Chapter Two: Harry's Story
August, 1989.
Ever since he was old enough to understand, Harry had been told that his twin was a hero. Douglas was the Boy Who Lived, and everybody loved him, and that was that. Harry and Douglas were almost identical. They both had messy jet black hair, glasses, and a lightning shaped scar on their foreheads. The only way you could tell them apart was by their eyes. Harry had inherited his mother's green eyes, whereas Douglas had inherited his father's hazel eyes.
Yesterday had been their ninth birthday. Douglas, of course, had been spoiled rotten, while Harry had long stopped asking his parents for things because Douglas would always take them from him, but their parents did not seem to mind, believing that the twins were sharing.
Harry had one person in the whole world that he loved and who loved him, Sirius, his godfather. Sirius was the coolest man in the whole world. He would take Harry to Quidditch matches, Football matches, or even to the park. It was Sirius who taught Harry how to fly, and how to read and write.
At this moment, Harry was in his room reading one of the books on magic Sirius had given him.
Today was going to be the day he asked Sirius for help, real help. Harry could not live in a house where he was treated like he was second best. He needed to escape and for that he needed Sirius. However, there were a few things he needed to tell his godfather first.
Sirius finally came into his room with his usual greeting.
'Alright, Pup!'
'Siri!' said Harry, as he held out his arms for a hug.
Sirius enveloped him a big hug before saying, 'How's my godson today?'
'Great now that you're here! I need to talk to you,' said Harry.
'Okay, Pup, I'm listening,' replied Sirius, as he pulled Harry on to his lap.
'Do you remember the night when mum and dad nearly died?' he asked.
'Yeah, it's not a night I'll ever forget, why?'
'Because I remember it too,' said Harry.
'You do, how?'
'Dunno it just came back to me. Anyway, I remember a lot of evil sounding laughter, some red light and then a wand in my face. Then there was this green light that came at me but it went back to him.'
Sirius could not believe what he was hearing. His godson was the true Boy Who Lived! Dumbledore had gotten it wrong, all wrong! Sirius knew that Harry had to be telling the truth because there was no way that Harry would have been told what happened that night in any detail at all, he was still too young! All these years of being ignored by James and Lily in favour of Douglas, they wouldn't know what to feel first! Angry, stupid and humiliated!
'Harry, why are you telling me this?' asked Sirius.
'Because you're the only person who cares about me,' replied Harry.
'Oh, Harry …' said Sirius, before hugging him again.
'There's more, Siri, I keep seeing three other kids. I see them but I don't know who they are, and they are like me. They are hurting, Siri, they are sad, so sad. Can we help them?' said Harry.
'You're having visions of other kids, how?'
'I dunno, but they need help.'
'Can you describe them for me?'
'Yeah, two girls and a boy,' he began, 'the boy and one of the girls both have red hair; I think they're brother and sister, I'm pretty sure they are the same age as me. The other girl has brown hair and lots of it, the trouble is, I can't see her face, it's all blurry, but I can tell she's lonely, sad and picked on a lot, please, Siri, can we help them?'
Sirius sat there thinking hard for a moment and said, 'The brother and sister, can you see where they live?'
'In the countryside, I think. They live in an old house that looks like it would fall down. The boy has blue eyes and the girl has brown eyes. The boy is sad because his mummy loves his sister more than him, and his sister is sad because he is sad. They're really close. Their five older brothers are always too busy to play with them or they play tricks on the boy …'
'Seven kids? They shouldn't be too hard to find, I only know one family with seven kids and that's the Weasleys, but I don't know them very well … even though I'm distantly related to them …'
'Siri, will you help me run away from here?' asked Harry.
This shocked Sirius to the core.
'Why?' he asked.
'Because I don't like it here anymore, and I want to help those three kids and I can't do that living here with Douglas.'
'Oh, Harry … I … need to think about it.'
'Why?' asked Harry.
'There's so much to consider, Pup, like where we can go and live, things like that. Can I think about it for a couple of days?'
'Okay,' said Harry.
Two days later Sirius gave him a Portkey to his London flat and he was gone.
Harry had packed every book he owned into a special bag given to him by Sirius. Then while the wizarding world went bonkers trying in vain to find him, Harry laid low in the muggle world for a few weeks.
When September began, the furore had calmed down somewhat and more importantly, Sirius had found out where the Weasleys lived.