Everything was spinning and Harry knew if there had been any food in his belly, he would have thrown up. At first, Harry couldn't process his surroundings but as his world stopped spinning, he also found it easier to grasp where he was. He was in a large room with expensive looking furniture. A lot of the items in the room were various shades of green. Harry had no idea how they had arrived wherever they were but he knew he didn't like it one bit. This was worse than the time Dudley had tied him to a spinning chair and spun him for five minutes; it would have been longer but the teacher made him stop.
"I'm sure you would like to sit down now, wouldn't you?" Lucius asked Harry, guiding the pale, shaking child to a soft sofa. When the child was seated, Lucius and Severus sat on the opposite couch.
"How did we get here? I didn't like it," Harry said honestly, not feel like softening the blow for them; he felt too sick to try.
"That was magic; magic that is very much real. In fact, magic runs in your blood and has for generations," Lucius explained to Harry who was frowning. "You are a powerful wizard just like your parents."
"But Aunt Petunia says..."
"I think we can safely say that anything that came out of her mouth was a lie. Their deplorable treatment positively was barbaric. She was always jealous of your mother's powers but I can't believe she would take it out on an innocent child," Lucius said, causing Severus to snort, a sound that sounded strange coming from the man.
"I'm not surprised. That woman was hateful and nasty towards anything to do with magic and Dumbledore knew this when he dropped the child there. You know the old man..."
"Severus, you are scaring the poor boy," a soft voice scolded Severus. "Hello dear, I am Narcissa Malfoy. I am a very dear friend of Lucius and his... friend."
Harry frowned, that was the second time he'd heard a pause while the relationship between Severus and Lucius was being described. Harry wondered if they were like his classmates Joseph and Adam who introduced themselves as each other's... friends but liked to kiss each other when nobody was looking. He knew it made some people mad, so he didn't say anything but he didn't care if Lucius and Severus liked to kiss each other. Harry himself had kissed a boy before and he knew Dudley and Piers liked to kiss all the time too.
"Sorry Cissy," Severus said.
"Yes, well save it, I need to work on healing this boy and I need potions to do so. Lucius, why don't you go explain to Draco what is happening?"
While Narcissa worked on healing Harry's injuries, she explained magic to him and told him about everything that he would be able to learn once he started at Hogwarts.
"Your parents would have been devastated that you were raised in such a way after they were killed. Your mother died trying to protect you," Narcissa told Harry.
"In the car accident?" Harry asked, getting confused.
"Car accident? Your parents weren't killed in a car accident; I don't even think they knew how to function those frivolous muggle contraptions. Your parents were killed by a man called Albus Dumbledore."
Narcissa went on to explain how Dumbledore wanted to get rid of Tom Riddle 'Voldemort' by making it look like he was responsible for all kinds of killing and was attempting to rid the world of Muggle-borns and half-bloods.
"Why?" Harry asked, confused as to why Albus Dumbledore would do that.
"Tom Riddle grew up in a muggle orphanage and was abused. He wanted to make it so all magical children were protected from muggles who feared their powers. He wanted to make it so the children who were mistreated by muggles were rescued and raised within the magic world. Dumbledore didn't like that because he prefers to have power over Muggle-borns and half-bloods and when they come from such environments they tend to look up to him as though he is a saviour and they follow his whims easier," Narcissa explained. "Dumbledore was hoping to turn you into a pawn and have you take out Tom for him."
"That doesn't make sense," Harry said, frowning.
"Every year, the abused students come back each summer, thankful for a means of escape and Dumbledore looks like he's their saviour for getting them away from home for some time. If Tom had his way, those children would be removed and would not be returned. They would be raised to understand and love magic and everything it could do. He would bring their abusers to justice. Tom believes that all magic children are a gift, a blessing, and should be treated as such."
"Dumbledore likes when his students are abused because they listen to him better? That's sick!" Harry exclaimed, earning him a nod from Narcissa. "But why MY family? Why me?"
"Yes, Harry I agree. I believe he chose you and your family because you matched the prophecy description about killing the dark lord and Dumbledore probably wanted you to be grateful to him and willing to listen to his lies," Narcissa explained as she rubbed some foul smelling stuff onto his face. "He probably wants to train you to kill Tom."
"I don't want to kill anyone!" Harry said to Narcissa. "It sounds like he is the Dark Lord, not Tom."
"I would have to agree with you on that one. He is a very Dark wizard and wants too much power and he became the leader of the Light side to gain more power, but he became power hungry. But some say Darkness hides within the light."
When Narcissa was done with Harry, Severus returned with a small smile on his face.
"The old coot has discovered Harry is missing, what do you plan to do Cissy. They will discover that he's here when his letter is written in a few days and they see his name under this address because they will no doubt be looking," Severus said, watching Narcissa carefully. "The quill writes out your name and automatically writes out the address."
Harry thought for a second and he could see that Narcissa and Severus were also deep in thought.
"Wouldn't it be easy if we could just change my name to a different name came up instead of Harry Potter?" Harry said, wishing it was possible but when Narcissa and Severus shared a look, Harry wondered if his wish had actually been helpful.
"Blood adoption?" Narcissa asked Severus who regarded Harry with a look of... pride? No, it couldn't be. Nobody was ever proud of him and this man had only known Harry for maybe a couple hours.
"It could work. You and Lucius could adopt him, he could be Draco's twin maybe? Maybe name him Harrison and nobody would dare question a Malfoy child, even one who coincidentally went by the name Harry," Severus said, with a look of excitement on his face. "I'll get right on that potion, you speak to Lucius about this. It's a simple potion, I can have it done in minutes. We're going to need to move fast; the old coot will want him back in his grasp."
As Severus and Narcissa were rushing around, a small blond boy walked into the room. He was clearly confused by a smile lit his face when he spotted Harry sitting on the couch. The bruises on Harry's face were now fading and he already looked much healthier thanks to the potions he'd been given. He still looked sickly and unwell but he looked more like a child who'd taken ill, and not beaten and starved.
"Hi Harry, I'm Draco," Draco said making his way over to the young boy. "What's going on?"
"I think they're going to adopt me and I'm going to be your twin?" Harry said confused by this. He looked nothing like Draco and he was unsure how anyone was going to believe he was Draco's twin. Draco had blonde hair and grey eyes while Harry had black hair with green eyes. But obviously, there was a way because Severus was going to brew 'the potion'. At this point, Harry's mind was a little overwhelmed, so he just sat down and focused on his new 'brother'.
"Oh, cool. I always wanted a brother. Did they say why?" Draco asked, watching Harry with a smile on his face. Harry was the first boy who'd been to the house who actually had any brains; compared to Crabbe and Goyle, the house elf's provided better conversation and they automatically agreed with and believed everything and anything you said... Then again, so did Crabbe and Goyle. But at least the house elves didn't get confused whenever heard words with more than two syllables.
"He called their treatment 'deportable' and asked if I wanted to go with him and Lucius," Harry replied, wondering if it was normal to pick kids off the street and simply take them to a new home and just adopt them. But if it got him away from the beatings, he really wasn't going to question it. But they seemed to know him, so it wasn't exactly random.
"Yes, father and Severus have been busy lately, I suppose they were running around for Dumbledore Order of the Chicken group. Dumbledore doesn't like when they spend too much time together. He thinks it's unnatural," Draco said rolling his eyes.
"Are they married?" Harry asked out of genuine curiosity. Lucius and Severus had different last names but not all married couples had the same last name.
"No, I wish. He married my mum so they could have a baby and I think they stayed married because they don't want news of their divorce to spread. But Severus and my father have been together since they were at Hogwarts," Draco explained. "Do you play Quidditch?"
"What's Quidditch?" Harry asked slowly, not wanting to sound dumb but he couldn't pretend he knew what it was in case Draco asked something more specific about how Harry played.
"What's Quidditch?" Draco repeated as though he couldn't believe the question. "Merlin! What do muggles do for fun? Okay, let me explain. Quidditch is played on brooms by..."
Severus, Lucius and Narcissa came into the room as Draco was explaining to Harry who his favourite Quidditch players were. Harry noticed that the adults were all smiling and watching the boys with amused looks on their faces.
"Harry, may we speak to you and Draco?" Narcissa spoke, leading the group over to the couch.
Once everyone was seated, Narcissa picked up a potion that had been brewed just minutes before and looked at Harry with what almost looked like a nervous expression. Harry wondered what she had to be nervous about but the rest of the adults looked a bit nervous too. This must be about the blood adoption they mentioned.
"Harry, ordinarily we would give you more time to think about this but we only have about a day before Hogwarts letters will be written and there is a way to change your name quickly so your location won't be found but for that to happen, we will need to adopt you by blood. We have the potion and it already has our blood in it, when you drink it, you will look just like us and people will think you are Draco's twin. How does that sound?" Narcissa asked Harry, who smiled at the idea of being adopted. "We will love you and protect you and help you grow into a strong and confident adult."
"You'll be my parents? And Dumbledore won't be able to make me go back to them?" Harry asked, just wanting to have it confirmed that he wouldn't be going back to his hateful relatives.
"No Harry, you will never see them again because you will be our son legally and by blood," Lucius explained, realising that Harry was going to agree. Of course, there was very little doubt that he would.
"Okay, I'll do it," Harry agreed to accept the potion from Severus who was smirking happily.
The potion went down Harry's throat and seconds later, a wave of dizziness came on and soon, he felt like his skin was pulsing and squirming. Looking up, he could see Narcissa and Lucius smiling and watching him carefully. Their eyes were filled with joy but Harry could see concern deep in their eyes as well.
"We put one of Draco's hairs in as well to make sure they looked closer in features," he heard Severus whisper to Narcissa.
Within an hour of drinking the potion, Harry's hair had turned pale and his features had shifted until he looked almost identical to Draco. The differences between the two boys were very slight and could only by spotted by careful observation. This included the slightly different noses and the fact that Harry's cheeks were sunk in but Harry's cheeks would most likely fill out as he put on weight and gained the nutrients he needed.
"From here on out, you will now be known as Harrison Lucius Malfoy; that way we can continue calling you Harry so as to avoid confusion over being called a new name," Lucius explained as he looked at his new son. "Dobby!"
A small creature with massively large eyes popped into the room, his face was filled with excitement as he glanced around the room. The creature looked quickly around the room at everyone, his grin almost wider than his face and he seemed to bring a smile to Harry's face. Who would have thought such a little creature could radiate such happiness to a room?
"Harry, this is Dobby and he will be your personal house elf. Dobby, will you show Harry to his room; the one beside Draco's," Narcissa asked the elf who bowed before Harry. Harry didn't miss the smile that came across his new brother's face when he heard Harry would be sleeping in the room next to his.
"Hello, Master Harry. Dobby is very excited to meet you. Dobby will show you to your room now. What foods does Harry like? Dobby will make whatever Master Harry wants and keep him safe."
THREE DAYS LATER
Albus Dumbledore was not Happy, not in the least. As he stared at the list of students for the upcoming school year, he wondered why Harry Potter's name didn't show up. That brats name should have been there; he had been anticipating this for years.
His life had been crazy since the little runt disappeared and he put a lot of resources forward to try and find him but much to his displeasure, he came up with nothing. It had been three days and there was no trace of the boy; it was like he'd vanished off the face of the earth. Not even the Dursleys seemed to know what happened; of course, they were the most pathetic muggles he'd ever laid eyes on, so he shouldn't have been all that surprised.
Albus had been looking forward to finding the child's location when his Hogwarts letter was addressed but was shocked and disappointed to find that a letter had not been written out to the boy, so his location was still unknown.
The mere fact that a letter hadn't been written to the boy was angering Albus because that meant the child was either dead or a squib. He knew Potter wasn't a squib because he'd been given a report of the child's magic core when he was only a year old so that had to mean the child was dead but the prophecy was still alive according to the ministry. A part of him wanted to be relieved but the other part of him knew others would be less than pleased to discover the Boy Who Lived to be missing or even dead.
This little runt was ruining all of his plans. How was he supposed to get the runt to kill Tom if they couldn't even locate him? Tom and his ideas to make his students, his personal soldiers anything other than submissive and willing to follow his every order. Tom should have been able to figure out how easy it is to get people to follow you when they worship you. Send them to their less than ideal homes and every fall they are reminded of how much you have to offer them and they are back in your good graces.
Much worse, his devotion from his mindless pawns would without a doubt start to waver once it became widespread knowledge. It would take a fair amount of damage control to repair this. Perhaps he could call in a few favours and bribe a few of the right people maybe but these were resources he was hoping to utilise later and for something more important than a snot-nosed little shit.
Yes, everything was working out fine until Potter was lost and now his precious followers are starting to lose faith in him. It's obvious that if he doesn't find Potter and soon, not only will he lose his key pawn in this was but he'll lose the trust of several of his order members, including Severus Snape and Remus Lupin who had both made a promise to Harry's parents to watch out for the boy.
As Albus looked down the list he saw another Weasley name and wondered what this one was going to be like; hopefully nothing like the twins. He also spotted two Malfoy names and frowned; he was surprised by how many pureblood names were on the list. As a rule, pureblood children are not introduced to society until they are thirteen; especially in prestigious families like the Malfoys, the Parkinsons and the Zambinis. Of course, this was to offer children a chance to grow up without being viewed as public figures and to allow them normal childhoods until they were old enough to deal with the stress that came with being public figures.
Albus stared at the list for a little longer, hoping Potter's name would appear suddenly, despite the fact that the letters had already been sent out.
No, Albus Dumbledore was not happy at all and it was all the Potter runt's fault.
I see a lot of people change Harry's first name when his parenting situation changes but I personally think that would be confusing, especially to someone eleven years old who'd gone by one name up until a certain point. Let me know what you think. Longest chapter written so far :)