Chapter 1

Harry Potter sat alone in his compartment on the Hogwarts Express, gazing out the window at the passing mountains and farmland outside. He let out a low groan and leaned back in his seat. He was now 16 years old and entering his sixth year at Hogwarts. While such an event would bring joy to most students, Harry Potter was not most students. To him, watching the beautiful Scottish countryside roll by was one of the few joys he got from being at Hogwarts. You see, Harry Potter has a twin brother named Charles who is shall we say, an unadulterated jackass. It wasn't always that way, when they were small children. They used to play together all of the time as toddlers. They acted as most twins do act with each other. That was until they started getting older. You see, when they were infants, Lord Voldemort had attempted to kill one of the twins in order to prevent a prophecy that foresaw his demise coming to pass. Ironically, his actions had only served to all but kill him, destroying not only his strength in magic, but his hold over the wizarding world in general, with most of his followers either surrendering or going into hiding. Nobody knew exactly how or why Voldemort had failed to kill the twins that night, but it was proclaimed by Albus Dumbledore that Charles's magical gifts had saved both him and his sibling. Both brothers had scars from the event, a lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead, and a V shaped scar on Charles's right shoulder.

As they grew up, the more their parents began to spoil and wait on Charles hand and foot. It started out innocent enough, Lily and James began spending more time with Charles, setting the very foundation for his destiny to ultimately defeat Voldemort. To Harry, it made sense at first, his brother was the biggest target to every dark wizard in the world, and Voldemort still had a small number of diehard fanatics still willing to carry on small raids and attacks. Catching a member of the Potter family, especially the Chosen One himself, in an ambush during one of these raids would be an early Christmas for the Death Eater holdouts. So naturally, more attention and protection towards Charles would be required in order to limit such possibilities as much as possible. However, as they got older, his brother's behavior, as well as his parent's behavior, became more and more biased in Charles's favor. Charles's attitude towards Harry changed from one of brotherly camaraderie, to one of simply viewing him as an inconvenience. An inconvenience that must be increasingly reminded of his low placement in the family. His family's attitude towards Harry changed dramatically once the twins had begun their Hogwarts careers. Growing up in his brother's shadow had left the young Harry feeling abandoned and cast aside, giving him a desire to prove himself to his family, to prove himself worthy of their affections. As a result of this desire for proving oneself, he had committed the cardinal sin of the Potter family, he had been sorted into Slytherin. Everything had changed after that. His father had been sick to his stomach upon learning that his son had joined the house of the snakes. The morning after the sorting, Harry had received the most terrifying and ear-piercing howler of his life from his father, telling him not to bother coming home for the holidays and if he set one foot out of line, he would also be spending the summer at Hogwarts. Now Hogwarts normally doesn't allow such arrangements over the summer holidays in most cases, but the threat was still an all too real one to a then eleven year old Harry Potter who at a young age had learned not to cross an angry James Potter. Lily's reaction had not been pleasant either. While her attitude towards the situation was not as extreme as her husband's, she had not taken it well. However, rather than anger or outrage, Lily Potter had shown a deep disappointment in her son. Harry remembered coming off of the Hogwarts Express at the end of first year, only to be greeted by the scowl of his father, and his mother not even bothering to look in his general direction. But the worst reaction from his family was by far his brother's. By the time they had started Hogwarts, Charles had already been an arrogant bastard, but seeing his sibling be sorted into Slytherin had only served to solidify his own belief in his superiority over his twin. From then on, Charles had been Harry's biggest problem at Hogwarts, whose pranks and cruel remarks had only worsened over time, but as long as they were at Hogwarts, Charles still limited the worst of his actions.

The same could not be said for what happened once they would return home. The summer before third year, Charles had struck Harry for the first time, and since neither of their parents had bothered to take action against it and with James even subtly encouraging Charles to continue with this behavior, Charles only stepped up the beatings he would give, with James reinforcing it and Lily simply looking the other way. The one time Harry had tried to defend himself from one of these actions, he had landed a gut punch to Charles's stomach, resulting in him informing his father and Harry received an even worse beating from James throughout the night. Since then, Harry learned that to resist openly was pointless, that he would just have to wait for the right time to come. Suddenly, the door to the compartment opened with a loud thud, causing Harry to snap out of his trace and quickly turn his head towards the door. Standing in the doorway was the bloody devil himself, Charles, flanked on both sides by his best friends since first year, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

"Should I even bother asking what you want, or are you just here to show your arse?"

Charles eyed Harry for a few seconds, a look of disgust plastered across his face "I just came to remind you little brother that I've got my eye on you and your Death Eater pals in Slytherin" He gestured to his prefect badge pinned under the Gryffindor lion on his robes "And I'll be watching you especially, we can't have you disgracing the Potter family any further".

Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes "Little? I'm two minutes older than you, technically speaking, I'm your big brother"

Charles snarled in agitation "I hardly consider you my brother, let alone my equal"

Harry's face hardened and he folded his arms across his chest "Well, you're entitled to your wrong opinion, little brother."

Charles snarled again and turned out of the compartment, briskly walking further down the train, with Hermione following suit. Ron stayed behind, now leaning across the doorway, glaring daggers at Harry.

"He's right you know, you don't deserve to be his brother, none of you Slytherin's are anywhere close to being his equal"

Harry just smirked "Well, if I were you, I'd be keeping a closer eye on your sister"

"And why is that snake?"

"Well, I just thought that her stomach looked a little bigger than normal, and considering that your best mate is fucking her…"

Ron's face turned redder than his hair and for once, he was rendered speechless. After a few attempts to stutter out a retrot, he turned away and went to join Charles and Hermione further down the train, slamming the compartment door closed as he did so. His face still red with anger and embarrasement. Harry gave off a chuckle and once again directed his gaze out the window. There was one thing that he enjoyed about his situation, he credited himself for having a sharp and biting tongue, allowing him to push just the right buttons for his tormentors when it suited him. Half an hour later, the train pulled into Hogsmeade station, Harry grabbed his trunk and stood at the door, his hand resting on the door handle. He took a moment to collect himself.

"Alright, here we go"

With that, he opened the door and joined the mass of students.