Disclaimer: Just a couple random Omake.
Omake: The Twin Who Lived
Harry blinked a couple times after taking in what he'd just been told and rather than screaming or yelling, something growing up around Vernon Dursley had taught him was never productive behavior, he decided to take a minute to think about it.
"So let me get this straight," Harry said softly. "I'm Bob Potter's twin brother."
"You are, Harry," Dumbledore agreed.
"The same Bob Potter you declared to be the boy-who-lived after he supposedly survived the killing curse," Harry continued.
"In error it turns out. I'm afraid the manner which I used to establish which of you was the chosen one was not as accurate as I had thought it to be," Dumbledore said mournfully. Turned out the magic eight ball was fallible after all.
Harry glanced over at his twin, seated between their silent parents. "The same Bob Potter who's been an absolute bastard to me since I met him on the train?"
"You can't fault him for that, Harry my boy, it's natural for siblings to have a bit of rivalry with each other," Dumbledore stated.
"Wait, are you saying he knew I was his brother?"
"Of course he did, Harry," Dumbledore agreed. "You can't expect a pair of loving parents to hide something like a secret twin from their son, can you?"
"One would think that, wouldn't they," Harry agreed. "Anyway. You convinced my parents to abandon me with the Dursleys, why? I'm afraid your explanation didn't make sense the first time."
"It's simple, Harry. Believing that the power he knows not referred to in the prophecy is love, I did it so that they could better focus on Bob. You being around would distract from him and take resources that could be better spent on him."
"I see." The boy reluctantly dropped his theory that either Petunia or his mother was adopted and accepted that they were blood relatives after all. A shame since that meant he he was a blood relative of Petunia and her spawn. Unless, the boy perked up, unless he'd been switched at birth with the real Potter twin which would mean he wasn't related to any of them. In a snap his good cheer returned. "Did you tell them about my treatment at the hands of the Dursleys?"
"He did," his moth-Lily Potter spoke up. "We didn't like leaving you there, but bringing you home would have distracted us from taking care of Bob."
"Dumbledore said the Dark Lord was coming back, it was our duty to the world to get Bob ready to face him."
Harry turned back to Dumbledore. "Suppose there's only one thing I can say to you then."
"Yes, Harry." It was clear the old man had braced himself for the worst.
"Thank you."
"What?" Dumbledore and the Potters perked up. "Does that mean you forgive us because you understand that our actions were for the Greater Good?"
"Forgive you?" Harry burst into laughter. With a sigh, he wiped the tears out of the corners of his eyes. "Not a chance in hell," he chuckled. "Forgive." That set off another round of laughter.
"Why did you thank him then, Queerwad?" Bob demanded.
"Because if he hadn't put me with the Dursleys, I'd have ended up growing up with you and the horrible bastards you call parents," Harry replied with a grin. "Compared to you and them, even the Dursleys are a better choice. Doesn't mean I don't still want him and them dead for what they did, just means I understand how much worse it could be."
Dumbledore sighed. "I understand that you hate me and your parents, Harry. Perhaps some day, after you've been seasoned by both years and hard choices you can understand that what we did was necessary. Perhaps not. What is important is that Voldemort is back and that you do your duty."
"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing," Harry quoted. "Voldemort asked me to join him, you know."
"You turned him down I trust?" Dumbledore half stated half asked.
"Of course," Harry agreed. "I am, despite the life you gave me, a good man."
"Potters don't go dark," James said proudly, breaking the silence.
"This one doesn't, anyway," Harry said firmly. "On the other hand, they do stand by and do nothing while innocent children are abused or, in Bob's case, laugh about it and mock those innocent children."
"You can't mean-" Lily choked, giving him a stricken look.
"That I intend to follow your example?" Harry asked with a shrug. "Why not?"
Omake: Foreign
"What did you want to speak with me about, Susan?"
"Well," the busty girl began. "There are a lot of rumors about how you and Harry are dating and I thought it best to come to have a talk with you before I approached Harry. Even if they aren't true, you're still his best friend and your opinion holds a lot of weight for him."
"I think you two would make a wonderful couple," Hermione assured the girl with a grin.
"Good to know, but I'm already taken," Susan replied. "No, what I was hoping was that Harry would be willing to father at least one child for me and I would like your permission if you're dating him or your aid in convincing him if you are not."
"What?" Hermione squeaked.
"You are aware that Hannah is my best friend, aren't you?"
"So you two are . . ."
"Much more than friends, yes," Susan agreed. "That said, we would still like to have children and I think Harry would produce strong ones."
"But . . . but . . . what?" Hermione stammered.
"Hermione, you must understand that the magical world isn't like the muggle. We've been completely separate for hundreds of years and had a separate culture for even longer."
"I know but . . . you just want . . . all you want is breeding material."
"Essentially yes. There are spells and potions we could use, but they tend to be expensive and the issue tends not to be very healthy in the rare insistences its viable."
The muggleborn collapsed into her seat. The contrast between her image of a conservative wizarding world warring with the conversation she was in.
"We've had effective contraception since long before the Romans and paternity testing even longer than that. Think how much that alone changes things?" Susan sat down so she'd be on the same level. "Then consider the fact that in the muggle world, men can provide a much greater amount of physical labor than women and consume nearly the same amount of resources. In the magical world, power level is a more personal thing. Harry's the top in school, but not because he's male. Meaning we've had real equality between the sexes for thousands of years."
"Then why are witches underrepresented in the higher levels of the Ministry?"
"You-know-who and the war before him. There's a rather large amount of societal pressure to produce children to make up our numbers, you should se things start to balance out in a decade or three if there are no other large hits to our population."
"Really?"
"Half the Ministry will be sacked to make room if need be," Susan agreed.
"Won't the wizards that have the jobs now object?"
Susan tilted her head. "They might, but no one will care. The sort that gets fired isn't the sort that has enough power to prevent it. It's all in how the Ministry is run."
"What do you mean?"
"People are employed by the Ministry because the people in power owe them favors or want to owe them favors for the most part. Anyone who gets the chop will get it because they aren't important enough."
"Does that mean your Aunt supports what Fudge is trying to do to Harry?"
"No." Susan had to restrain her temper. "My Aunt Amelia has nothing to do with Fudge."
"But he's in charge of the Ministry . . ." Hermione trailed off when she noticed the odd look on Susan's face. "Isn't he?"
"He was given the job because he helped with a couple coverups, because his uncle supports an influential block of votes, and as a compromise between Dumbledore and Malfoy."
"Dumbledore wanted Fudge to be Minister?"
"Both he and Malfoy wanted someone easy to influence," Susan replied with a shrug.
"Oh. What about your Aunt? How'd she get her job?"
"Another compromise. This time between the clean government block and the easily bribable block. Dumbledore and Malfoy were united against her appointment that time." Susan sighed. "The clean government block wanted someone relatively honest, the easily bribable wanted the opposite. My Aunty is honest but she's realistic enough to know what a bad idea it would be to stand in the way some times. Both sides settled on her, both sides expected to be unhappy with their choice, both sides were wrong. Clean government's happy because she's stopped most of the low level corruption in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Corrupt block is happy because she drives up the prices they can demand. People know that she'll land on them with both boots is she gets a chance and that they can't pay their way out of Azkaban if it gets that far."
"Why were Malfoy and Dumbledore against her appointment?"
"Malfoy doesn't like having anyone not in his pocket and is terrified by the thought of what'll happen to him if she gets an excuse." The deaths of three suspected Death Eaters killed while resisting arrest had convinced him to spend gold like water the last time he'd come under investigation. "Dumbledore thinks she's too hard on criminals, says that she needs to be more interested in rehabilitation than punishment."
AN: I usually write magical culture as being fairly similar to normal. Just thought I'd write something different.