Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or it's characters.

Chapter 6: A Nightmare again

Charles Potter got into his bed, glancing nervously at the one where the wizard called Nightmare slept. After a sigh, Charles closed the curtains around his four-poster bed, and his eyelids closed rapidly.

He dreamed about a house, the same he had been dreaming for the last weeks, and it was really terrifying. It wasn't really the house itself, but the feeling that it gave, like, better 'stay away'. Footsteps were heard, and an old man walked, getting near the house. The man got out some keys that were in one of his pockets, and tried them in the door. After some failed attempts, he finally got the right one. Murmuring about immature kids, he opened the door, and walked inside.

Charles watched the man walk up the stairs, and watched horrified as he stopped right outside the door when he heard voices - voices older than the old man had thought it would be – but Charles had heard that voice before. It belonged to Charles nemesis, Lord Voldemort.

The conversation, he could not hear well, but he recognized Wormtail's voice, and the one of a woman, which he had heard before, but didn't know where. And then, Charles heard something. Something that made his blood freeze. And it was Voldemort mentioning a plan to capture someone. And that someone has Charles!

Charles awoke, breathing heavily, and trying to sooth with his hand the pain in his scar. Charles sighed, for the second time that night, and opened his eyes, discovering he had been trashing in his sleep - something that was totally understandable, Charles thought, under the circumstances.

The pain in his scar disappeared, and he tried to get out of bed without waking up his room-mates. Once he was out he noticed in the clock on Dean's table that it was nearly four o' clock. With heavy steps, he took the way to the bathroom, knowing he wasn't going to be able to get any sleep after the terrifying nightmare he had. He took a bath, and once he was dressed, took a look of himself at the mirror.

Looking at him was a carbon copy of his father - James Potter - with the only difference being the lightning bolt shaped scar. Oh, how much Charles hated that scar!

When Charles was a baby, more specifically a one-year old, the wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort had attacked the Potters. The reason? Unknown, but everyone knew the younger twin who had saved them all, when the curse reflected into the caster, destroying the house. But a destroyed house was not the only thing the Potters lost. Minutes earlier, the Potter children's grandfather had given his life for them, as he had been babysitting them, their own parents being away in a Order of the Phoenix meeting. James had been really affected by it, as his mom had died just the year before. That's not all, because in the younger twin's forehead was a scar - a scar that would mark him for life.

A few years later, Harry Potter, the older twin, had left the house - but nobody had noticed, as they had all been spoiling The-Boy-Who-Lived.
Charles did miss his brother, at first, and couldn't figure why he had left. Then, time passed, and Charles, like everyone else, forgot about him.
Charles looked at himself in the mirror again, after closing his eyes for a moment and taking big breaths, and decided not to forget Harry that time. It was a new day, and everything would go okay.

But it was nearly at the end of the day when Charles found himself in a problem, while getting out of the Transfiguration's classroom. He had been walking, not really paying attention to his surroundings, and Dean and Seamus were walking much faster to him, engrossed in an argument about if Quidditch was better than Football or not, when Charles suddenly bumped into someone – and that someone was one of his brother's friends: Tornado.

.

Tornado lifted his head to see who had bumped into him, and saw one of the people he never wanted to meet: Charles Potter.

"What do you want, Potter" he sneered.

Hands trembling, Charles got up. Once he was standing, he answered, but not as cheekily as Tornado had thought he would.

"I am sorry, I didn't see-" he started, but Tornado interrupted him.

"Well, that's obvious."

Charles frowned, and started getting away, nearly tripping when he passed Tornado.

"Oh, and Potter," the Lightning started. "I don't care who you are, if something happens, I will not restrain myself, and I don't care if your Nightmare's twin or The-Boy-Who-Lived, ok?"

.

Charles nodded, now his nervousness turning to anger. He had been meaning to make a good impression on his brother's friends, but that was clearly impossible. Still frowning, he ran all the way, trying to catch with his own friends, who had noticed nothing. With a sigh, he walked to the Great Hall, its splendor still amazing, even for him, who came from a magical home.

As Dean and Seamus poured food into their plates, Charles turned his head slightly to see his twin, and when he didn't make any signal to notice his gaze, Charles shook his head.

Dean must have noticed, thought, because he sent him a concerned look.

"Are you alright, Charles?" he asked him, his voice slightly quieter, because of the loud noise of the students arriving for lunch.

Charles looked at him and answered truthfully. "I will be."

Dean assented, and when he thought Charles couldn't see, he and Seamus exchanged glances. Charles inwardly sighed, he knew he was going to be asked a lot if he was alright or not.

With another look at Nightmare, Charles turned to the food, and started eating, and talked to his friends, trying to change the topic. "So, what do you think about the Triwizard Tournament?"

Seamus was the one to answer. "It's going to be so cool! It's bad they won't let us compete, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it is. But I guess it's for something. It must be highly dangerous." Dean said, and then took a piece of toast.

Charles agreed absently, his thoughts still in his twin, as they were two hours later when he got to bed and closed his eye-lids.

.

The Potters and their friends, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, had been talking about their adventures in Hogwarts – especially about the Marauders, in case of the three males in the room – when Charles's great horned owl flew through the opened window on the living room of Lily and James Potter. The room itself was spacious, and the decoration well-tasted: there were two big sofas forming a 'L', in the middle of the room was a coffee table, and many pictures of a redhead woman and two black haired men were in some pretty shelves that were floating magically near the soft-blue wall. Remus and Sirius were sitting in a sofa, while Lily and James were in the other.

Lily had instantly gotten up, when her eyes turned to the owl she knew so well, and walked towards it.

"Here, Robin." she said softly to the owl, and he extended his leg, allowing her to get the letter attached to it. Lily untied it rapidly, anxious to get news about her son after a week of waiting for them. After she untied the letter, she went immediately to her spot in the sofa again, Robin hooting in disapprove of her actions, before he left, the same way he had arrived.

Lily read the letter, aware of the three pair of eyes that were watching her, and once finished, the Marauders could see her skin a bit more reddish.

"He can't be serious!" she exclaimed, to the others confusion.

"Of course he can't be Sirius, I – " Sirius started saying, but stopped when he noticed Lily glaring at him.

"Don't you dare finishing that sentence, Sirius Orion Black!" she told him and he answered with a muttered "I shouldn't have told her my full name." and Remus rolled their eyes at him.

"What happened, Lily, dear," James asked, trying to calm his angry wife, and placing his left arm over her shoulders.

Lily sighed, and handed Remus the letter, which took it calmly, eyes shining with curiosity and started reading it aloud.

"Dear Mum and Dad,

This first week has been... eventful. The first day, after we arrived, Dumbledore ("Professor Dumbledore" Lily muttered, still angry) told us that the Triwizard Tournament is going to be held this year, and that the host will be Hogwarts! It's so exciting! Don't worry about me competing, though, kids younger than seventeen are not allowed to compete. But I guess you already knew that, with Dad working on the Ministry and all.

That's not all. There are new students. New students that are not in first grade: two of them are in third grade, and the rest six are in my year. More specifically, Nightmare is really one Harry James Potter. My long lost brother. Now, don't try to look innocent: I know you knew. Why didn't you tell me? Why keep me in the dark?

Anyway, I don't plan on making the same wrong choices as in the past, and I am planning on befriending him. Don't try to step in, please. Unfortunately, so far, there's no progress – I had a confrontation with one of his friends (Shock, I think he was named...) and he, well... he kind of threatened me. Don't worry, it wasn't that much of a threat, now I think about it... he just told me 'not to hurt Harry – I mean, Nightmare'.

I think I'll try again tomorrow.

Say hi to Moony and Padfoot from me – If they aren't there already!

Charles."

Remus looked at Lily and asked what everyone in the room was thinking.

"I don't really understand what bothers you so much".

Lily looked exasperated at the three most important men in her life, and standing up again, she paced around the room.

"Well, I don't know, Remus. Maybe it was my son knowing the truth about his twin, or maybe it was his twin's friend threatening him!" Lily said sarcastically, not realizing her voice was getting louder.

James traded a look with Remus before speaking. "I know, and I am, myself, a bit angry because of the threat. But you have to admit, the truth about Harry, well... you know how Charles is, and with the Lightnings kids using their true names in school... it was bound to happen soon." his voice was angry too, but not as much as his wife, who was known to have a fiery temper.

Sirius, who had stayed silent since Lily glared at him, cleared his throat, and everyone turned their heads to look at him.

"I was just thinking, er – don't you think Charles is right about befriending Harry?" he said, looking guilty, but continued quickly before Lily could glare at him. "I mean, in the past we were wrong to ignore Harry. I feel bad about it, seeing as I am his Godfather –"

"Of course not!" James exclaimed, and looked at Sirius and Remus in the eye – as the later looked guilty too. "We talked to you about Charles being The-Boy-Who-Lived! Lily and I knew and felt it was better to be with him more! What if he doesn't survive? I wanted to know my son before he dies!"

"I understand, Prongs, but –"

"No, you don't understand! And we love Charles, it wasn't our fault Harry is always seeking attention!" Lily continued.

"But that's the point! Harry wasn't seeking attention! He was seeking love – love that we didn't give him!" Sirius told her, and was surprised to find himself standing.

Lily stood too and Remus and James decided to stop it before it turned to a fight.

"Sirius, I know that you are right, okay? You need to calm down; this is not going to help." Remus told Sirius, and made him sit down, and he did, his head in his hands.

James made his wife sit down, too, while he muttered comforting things in her ear.

When he was totally calm, Sirius stood up, and Remus did too.

"I am sorry, Lily, James, but we need to get going. We are going to visit Andromeda, and Moony is going to a job interview later." he said, walking towards the apparition spot, and then they could hear him, barely, say to Remus "Hey, Moony, maybe Nymphadora will want to go!"

"Stop it Sirius! She is much younger than me!" Remus answered before disappearing.

James chuckled quietly at his friend's antics before turning towards Lily.

"Are you okay?" he asked her softly.

Lily hesitated for a moment.

"I just don't know for how much time... It's just so unfair, James! Why did Albus make us do it these thirteen years ago? Why did we accept? I don't know if I can keep this act so much longer." she said, tears in her green eyes, but she didn't let them fall.

James hugged her, and Lily posed her head in his chest. "I know, love. And it pains me to fight Padfoot and Moony because of it, we are like brothers – but I am glad they will be there for him."

Lily nodded, the tears finally falling from her eyes. "I just want everything as it was before the attack."

James rested his head in her. "Me too, Lily. Me too".

Lily suddenly stood up, startling James.

"I need to answer Charles's letter!" she told him before she went through the door.

James laughed, and shaking his head, he muttered to himself "Yes, everything is going to be better."

Author note!

Hi again, everybody! Aren't you lucky today? Two chapters! YAY!

Oh, I can't wait to show you the really new ones!

Until tomorrow,

Lily