul magic. A large chunk of their magical knowledge is centred on it. That's one of the reasons many over the centuries, many have tried to commit mass genocide against the goblins, but their knowledge and their skill make them one of the most powerful magical races. Besides, I know the Curse Breakers employed by them come across Horcruxes."

For a moment Harry was tempted to ask Bill Weasley for help, but he decided to focus on the goblins since they could help him with the third soul.

"Did you find anything else wrong?"

"Yes. Mr Potter, it seems there is dark magic bleeding into your sibling bond."

Harry was chilled for a second. "Lexi," he breathed. "Is she alright?" He asked desperately, his mind racing.

"I don't know, since she is not here. But she will need to speak and see a mind healer."

Harry shook his head sadly. "Lexi won't do that. Lexi…," he closed his eyes, "Lexi has been changing a great deal recently. When we were kids, we were really close and now she seems to be changing into something…wrong, horrible and cruel. She said some really nasty things to me before the Christmas break. She basically said I should have died. Is the Horcrux responsible for it?"

Harry knew what the answer was. It was so logical that the sudden shift in his twin sister's personality, which had changed so drastically in such a staggeringly worrying span of time.

"We believe so."

"Can she be saved?" The hope in Harry's voice was painful to listen to.

"We see no reason why not, but she will need to be examined and diagnosed before a mind healer can see her."

Harry couldn't help it. He had become rather emotional since Lexi's sudden mood shifts, and the way she'd been changing was a surefire way of depressing him and making him cry. Tears welled up in his eyes and he started sobbing, and he buried his face in his hands, so as a result, he didn't notice the worried looks coming from the Healers. "You have no idea how good it is to hear that," he said at last. "My sister has been changing for the last few months. And it's scary. It's like a stranger, a nasty, bullying stranger has been taking her body over and making her say terrible things."

"You two are close," Agatha said.

"Very. I love my sister so much. We grew up with nobody but ourselves. That never changed when we went into Hogwarts, we didn't give a damn about the Houses," Harry realised he had been at the hospital too long, by now the Order of the Phoenix was looking for him. "Look, can we please get on with it? I need to leave soon and I want to see what the third soul in my scar is."

"What? Oh, yes, of course," the elderly Healer said, standing up, and picking up the scroll with his diagnosis. "I will escort you to Gringotts right now."

Xxxx

When she woke up, Lexi Potter had to remind herself where she was. she couldn't see or focus on anything, But there was a buzzing that was incessantly driving her crazy. She felt so dizzy as if she had been hit with a few Dizzy curses that had made her unable to concentrate long enough without her wandering into a brick wall. Something was very wrong, and she didn't know what it was. She felt as if she had just gone to bed after a night of partying and she had only woken up a few minutes later. Merlin, her head hurt….

She was sure she had just come back from…somewhere, and she had just returned to Hogwarts after…something….but she should be rested, and not suffering from this.

Slowly the haze disappeared when she heard a soft voice and she realised that was what the haze was, someone speaking to her, "Great Lexi Potter, wake up!"

Lexi looked around and blinked in surprise when she found herself looking at a House Elf. One with multiple hats on his head, along with an assortment of clothes that made him look like a miniature court jester. "Dobby?" It took her an embarrassingly long moment for her to recognise the House Elf. She smiled at the little creature kindly, but her smile faded when she saw the wariness on the House Elf's face. "Dobby, what's wrong?" She asked.

Dobby seemed to shudder, and for the life of her, Lexi just didn't understand why, but she knew it had something to do with her. But the House Elf spoke up before she could even ask again. "Master Harry asks Dobby to bring you to him now, Miss," the House Elf said.

"Harry? But why-?" Suddenly, as if her brain popped, all of the haziness in her brain and mind just vanished, and Lexi remembered everything; the meeting with Dumbledore in his office after the Third Task, meeting with Snape the next day and the weird way he spoke to her, going to the Malfoys after rejecting Harry, meeting Voldemort and torturing Pettigrew and several muggles…and enjoying it, coming back to the castle and ignoring her twin brother before….

Lexi took a deep breath as she remembered the painful way Harry spoke about his heart breaking because of what she was saying to him before going back to Malfoy Manor and learning dark magic from the Death Eaters before cheering when Voldemort announced that she, and her friends, would be marked as Death Eaters. Lexi felt physically sick; while she didn't care about any kind of allegiance she had, she had never once wanted to be one of Dumbledore's lackeys, never mind a Death Eater, one of the people responsible for her parents going into hiding, nor joining the thing who murdered her family, but what made her violently ill was remembering what she said to Harry, who had allowed himself to take Vernon and Dudley's beatings, the same twin who had helped her with her injuries while she tended to his. How could she have said all of that? How could she have forgotten it? What the hell was she thinking?

Quickly, Lexi checked her arms, rolling up the sleeves of her nightdress and looking at them.

There was no sign of that ugly symbol of the skull with the snake protruding from the mouth like a hideous tongue, and she breathed a sigh of relief, but the fact Voldemort had planned to brand her with it, the symbol of the thing who had murdered her parents, who had haunted and hunted them after their birth until their parents were killed…

It sickened her. For Lexi, it was like waking up from a nightmare..only to discover that nightmare was terribly real. It had really happened.

"Oh, my god!" Lexi whispered as she buried her head in her hands and began sobbing her heart out as she thought about what she had put Harry through, the memory of how he said she was breaking his heart more painful than ever. "What have I done?" She lifted her head and stared at the House Elf, who was waiting patiently for her to get out of bed. And she flinched again. She remembered now; she and the other Slytherins had gone to the kitchen, demanding food from the House Elves…

And she had helped them bully and victimise them.

It was no wonder Dobby was so guarded around her, and it had to hurt because of how much he idolised the Twins who Lived.

"Dobby, I am so sorry," she cried, her eyes watering as the full weight of the memories fell on her.

Dobby studied her closely before he visibly brightened - Lexi would never know what the House Elf had seen, but she guessed it was her true remorse - and he smiled, "Miss Lexi is back!" He cheered.

Lexi smiled at his enthusiasm. "Yeah, I am," she smiled, shuddering as she thought about what she had become briefly, but it dimmed. "Dobby, why are you here? Where is Harry?"

"He be at Gringotts, Miss."

"Gringotts? Why? What's he doing there?" Lexi asked, puzzled.

"Dobby not know, Miss. Dobby only know Harry Potter wants his Lexi brought to Gringotts now," Dobby was about to raise his fingers to click them, but Lexi stopped him quickly. "No, Dobby, wait. I'm not even dressed. I need to get ready."

The House Elf reluctantly agreed to let her get ready. Lexi clambered out of bed and hit the shower. She washed her hair and cleaned herself, waving her wand to dry herself and her body before she donned her clothes. She picked out her clean uniform before she went to her makeup table. Quickly she flicked her wand and applied makeup extremely lightly to her face while she left her hair down, as it looked quite nice today. She was finished in just 10 minutes.

Standing up from her makeup table, Lexi turned to the patiently waiting House Elf. "Okay, Dobby, I'm ready to go," she said.

The House Elf walked over to her and gently took her hand before clicking his fingers. Lexi had travelled using magic many times before, but she had to admit, she found House Elf travel much nicer and less stomach-churning. In less than a second, she had gone from her dorm room to a room inside Gringotts; goblin architecture and the disturbingly dark and violent gothic decorations that gave the place an Edgar Allen Poe or Castle Dracula impression never went away. Neither did the blood-stained walls or weapons, not to mention the gruesome trophies that had yellowed, browned, greened, or blackened with age.

She forgot the decor when she saw her brother. Dimly, Lexi saw there were two goblins, and someone wearing a black hooded robe, but she dismissed them. She had eyes only for her twin. It felt….it felt like years since she had seen her beloved brother, and she was not happy about that and it made her upset. Like her, he was dressed in his school uniform, but it was wrinkled and his expression was tired. It looked like he had been up all night. The moment the Potter twins laid eyes on one another, Lexi wanted to be sick, especially when she saw the worry and nervous defiance in Harry's eyes. She felt her own tears well up in her eyes.

Her own emerald green eyes.

God, what the hell had she done? Briefly, she thought of the terrible things she had said... How could she even say such things? How could she plan to be a Death Eater?

Letting Dobby's hand drop, although she never realised she'd done it, Lexi rushed to her brother. "Oh, Harry, I'm sorry," she sobbed into his robes, sniffing and smiling at the smell of him. It took her a moment to realise that he hesitantly wrapped his own arms around her. It upset her a bit, but after what she'd said to him in the library and because their sibling bond was open again, she couldn't blame him. She could sense the way he'd broken down afterwards. The raw agony was enough to send her to her knees.

"I am sorry, so sorry, Harry," she said quietly pulling back and looking into his face, as she did she noticed the black cowled figure shifting around but otherwise they stayed silent, still she wondered who they were. The goblins she could understand, but this looked like a human. "I…don't know what happened-."

"We do," Harry sighed as he led his twin to a chair and sat in one opposite. "But to begin with…Lexi, when you did start feeling, I dunno, not like yourself?"

Lexi bit her lip and rubbed her temples as if she was dredging the memory clean from her mind. But it was hard. "I…I think it started during my meeting with Dumbledore, after the Third Task."

She noticed the cowled figure shifting, tensing. Like they were getting angry…

"What did he say?" Harry asked; over their bond, she could sense his growing suspicion and rising anger.

"He told me you had seen Voldemort return after losing his body, and he said you had seen mum and dads…ghosts; I was so jealous I wasn't there, but at the time I was hoping you could tell me about it, what it was like…and then I felt more jealous you spoke to our parents, that you got everything, and I got the scraps," Lexi said.

Harry turned to the goblins. "Looks like you've got somewhere to start," he remarked before turning back to face her, "did anything like that happen again?"

"Yes, I spoke to Snape. He….he goaded me, questioned me about what you told me, but I told him you hadn't said a word, and he went along with that, he told me you got everything; fame, attention, money, and I got nothing. And I agreed with him!" Lexi clamped her eyes shut for a second, and she opened her eyes and found Harry holding the cowled figure back, who just walked back to their chair. From the angle she had, it looked like the figure had come closer to her, but what they had on their mind, she couldn't tell. The teenage girl was confused.

"What happened then?"

Lexi licked her lips. "I went to Malfoy manor. I wanted nothing to do with the Dursleys-."

Had the cowled figure just…jumped? Harry held up his hand to hold them back.

"I know, I didn't go back to them long. I got signed permission to leave. Dudley and his mates got kissed."

Lexi's eyes shot up in horror. "Dementors, in Little Whinging?" Why hadn't she heard this? A nasty part of her said she hadn't cared before. "That's why Umbridge is having problems because Fudge is suffering politically?"

"Yep. What else happened, Lexi?"

Lexi took a shuddering breath. "I met him, Harry. Voldemort," she flinched at the look of fear on his face and went on, "he…he met me, and he told me to torture Pettigrew. The Malfoys had been teaching me some of the dark arts that summer and one of them was the cruciatus curse. I felt…amazing when I used it, and listened to his screams, but at the same time, I felt odd like I was trying to be sick but couldn't find the time. And then we got back to Hogwarts."

Harry nodded, but he looked down at the toes of his shoes. "And…what about in the library?" He asked hesitantly, shuddering. "What happened there?"

Lexi flinched and leaned back, fresh tears trickling down her face. "I…I don't know," she whispered, "It…it was like someone else was speaking through me, saying those horrible things, about how mum and dad died because of you, and how I wanted you to die-."

The cowled figure jolted as if electrocuted. Lexi spared them a brief glance before turning back to her twin. "But I didn't mean it, I kept trying to say that, but the words came out crueller than before. I…I walked away, and when you told me I was…breaking your heart, and I heard you were about to cry…I wanted to rush back and hug you, but I wouldn't."

"And over Christmas, you went back to Malfoy Manor, right? What happened?"

Lexi leaned back in surprise. "How did you know I was at Malfoy Manor?"

"I'll get to that in a moment. You met Voldemort again, didn't you, and he told you and the other Slytherin teens with you that you'll be marked by him when you turn 16?"

Lexi's face went slack and pale in shock. "Harry, how the hell do you know that? And who is that?" Lexi pointed to the figure nearby.

Harry turned back to the cowled figure and studied them, seeing how tense they were before he turned to Lexi. "You'll find out in a moment, sis. It's a surprise."

"Harry, you know I hate surprises. You do, too, especially after what happened with Dudley. You know how that went."

"Over the Christmas holidays, I spent my time at the Order's Headquarters, at St Mungo's and here at Gringotts. Did you hear about what happened to Arthur Weasley?" Harry countered.

Lexi blinked. "Is he okay?"

Harry hid a smile, seeing more proof that the procedure had largely succeeded and his treasure was back; the twins largely tolerated the Weasleys, they were too loud, brash, and arrogant, and they thought the sun shone out of Dumbledore's arse, but they liked Arthur Weasley even if he wasn't sure about Lexi's House.

But that hadn't stopped Lexi from being nice and polite to the man.

"He was attacked by a snake, Lexi," Harry replied. "You would know her as Nagini."

Lexi blinked again. "Voldemort's snake?"

"Yes. Voldemort was possessing the snake and attacked Mr Weasley, and I was along for the ride," Harry frowned, he hated this part of the story. "When Voldemort attacked us and we were…orphaned, he left a piece of his soul in my scar. Over the years since we returned to the magical world, it would react whenever Voldemort was nearby."

Lexi nodded silently, knowing this already. She didn't ask questions nor did she comment. She knew her brother would get there in the end.

"When he came back, the connection became stronger. Lexi, when I got to St Mungo's, I only went to visit Mr Weasley, but I overheard them talking about Voldemort as if he were going to use me, and I was scared so I had the Healers do a check-up. They found some really nasty results. For a start, they discovered my body's healed injuries and malnutrition from our time at the Dursleys, so expect to be examined yourself. They also discovered I had not one, not two, but three souls in my body. All concentrated on my scar. My soul, Voldemort's, and one other."

Lexi couldn't resist asking, "Whose?"

Harry smiled and turned to the cowled figure for a moment before he turned back to Lexi, who looked back at him in confusion. "I told you you'd love this," he grinned before turning back to the figure. "Mum?"

Lexi gasped as the figure stood up, her brain unable to process what she was thinking when the cowled figure stood up, and took off their cloak, exposing a slim, classically figured woman with a dainty figure and a beautiful, regal but casual face. It was a face Lexi knew too well, since her own face was similar, with long dark red hair and emerald green eyes.

"It's not possible-," Lexi whispered.

"Hello, Lexi," Lily Potter smiled back at her, sadness radiating off of her features like a cloud trying to be dissipated by the sun.

"It's not possible," Lexi repeated before she pinched herself harshly to see if this was a dream.

"It's me, sweetie," Lily said, looking over her daughter worriedly.

Harry sighed. "Lexi, this is our mum. When Voldemort attacked us, a piece of his soul was embedded in my scar, but her soul was torn out and her soul flew off into my scar. Do you remember when we were 5 years old, and we had that dream of a woman with red hair who rocked us to sleep, reassuring us?"

Lexi caught on quickly. "That…that was you?" She asked, her eyes filling with tears as she began to realise this was truly her mother.

Lily nodded. In truth, she only just remembered the event. "Yes, it was," Lily whispered, and she wrapped her arms gently around her children. The twins began to cry as they were embraced by their mother.

"Mum, mum," Lexi began to cry and she tightly hugged her mother and brother. "Mummy!" she sobbed.

"My babies," Lily whispered, crying herself.

"But I don't understand, how can you be back? What happened?" Lexi asked.

Lily sighed. Much of the topic was beyond her comprehension. "The goblins suspect my soul and Voldemort's interacted magically, and we were both sucked into the scar on your brother's forehead. From what they could tell, the splinter of Voldemort's soul was sucking Harry's magic and was attacking the sibling bond between you, but my own soul spent years trying to keep the pair of you safe."

"His soul was brainwashing me, turning me into a Death Eater," Lexi caught on at once, shuddering at the reminder of what had nearly happened.

Lily nodded, her heart chilling as she thought of her precious child becoming one of those animals. She was going to make sure Lexi got her mind checked and healed, and if she had any common sense then Lexi was not going to refuse.

"But hold on, if your soul was in Harry's scar and was stopping Voldemort all this time, how come he was able to brainwash me so easily?" Lexi asked, pulling back a little. Harry did the same.

Lily sighed, "From what the goblins told us, the soul splinter was malevolent enough to overpower me; it didn't help that he was leeching off on your brother's magic, and he took advantage of how my soul piece was stretched between my body and where Harry was. A part of my soul was linked to Harry. With that kind of strain and the pressure placed on the connection when Voldemort returned, I'm not surprised by how easily he could brainwash you."

Lexi looked horrified and frightened by what could have happened to her. "I am so going to see a mind healer after this," she muttered, rubbing her temples as she thought about the kind of damage she could have in her brain.

Lily saw the worry on her daughter's face and she pecked Lexi on the forehead. The girl looked up in surprise, startling the older witch, but Lily hugged her daughter to her when she saw how upset she was. The girl began sobbing in her mother's embrace again.

"What do we do now?" Lexi asked in a small voice.

Lily ran her hands over Lexi and Harry's backs, not bothered by the green trim of Lexi's uniform. She had never had anything against Slytherins. She just had a problem with those prejudiced dick heads.

"Harry told me about your plans to do your NEWTs and OWLs at the end of the year and then leave. I think the plan is viable, considering your level," Lily said.

"But the exams are months away, what's going to happen in that time?" Lexi asked.

Lily blew out a breath and bit her lip, humming for a moment. The Potter twins were surprised by how Luna-esque that mannerism was (Lexi made a mental note to find Luna, and apologise for mocking her). "Well, we can and should get rid of Voldemort before anything happens, and I definitely don't want you to go back to Hogwarts, speaking and acting like a junior Death Eater," Lily said seriously. "I grew up in Hogwarts during the first war, and I can tell you those days were a nightmare, with the older students not only acting like Death Eaters in real life but with nobody doing anything about it."

Lexi shrugged. Personally, she didn't have any problem with that, and truthfully Lexi hoped never to see or hear from the Dark Lord again, not now she had come face to face with her mother.

"The good news is, by doing this, the Death Eaters will lose their magic," Harry said. "They're connected to each other via the Dark Marks; it's a kind of network, giving Voldemort magic. From what I've learnt, the Dark Marks are partly the reason why Voldemort survived so long."

Lexi shuddered at the thought of some of her magic giving Voldemort not only a boost but also the idea of her partly keeping him alive. She felt like a fool, a stupid, naive little fool.

"Stop it, Lexi, you were being brainwashed," Harry had heard her self-recriminations over their bond.

"It doesn't excuse the fact I might have been trapped, it's a miracle you went to St Mungo's when you had the chance," Lexi retorted. "But what's going to happen with Dumbledore? You know he has something in mind for you."

"I know, but with a bit of luck, when he sees the Death Eaters are dying out, Dumbledore and the Ministry should turn their attention away from us," Harry replied, although he didn't sound too certain.

"That's where I come in. Once Voldemort and the Death Eaters begin dying, I will have to reveal myself to the magical world. I'll have the proof available so then nobody would think I'm a fake. There's no way I will allow Dumbledore to get away with his decisions; James and I didn't want you to go anywhere near the Dursleys, so ignoring the will is a big mistake," Lily interrupted. "The pair of you should have been examined painstakingly after the attack. I don't care what Dumbledore was thinking, although I guess he was thinking about that stupid thing he was told about, he had no right to just leave you with that piece of soul in your scar, and if he'd bothered asking for help then you wouldn't have been alone for so long."

Lexi and Harry glanced at each other as the same thought bounced between them. Their mother had just made a very good point about Dumbledore's actions after the attack that left Voldemort disembodied. Instead of coming up with so many insane, poorly thought-out plans, Dumbledore should have stopped thinking of his plans and acted like someone from the real world. If he had done that, Voldemort could have been long since dead and their mother could have been in their lives.

"Hold on, what thing was Dumbledore thinking about?"

Lily sighed and rubbed her eyes. "A year before you were born, Dumbledore heard about a prophecy that basically says either of you or Neville Longbottom would have the means to defeating Voldemort. Dumbledore never bothered telling us about the wording of the prophecy; he kept the fucking thing a secret."

"Neville Longbottom?" Harry and Lexi said at the same time.

Lily nodded. "I never believed in the prophecy," she told them. "In my mind, while you could perhaps tell the future, there are perhaps just too many potential future decisions that would shape it, but Dumbledore and Voldemort both believed in the prophecy enough to put it into action."

"If that's true, then surely it would have made sense for Dumbledore to work with all three of us and keep us mentally healthy? Even if I was the one whom Dumbledore focused on and who Voldemort wanted to kill, then surely it would have made more sense to train us regardless?" Harry asked.

Lily shrugged. "This is Albus Dumbledore we're talking about, Harry. I noticed something about him when I was at school, and the Death Eaters were on the rise. There were a few surprising people who turned into Death Eaters, one of them was actually James' twin sister, Natalie."

"What?" Harry gasped at the news. Lexi was one thing, but for their dad to go through the same thing…

Lily nodded. "Natalie was a Ravenclaw. Sadly she was more introverted than her brother, so she was easy pickings for the Death Eaters at the castle; she was offered knowledge, and she also wanted to prove herself since her parents had doted on James a little too much. Dumbledore might talk about caring for the students, but he cares about only one House."

Lexi nodded, "Gryffindors."

Harry looked down at his toes.

"Dumbledore never did anything to stop the students from becoming Death Eaters in other Houses," Lily went on solemnly, her eyes haunted as she remembered first-hand the horrible truths of the Headmaster so many revered. "As time passed, several families were pressuring their kids to become Death Eaters, but largely it was their own decision, even in the Lighter families. Natalie was just one of those kids who fell in with a rough crowd."

"Do you think Dumbledore wanted me to become a Death Eater?" Lexi asked the thought which had been in her mind for the last few minutes after she'd heard the news of what happened to her paternal aunt. "So then history would repeat, but with this prophecy in mind?"

Lily's expression made it clear she did not like the idea but it was one she planned to get to the bottom of this, and if she left bodies in her wake then fuck it all. "If he did, then I am going to kill him," she promised, "but it would make sense if he wanted two of the prophecy children, the closest to it, would be at opposite ends, but why I can't say. But I know one thing, Harry had numerous spells on his magic to block it off."

"Why?"

Lily looked at her son's expression and her daughter's worry. "I think it might be possible Dumbledore had planned to simply have Harry sacrifice his life so then he would take Voldemort with him."

The horror on Lexi's face was so horrifying that Lily had to hug her daughter tightly.

"I wouldn't have sacrificed my life for the magical world; aside from a few people, I couldn't care less about some of the others; I care about the children of the magical world, Luna, Neville, and Sirius. That's it. Everyone else has bullied, ignored, or abused us, so I wouldn't save them. But the only person I would sacrifice myself for would be you, Lexi, you're my treasure," Harry said solemnly.

Lexi wasn't sure whether to hit her brother or not or to kiss him and hug him. "No," she said at last, realising for herself what Dumbledore had done. The old bastard had realised he didn't have anything for Harry to give himself for…except for Lexi. But how could he be responsible for her being brainwashed? Had he given Voldemort the idea, just so then Harry would fall apart and decide to kill himself? What would happen then? Something told her she did not want to even know.

"Lexi, I love you," Harry whispered. "You were all I had until now. But Dumbledore got it wrong, badly wrong. If I had seen you in that Death Eater garb, I would have done everything I could to stop him before I fell apart, but I would have done whatever it took to save you from that life. If I had to obliviate you to remove your memories, but keep you alive…then I would."

Lexi was disgusted by her brother's idea, but this was just like him. She had lost count of how many times he had taken beatings for her, made sure he did more of the chores heaped on them by the Dursleys; he hadn't done it because of her gender, oh no, Harry was not misogynistic. He did it to spare her from the grief.

While Lexi was thinking about this, Harry turned to their mother, who was also not looking happy at what Harry had said although it didn't surprise her since he'd told her about how they'd been treated by the magical world.

"What happened to Natalie Potter anyway?"

Lily sighed sadly. "It's a sad story. Natalie realised she'd made a mistake. She was promised great knowledge by Voldemort, who told her there would have to be sacrifices. Natalie didn't realise those sacrifices meant murdering and torturing people. Her morals made her see what was happening was wrong, and unlike some others, she was lucky to find a way of removing the Dark Mark, but she was scared of being found. She came to James and I before we went into hiding, and we agreed the best thing to do was to bind her magic and wipe her memory. When we did that, I passed on my knowledge of muggle culture and customs so she'd survive and fit in better. But that's all I know. James and I lost sight of Natalie after that, and when we were attacked a decade passed. But I have a preserved vial of her blood in my vault. I planned to use it to track Natalie down."

"But we can do that now," Lexi said, exchanging a look with Harry, before she decided she didn't even want to know what kind of things their aunt had gone through.

"Yes, we can," Lily agreed. "Right now, we need to plan."

Xxx

As she watched her children laughing in the surf on the beach although she kept an eye on them both with a beady eye, Lily Potter couldn't believe how much things could change in just under one single year, but they had. After that Gringotts meeting, Lexi had submitted herself for mind healing sessions; they discovered that the damage wasn't too great, but it was worrying it had happened to begin with. They found out there were some familiar magical signatures, namely Severus's and Dumbledore's, and both were currently suffering for it now the magical world not only knew she was alive, but also that they had pushed Lexi to be brainwashed over the connection to her brother, which was linked to Voldemort.

The revelations caused so much damage to the reputation of the two wizards, and when they were questioned Dumbledore confirmed the theory that Harry came out with, that he knew the Boy Who Lived cared more for his twin sister than the wizarding world, a revelation in itself, and the old wizard had realised the best way to break him of that love, was to turn Lexi against Harry by making her into a Death Eater.

He had started it off with Snape's help, using legilimency to plant the seeds of jealousy and hatred for her twin brother into Lexi's mind, and Snape poked it and told Voldemort about his connection to Harry, and that he could use it to break the Boy Who Lived by saying it would kill Harry if his beloved twin became his enemy.

And Voldemort had fallen for it, although Lily wondered if Voldemort had seen through Snape's facade, or if he'd seen more possibilities. Voldemort had struck her as more intelligent than that, but then again he had gone for the twins because of that prophecy.

Lexi herself was just relieved the whole thing was over and done with, although now she knew her anger was not down to her own views, but because of sick manipulation.

As for herself, Lily was just relieved her son had gone to St Mungo's healers when he had the chance, and that was down to the Order. The problem with Dumbledore was he had underestimated the love and the concern her boy had for Lexi, and the fact he called her his treasure was beyond sweet.

Dumbledore just did not seem to grasp the fact the twins and other abused children like themselves developed cunning and sneakiness to survive, to cope. Nor did he realise that twins who were abused were closer than anyone could imagine. Oh, they'd have fights, no questions asked, but Lily doubted Lexi would ever have become a Death Eater without outside interference. She wouldn't have allowed it if Harry had gotten her back, she would never allow her daughter to fall.

Once they had begun the sessions, Voldemort and his Death Eaters lost their magic; so many people died or became squibs, muggles, the people they had hated and abused for years. Lily found it ironic, and she believed it was the perfect punishment and a far cry from the stupidity that Dumbledore would have preached.

So many people, though…

It was sickening to her to see and know just how many people, especially of the twin's generation were being infected by the disease Voldemort preached. There was a massive power vacuum in Britain, and it would take years to fill back up. So many families were extinct or on the cusp of it, so they had to stop thinking in pureblood-only terms. They had to be realistic from now on since there were now fewer choices or alternatives for them to survive, but what good it would do in the long run, Lily had no idea.

Once Harry and Lexi surprised the magical world with their perfect scores, and after they had gotten their masteries in several subjects, the Potters had left dear old Blighty for good, but not before they found an old friend…

Lily smirked when Sirius and Natalie stood at their sides, watching the twins. "They seem to be having fun," Natalie remarked.

Finding Natalie had been relatively simple with a blood-tracking ritual. Once they found her, Lily undid the memory charm and her sister-in-law returned to normal, and she heard about everything that happened. Natalie was horrified by what she'd learnt had nearly happened to Lexi, and she had spent a lot of her time speaking with her niece and thanking her nephew for getting Lexi out of that life before she could sink into it.

"They are," Lily agreed, tilting her head in agreement.

"I should try that," Sirius said.

"Maybe we all should," Natalie said, grinning as she saw Harry and Lexi balancing on their surfboards, and she missed her own twin. She wished James was here, so he could see his children flourish like this.

She loved them for getting rid of that monster, but she wished her generation had solved the mess that Voldemort and Dumbledore created and she cursed her old headmaster for nearly destroying the lives of her family for his own plans and his agenda.