Title: The Boys Who Lived
Author: Shara Lunison
Beta: Batsutousai
Rating for this chapter: K+
Pairings: Harry/Henry (OMC)
Warnings: SLASH, Eventual twincest!
Summary: The Potter twins are attacked by Voldemort and somehow defeat him. Now the Dark Lord has returned and they have to choose between light and dark. SLASH, Twincest, rated M for later chapters.
Disclaim Her: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: This was a hard chapter to write, and the boys weren't cooperating very well (small wonder, considering the horrible things I did to them). :: grin :: Enjoy!
Chapter Five: The Hogwarts Express
Dursley dropped them off at Kings Cross Station early on the morning of the first. Petunia fussed over the twins, smoothing Harry's hair and smartening the lines of Henry's light jacket. Dudley, for his part, actually looked sad to see them go, though he tried to hide the light quivering of his lip by frowning severely at them.
After bidding farewell to their relatives, whom they fully expected to never have to see again, the boys made their way into the station with their tickets clutched in their hands to find platforms nine and ten. Snape had told them to walk through the barrier between these, but upon arriving there they found that there was more than one red brick barrier separating one side of the platform from the other.
"It figures," Henry muttered with disgust.
They wandered closer to the first of three barriers and Harry kept watch while Henry casually leaned against it to see if an invisible entrance might be hidden there. After a moment, he grabbed Harry and shook his head and they moved to the middle one. As they approached the wall, a crowd of red-headed children being ushered by a middle-aged woman swarmed in from the other side.
"Packed with Muggles, of course!" she said under her breath.
The twins, realizing that this was a wizarding family on their way to the platform they were looking for, followed along in their wake as they approached the opposite side of the barrier they had already tried. Henry hit himself in the forehead as he realized the mistake they had made in not checking to make sure either side of the barrier wasn't the entrance.
"All right, all right. You first, Percy." The eldest of the red-headed boys took his trolley and rushed towards the wall, disappearing just as he should have hit it. The mother ushered a pair of twins through next and then there was just a boy about the same age as Harry and Henry, and a girl a bit younger who remained by her mother's side without any luggage.
"We'd best ask, don't you think?" Harry whispered.
Nodding, Henry stepped forward and tugged on the sleeve of the woman's dress. "Excuse me, could you tell us how to get onto the platform?"
"Oh! Dears, I didn't see you there!" The woman put her hand against her heart as though she had received a great shock. "Is this your first time at Hogwarts? Ron is new this year too." She gestured towards the remaining boy who looked at them with a shy smile.
"Yes, m'am," they answered in unison.
"Not to worry about the platform. Just walk straight at the barrier between nine and ten. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on before Ron, both of you." She shooed them towards the solid presence of the brick wall.
Taking a deep breath, Harry charged bravely forward with his trolley, Henry right on his heels. The wall came closer and closer and he squeezed his eyes shut just before he hit it, only to peek them open again on the other side. A wonderful view met him as he caught sight of the scarlet red engine of the Hogwarts Express. Dozens of cars followed behind the main engine, stretching to the other end of the platform in a long line of emerald green pierced by gold-framed windows. A crowd of students and parents seeing them off swamped the edge of the platform.
Behind them the other boy their age careened through the archway with his own trolley, stopping to gawk at the train himself. His mother followed a moment later with his little sister, immediately trying to straighten 'Ronald's' clothing and wipe a smudge of dirt off of his nose.
"Let's, er… find a compartment, then." Henry mumbled, uncomfortable since he and Harry were the only ones without parents to see them off.
They passed an awkward boy who had the slightly pudgy look of baby fat still on his face, telling an older woman who was most likely his grandmother that he seemed to have misplaced someone named 'Trevor'.
"Oh, Neville," she answered, with the long-suffering tones of someone who has been on the edge of patience for untold years.
The twins entered the very first car after the engine and began making their way down the train, peering into compartment after compartment to find an empty one. They looked into one, seeing the boy from Madame Malkin's, Draco Malfoy, sitting with several tough-looking boys and a simpering blond girl who sneered at them as though they were pressing their noses against the glass and making ghastly faces at her. At last, almost at the end of the train, they found one empty compartment and promptly shoved their belongings inside to rest in the corners, placing the cages containing Serash and the owl Harry had named Hedwig onto the rack overhead.
They had just settled down into their seats opposite one another when the door opened to admit Ron, who looked at them sheepishly before asking, "Do you, er, mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full."
They shook their heads and Ron hesitated for a moment before sitting beside Henry. His gaze skittered across the scars on both of their cheeks before settling on the twisting fingers he kept in his lap. An uncomfortable silence descended on the compartment for several long minutes.
The door slid open again to reveal Ron's twin brothers. "Hey, Ron. Listen, we're going down to the middle of the train. Lee's got a giant tarantula down there."
"Right," mumbled Ron.
The red-headed twins turned their attention to Harry and Henry. "Hello! More twins?" They exchanged a gleeful look, "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Fred Weasley!" The first twin bowed flamboyantly while the other said, "And I'm George Weasley! And you are?"
Blinking owlishly, Henry answered, "Harry and Henry Potter."
"Potter!?" all three Weasley's exclaimed.
"Er… yes?"
Ron stared openly at their scars, now. "So that's where You-Know-Who…?"
"Ronald!" the Weasley twins exclaimed, sounding remarkably like their mother.
"Sorry," he mumbled, blushing nearly the same color as his hair.
"We don't remember it, you know," Harry blurted.
"Just lots of green light," Henry added.
"Right then," Fred said.
"We're off," said George.
"Bye," mumbled Ron and the twins disappeared from the doorway, clicking it shut behind them.
Another lengthy silence ensued before Harry asked, curiously, "Are all your family wizards?"
Looking up, Ron seemed relieved that his earlier words had not ruined everything after all. "Yes, though I think mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant. We don't talk about him."
"So you must know loads of magic already!" Henry said, excited.
"Mostly just housework spells," Ron blushed, "Mum doesn't cast much else. And dad uses some complicated stuff when he's messing with Muggle things. I haven't been able to catch any of those."
"Muggle things?" Harry asked, confused.
"Yeah, he… er…" Ron couldn't figure out how to explain for a moment, "I don't know what any of it is, but he likes Muggle gadgets. Taking them apart, fixing them. Tinkering, really. Mum hates it. He works for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office in the Ministry. She's always afraid that something he messes with is going to get him in trouble."
"It must be nice having such a big family." Harry sighed.
"Five brothers and a sister," Ron said glumly, "Hand-me-down clothes, books, wands, pets. We have to share everything."
The compartment door slid open, revealing the pale and narrow face of Draco Malfoy. His face twisted into a sneer when he saw the Potters sitting with Ron, but before he could speak Henry snorted derisively and started berating the Weasley boy sitting beside him.
"Try wearing the worn-out whale-sized clothes of your cousin. Never having enough to eat. Sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs. Sharing a cot barely wider than you are with your brother and taking turns with punishments so that neither of you gets too worn out. You're lucky that your family loves you just as much as your brothers and sister. That's worth more than any object or possession you could ever hope to own."
Ron became paler and paler with every word, and even Draco standing in the doorway looked thoughtfully embarrassed. But Harry was incensed.
"Hen, that's not fair! Ron hasn't been in the situations we've been in. He has no reason to realize how lucky he is to have a family, brothers and a sister who love him and want to keep him, even when they might not be able to provide for him as well as they, and he, might like! I don't know what I would have done without you over the years, and I'm sure Ron would feel the same about his family if he thought about it."
Henry gave an ugly sneer. "I have no interest in making friends with someone who can't see and be thankful for the things he has." Turning, he made for the compartment door to leave, only to stop as he realized that Draco was still standing there, shuffling guiltily from foot to foot.
"I have to admit," the pale haired boy said after a few seconds, "that the conditions of your childhood surprise me. But I have always understood the value of parents who love and care for me." Ron snorted from within the room and Draco glared balefully in his direction. "And I came here with the intention of making friends. If you'll have me." He stuck out his hand and waited patiently for Henry to make a decision.
It only took a moment. The elder Potter twin shook hands with the Malfoy heir and smiled. "I would be glad to be your friend, Draco."
"Hen, you can't!" Harry protested.
"Why not?" Henry asked, puzzled.
"He's just like Dudley! Spoiled and self-centered and a bully. And Ron hasn't done anything wrong! How can you be friends with someone like him?"
"On the contrary, Harry. I don't see how you can be friends with him."
"So, what are we supposed to do? Try to all sit here and make friends and end up fighting with each other?"
"As I said before, I have no intentions of making friends with someone like Ronald." The Weasley boy flinched, turning an angry red color. "And since you can't seem to get past Draco's façade, I see only one solution."
"What?" Harry asked, an icy feeling settling in the pit of his stomach.
"We shall simply not be friends with each other's friends," Henry said softly. "Which means we won't be spending much time together at school, unless we're all in the same House, which I doubt."
"What!" Harry breathed. "But, Hen…"
"Goodbye, Harry," his brother answered.
He and Draco quickly left the compartment and Harry imagined them, sitting with those thick-set toughs and the blond girl sneering at him as he tried to get near his twin. "But we've never been apart," he mumbled to the empty air.
"Harry?" Turning, he saw Ron sitting there and looking ashamed. "Was all that my fault?"
Sitting with a thump back into his seat, Harry said, "No. I always knew Hen and I were different, but I didn't think we'd ever go separate ways. I never thought he would want to. We're twins."
Ron was silent for some time before he stood and came to sit beside his new friend (however badly made). "You know, if there's one thing I've learned with Fred and George as my brothers, it's that twins might look exactly the same, but they're both distinctly different people. I think… well, I think your brother might be a Slytherin once we finally get to being Sorted at Hogwarts."
"And what about me?" Harry whispered, never dreaming that Hogwarts, his salvation, might be the dividing force that he and Henry had been dreading all their lives.
"Can't say, really. There's four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. All my family have been Gryffindors, they're supposed to be brave. Hufflepuffs are loyal, Ravenclaws smart, and Slytherins cunning. But Slytherins have a bit of a bad reputation. Every dark wizard there's ever been was a Slytherin, the ones that went to Hogwarts, anyway."
"You don't think my brother will end up like that, do you?" Harry whispered.
"Nah! He was almost killed by You-Know-Who, same as you. Personally, I'm hoping he'll be a good influence on all the kids in that house who are the children of Death Eaters."
"What are Death Eaters?" Harry asked.
"Blimey! I forgot you were raised by Muggles, so you wouldn't know. Death Eaters are basically the members of You-Know-Who's army. Dark wizards and witches who do his bidding. They've done horrible things, when the Dark Lord was still around."
"They weren't captured?"
"A lot of them were, but some—like Malfoy's parents—claimed to be under the Imperius Curse. That's a spell that controls someone's mind and makes them do the will of the caster," he explained before Harry could ask.
"Sounds like whatever Dumbledore cast on my relatives," Harry muttered.
"No way!" Ron exclaimed. "First of all, you've met Dumbledore? But besides that, he would never cast Imperius on someone. It's some of the darkest magic there is! You can be sent to Azkaban—the wizard prison— just for casting it!"
"Well he did something." Harry sighed. "I don't know what to do about Hen. I can't… I won't let him push me away just because of our friends. Maybe I'll just give him some time to realize he misses me."
Ron gave him a doubtful look that Harry didn't notice. "All right, mate, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work."
They wiled away the rest of the trip wondering about the castle, and then playing with Chocolate Frog cards and other candies when the witch with the cart came by. Henry did much the same with his new friends, though he played other wizarding games that the others (who introduced themselves as Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson) had brought from home.
At last, just as it was getting dark outside of the train, Henry returned to the compartment and all three boys awkwardly put on their black robes as they prepared to depart. To Harry's relief, it seemed that his brother was going to stay with them instead of going back to find Draco and his other new friends.
They exited the train and followed the booming voice of Hagrid, whom they had met in Gringott's the month before, to a small fleet of boats on the edge of a smooth black lake. The three of them clambered into one, joined by the boy named Neville from the platform. As they glided across the surface of the water, Hagrid called out, "Y'll be getting yer first view of the castle in a minute!"
The boats smoothly propelled themselves around a bend in the shoreline and there before them was the most incredible sight. A huge castle rose up into the night sky, golden moonlight reflecting off of the hundreds of windows. The whole structure seemed as though it should teeter back and forth, it was so strangely built. Layer upon layer of floors rose up, only to be suddenly punctured by a tower or, quite near them, a round shape that looked almost exactly like a rook from a giant chess set.
Harry and Ron exchanged a bespelled glance and said in unison, "Wicked."
Before long, they found themselves ushered into the Great Hall by a very stern looking witch with horn-rimmed spectacles. Four long tables spread with golden cutlery were placed below a fifth table that was on a short dais at the front of the room, near the door where they entered. The ceiling was dark and star dusted, the moon a sickle of white barely peeking into the far corner of the room.
"When I call your names, you will sit on the stool and put on the hat to be sorted into your houses." The stern witch, who was introduced as Professor McGonagal, Head of Gryffindor House and Deputy Headmistress, pulled out a fat scroll and began to read.
Many girls and boys were called as Harry listened. The first that he recognized was the soft-faced boy named Neville from the platform who was clutching a large green toad with both hands, causing him to fumble as he put the hat on.
It took quite a long time for him to be sorted, but at last the hat called out, "Gryffindor!"
Next was Draco, Henry's new friend. Harry was not in the least surprised when the hat declared him a, "Slytherin," within moments of touching his head. He was very worried about them being separated, though.
Several more names were called, and then it was Harry's turn. Despite being the younger twin, his name came first alphabetically. He wished that could be changed, as he'd much rather try to convince the hat to let him stay with his brother, but there was nothing for it.
Loud gasps and whispers hailed him as he walked up to the hat. People began to crane their necks to see him and in turn his brother still standing in line. Thankfully, he soon took a seat on the stool and the hat was placed on his head, effectively blocking their peering eyes from his view.
"Well, what do we have here? A good mind, yes. A willingness to prove yourself, very loyal to your brother, aren't you? So where shall I put you?"
Harry listened with trepidation for the hat to make her verdict.
"You could be great in Slytherin, you know, but I don't think your temperament really suits that house. Better be Gryffindor!" The last word was shouted to the room at large and the second table from the left erupted into cheers, Ron's twin brothers bragging to everyone that "they got one of the Potters!"
But as Harry sat down beside a girl with very bushy brown hair among the other Gryffindor first years, he watched his brother worriedly. That sinking feeling was back in the pit of his stomach.
"Potter, Henry!" McGonagall called. Henry stepped forward, not a single movement betraying any nervousness he might be feeling. The hat settled over his eyes, and Harry imagined the conversation that might be occurring beneath that broad brim.
"Quite intelligent, you've always outshone poor Harry, haven't you? And such logic and cunning! Why, I couldn't think to place you anywhere but Slytherin!"
Harry's daydream came to a close with an abrupt crash as the hat at the front of the room echoed his own thought. Henry removed the hat, dashingly handing it back to McGonagall, and then made his way to the Slytherin table to sit beside Draco Malfoy without so much as glancing at his twin.
Harry's eyes followed him, willing his brother to look at him and show that he shared some of the disappointment and worry that he now felt. But Henry began to talk and laugh with his new friends. Even Ron's sorting into Gryffindor did little to cheer Harry up that night. He followed Percy Weasley, one of their prefects, up to the common room in a trudge, not even noticing the paintings or suits of armor that he passed. It didn't even matter that we would likely become horribly lost in the morning. He just wanted his brother back. And he wanted him back the way he was when they lived together at the Dursleys. A little slice of Vernon's bellow or Petunia's screech would have meant the world to him right then.
Late that night, safely ensconced behind the curtains of his bed, Harry cried himself to sleep.
And down in the depths of the dungeon, Henry wondered if his little brother was all right. But then he remembered the freckle-faced menace known as Ronald Weasley, and he was sure that Harry had forgotten all about him. Henry fell asleep still nursing the anger he felt at losing his brother to the foolish Gryffindors in the tower upstairs.