Back To Bedlam

Chapter Three

Growing Up With Harry Potter. Part I.

A small boy was riding his dad's old Nimbus 1000 lazily around the top paddock at his home. He hadn't fear for any muggles seeing him since their land was about 15km from the nearest town. He chucked his new quaffle from hand to hand and shot at his home made quidditch hoop, waving to the imaginary crowd as the ball flew through the hoop. He heard a slow clapping and looked down to see his little sister watching him from the ground. He went into a steep dive that made the little girl scream in terror. Deciding to have a little fun he pulled out of the dive a few metres above the ground and fell off his broom, landing with a thump in a soft patch of clover, he stayed completely still as he heard his sister rushing towards.

'HARRY, HARRY.' She shrieked. She reached Harry's side and collapsed down beside him and tried to roll his body over onto his back but it was no good because Harry was using all his weight to stop that from happening. Eventually his sister gave up and started to cry.

This is where Harry's heart split in two. If there was one thing that made him feel terrible inside, it was hearing his little sister cry. He sat up quickly and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

'Melanie. Mel, look, I'm alright, see.' He said softly. He was surprised to see that when Melanie looked up, there was no trace of a tear anywhere, she was only smiling triumphantly.

'Why you little rotter.' He laughed before he tackled his sister back to the ground and started tickling her till she was screaming for their parents, which had arrived at the hilltop unnoticed by the two siblings.

'What are you two doing? You'll get your clothes all dirty.' Jessica Rhode said amusedly as she picked her daughter up and brushed all the grass off her, whilst her husband, Michael, did the same to a humiliated Harry. She took this time to really look at her two children. Melanie of course was the exact same as she was when she was 10, same long brown hair, same light blue eyes and even the same cute button nose. But Harry, well, Harry was different. If you saw Harry and Michael from a distance then you would think they were proper father and son, but up close you could see that Harry looked quite different. His hair wouldn't be tamed like his father's, his eyes were not blue but a spectacular sparkling green and his features couldn't be matched to either of his parents. The reason was of course, Harry was not their son. He was their godson, but Harry didn't know that. He thought that he was always a Rhode, but that notion would unfortunately have to change. And that's what Jessica and Michael were doing now.

Today was July 31st, Harry's 11th birthday. And Michael convinced his wife that it was finally time to reveal Harry's true heritage. They moved under the shade of the lone Blossom tree that sat atop the hill, Michael dragging Harry down with him and Jessica sitting Melanie gently on her legs.

'Harry, your father and I have something to tell you.' Jessica started hesitantly.

'What, is it how much you love me?' He said, making a face that Melanie giggled at.

'No Harry, it's about your parents... your real parents.'

'Wh-What do you mean?' Harry replied, confused.

'We mean.' Michael said delicately. 'That your mother and I aren't your real parents. You were born to two friends of ours, but they died, and since your mother was your Godmother, we decided to take you in.' He watched Harry carefully to see what reaction these words would cause. He was surprised when he saw Harry smile sadly.

'I kind of always knew that you weren't my real mum and dad. We don't even look the same.' He said hoarsely, his vocal cords choosing this time to collapse. Tears were in the corners of his eyes as he continued. 'Was it a green light? I always dream of a green light followed by screaming.' As he was looking towards the ground he didn't see his adopted mother come towards him, but he did feel the bone crushing hug, he looked up to see that she too was crying.

'Why didn't you say something Harry?'

'I thought it was just a dream... so who were my real parents?' Jessica pulled back and nodded to Michael, she could not explain this part.

'Your real mother and father were friends of ours. We went to Hogwarts together, remember how I told you guys about Hogwarts? Anyway, after Hogwarts, we bought a house in the same town as your parents. A couple of years later you were born, your mother picked Jessica as your Godmother and another man as your Godfather, although he died not long after your parents.' He said sadly, he knew all about Sirius, wrongfully accused, not even given a trial and sent off to Azkaban whilst Pettigrew was running free. He wouldn't tell Harry that now though, that could wait for another day. He looked back at his son and saw that his tears had dried up, ever since he had known Harry he had only seen the boy cry twice, and that was including today, the other time was almost 10 years ago. He continued with his story.

'You know about Voldemort, well he was after your parents, he thought that James and Lily wou-.'

'Was that there names, James and Lily, what was there last name.' Harry interrupted quickly.

'Potter, that's your real last name. Yes, no finer Witch or Wizard you would ever meet Harry, both were caring souls. Your dad loved Transfiguration and Quidditch whilst your mother loved her Charms and her books. Oh yes, fine people indeed. They were so good at so many things that Voldemort wanted to recruit them, time and time again they said no to that monster, but he wouldn't give up, in the end your parents went into hiding. They were kept hidden under a charm so that the only people that could find them knew where they were. Their secret was given to a man called Peter Pettigrew, he was one of your parent's friends, the sneak was not to be trusted though, he went to Voldemort not long after he was given the secret and betrayed your parents. Voldemort then came looking for your mum and dad, your dad fought bravely and your mum tried but both died protecting you. But when Voldemort went to kill you he's killing curse somehow rebounded off you and hit him. That's where your scar came from Harry.' He finished almost awestruck. They were quite for some time, the only sounds being Jessica and Melanie's sniffles.

'What happened to Pettigrew?' Harry said angrily.

'He got away dear.' Jessica said hotly.

'Does that mean Harry's not my brother?' Melanie asked fearfully, she didn't want to lose Harry.

'Of course I'm your brother silly.' He then looked up at his parents faces. 'Aren't I?' He asked hopefully.

'Only if you want to be Harry, it's your choice.' Jessica said kindly, although you could hear the ache in her voice. They all waited as Harry looked pensive. After a time Harry looked up with a smile on his face.

'I want to be known as Harry Potter.' Their faces fell, but Harry wasn't finished. 'I want my parents to be remembered, but you will always be my real family.' He then hugged his dad, then his mum and finally moved to his sister.

'Does that mean you're still my brother?' Melanie asked uncertainly.

'Yep.' He said happily. 'And as a brother, I'm allowed to do this.' He then started tickling her gleefully whilst their mum and dad watched on contentedly. But as the sun started to go down they both picked up one of their children and made their way back to the house, talking about the party that was about to take place.

'And this one is from your Grandmother and I.' Said Richard Rhode, as he handed Harry a rather larger box. Harry smiled at his grandparents in thanks. After they had come back from the paddocks, they had told the grandparents all that had transpired up under the blossom tree. Both Maggie and Richard had hugged their grandson and gave comforting words about his decision. They both had no hard feelings towards Harry wanting to be known as a Potter, but warned him not to let too many know.

Like that's hard. Harry thought dejectedly as he ripped off the wrapping paper. It's not like I know anyone other than my family. Why can't I just go to school, none of the muggles will recognise me. He stopped his thinking and gasped as his present was finally revealed to him.

'A NIMBUS 2000, you've got to be kidding me.' He shouted excitedly, ripping off the rest of the paper as quick as he could. He turned to his grandparents and both tackled them with hugs. 'Thank you so much, now I don't have to ride dad's old 1000 anymore.'

'Hey, there's nothing wrong with that broom kiddo, I scored aplenty of goals on that broom.' Michael pouted.

'I know dad, but just think how many more I'm going to score on this thing.' Harry said cheekily.

'You little bugger.' He said, running at Harry, picking him up and then twirling him in the air.

'Kids, if you want a bit of cake, I suggest you stop playing around.' Jessica said jokingly making her daughter laugh.

'HEY.' Harry and his father shouted indignantly.

Later that night after everyone had finally had there stomach full of sweets and cake, the Rhode household started to head off to bed. Harry was just getting into his when his mum and dad came in.

'Did you have a good day sweetie?' His mum asked kindly.

'The best day ever mum. I love you two, you know that don't you, even if you aren't my real parents you will always be my mum and dad.' He said honestly.

'Oh honey, you don't know how much that means to us.' Jessica said tearfully as she bent down to kiss Harry's forehead, moving away so her husband could do the same.

'Do you... do you think that maybe one day you can tell me more about, er, my mum and dad?' Harry said awkwardly.

'Of course Harry, you can ask anytime you want.'

'Thanks, oh and one more thing.' Harry paused and looked up at his parents seriously. 'Do you think I could go to school, I want to meet people, I want to have friends, I'll understand if you don't want me to, what with me being supposedly famous, but do you really think that a muggle is going to recognise who I am?' His eyes pleading with his parents, who both looked at each other quickly.

'I'm not sure Harry, let your mother and I think it over for a while, for now though why don't you go to sleep, you had a big day and you need to rest up for tomorrow, were going to practice Occlumency.' Michael said calmly, he then moved forward and ruffled Harry's hair affectionately, with one last goodnight he left the room, which left only Harry and his mum who moved forward and sat on the edge of his bed.

'Do you hate me Harry?' She asked suddenly making Harry jump in surprise.

'No, why would you say that mum?' He replied shakily.

'Because, we've kept this information away from you for so long, I thought you might hate me.' Harry moved shuffled forward and wrapped his arms around her.

'I could never hate you, I love you, you're my mum.' He said simply.

'No I'm not.'

'Yes you are... Don't you want to be?' He said, pulling a puppy dog face.

'Oh you know that face always works on me. Of course I want to be your mum, I love you dear. I'm glad you had a good day, now quick get to sleep before your father scolds me for keeping you away from you training again, goodnight.' She blew Harry a kiss before leaving Harry staring up at the dark ceiling.

He looked over at the pile of presents he had received. His new broom was standing proudly in the middle whilst the quaffle and sweets from his parents and Melanie were scattered around it like a moat. His gaze then shifted over to his trusted wand, moving his arm he grabbed it, bringing it back to sit it on his chest.

'Has it really been that long?' He thought aloud.

He had received his wand as one of his presents on his 6th birthday. He remembered the day perfectly...

'Harry, wake up, it's your birthday and I want to give you your present.' Melanie shrieked loudly, achieving her objective in waking up her sleeping brother.

'I'm up, I'm up.' Harry yawned widely. His mind then clicked into place and he remembered what day it was. 'Hey, it's my birthday.' He got up quickly and dragged his little sister with him down the stairs, finally sliding to a stop in the living room where his parents and grandparents were waiting with smiles on their faces.

'Happy Birthday Harry.' The shouted together and then one by one moved to Harry to hug and kiss him. Being the childish kid he was he tried to move out of the way off all the attention and looked for his presents.

'Here, open mine first.' Melanie shouted excitedly. She then shoved a badly wrapped present in Harry's hands. Harry obliged and found himself looking into the eyes of an Antipodean Opaleye, a plush toy of course. He knew it was an Antipodean Opaleye for two reasons. The first, was due to the fact that he had seen one fly over their house one time and the second was due to the tag that hung off the dragons neck, which also told him that the dragons name was Merlin. He smiled and gave a big hug to his sister.

'I love it, thanks Mel.'

'Next, open ours.' His grandfather said pointing to his wife who handed Harry a small box that was tied neatly with a bow. Harry untied the bow and was surprised when 6 pieces of paper flew out of the box. He picked one of them up and saw that it was a ticket to see a quidditch match where his favourite team was playing.

'Woo Hoo. I can't wait, do you think I could get the Warriors autographs?' He asked eagerly.

'We'll see Harry, I might know some people that know some people.' His grandfather said with a wink. Harry then turned big, expectant green eyes on his parents.

'Here you go Harry, Harry Birthday.' His dad said amusedly as he passed Harry a long thin box. Harry ripped open the box and found himself staring transfixed at the beautiful piece of wood in it. His dazed eyes looked back up to his dad and mum.

'Red-Gum, 13inches, Venom of the Rainbow Snake as the core, all in all… a very powerful wand, Harry, be sure to look after it, I'll be training you how to use it starting from tomorrow.' He said proudly.

From that day on, Harry had been taught how to use magic and Harry had loved every second of it. When he got older his dad had promised to teach him more advanced magic and even the dark arts.

'It's not the spell that is dark Harry, it is how the Wizard chooses to use the spell which makes it dark, always remember that son.' He had said seriously when Harry asked about his training.

It wasn't his father who was just teaching him either. All of his family taught him and Melanie, who joined him on her 6th birthday, she had received an 9inch Cherry wand, with a single hair from a Unicorn as a core. Both were ecstatic when they heard that they would be being tutored together.

Their dad, taught them offensive and defensive spells. Their mother taught them both muggle and wizardry subjects, their grandmother taught them all she knew about the healing arts, which was quite a lot considering she was Healer in the war with Grindelwald and their grandfather taught them the history of the Wizarding world.

Harry loved all of it, he was currently learning Occlumency with his dad, Charms with his mother, healing minor scratches with his grandma and learning all there was to know about the most famous witches and wizards in history with his grandpa.

Life could just not get better. As soon as Harry thought this he felt a little twinge of pain from the scar on his forehead. Shrugging it off as just eating too much cake, he put his wand away and grabbed Merlin from the bottom of his bed, he patted the dragon on the head before he finally closed his eyes and went to sleep.

It was a week after his 11th birthday. Harry was currently playing chess with Melanie when their mum and dad came in the room with smiles on their faces.

'Well, we've finally come to a decision do about your request dear.' Jessica said slowly, her smile widening as she saw her son sit up a little straighter, she continued to prolong the silence just to bug Harry.

'AND.' Harry screamed impatiently.

'You can go…'

'YES.' Harry interrupted before she could finish.

'Uh, uh, uh. Hear me out Harry, I'm not finished. As I was saying, you can go to school, but not till your 13 and Mel is 12. That way, you can look after her while you both attend Secondary school.' She said in a reasonable voice. She could see that Harry's inner demons were battling each other but she also knew that he was a very protective brother.

'Ok, I guess its only another couple of years and I can wait, especially if Melanie gets to come with me.' He said happily, he then looked at his clueless sister.

'Didn't you hear? We get to go to school.' It took a while for her to understand what just happened but when she did she pounced on Harry and they started jumping around the living room hyperactively.

'I'm going to miss them.' Jessica said softly to her husband.

'You don't think I'm going to let those two go to school with no one to check on them do you? I've seen the way you act when you're teaching them Jess, you want to go back to your classroom in England before the business with Harry happened. You should apply for a job at the school they go to. That way when I'm at the Ministry, I won't have to worry about all of you.' He said warmly making Jess turn around and kiss him passionately only stopping to poke her tongue out at her two children who were making retching noises behind them.

'You are an ideas man mikey.' She said playfully. 'I can't wait. Just think, me a teacher again. I hope these two years go quick.' She then looked to Harry and Melanie who were now taking turns to turn each others hair crazy colours.

'But not too quick.' She whispered sadly.

Note: Whoa, it is bloody amazing how much reviews can do for someone's quickness. All your reviews helped loads, I just want you to know that. I've decided to do what a couple of people advised, my majority rules might have been a bit bold, but yeah, these next couple of chapters will deal with what the title says: Growing Up With Harry Potter.

I hoped you liked this chapter. Did you like the way I wrote it? All points and criticism welcome.

Once again thank you for all the reviews. (Wink wink, nudge, nudge.)

Flyin Eagle.