Separation, New Friends and Unknown Inheritances
‘Hey Charlie? Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?’ Harry Potter asked his twin. He looked at the thin slits of light falling onto their bodies. It was becoming brighter and brighter with every passing minute. His back arched and every inch of it throbbed in pain. The cupboard under the staircase only had so much space.
‘I don’t know Har. Try to get some sleep.’ Charles Potter gumbled out, his eyes squeezed shut. ‘It’s probably five o'clock in the morning. Aunt Petunia will let us out at seven. Get some sleep before then.’
‘I Didn’t mean to do it, I don’t know how it happened.’ Harry whispered. He felt a comforting warmth invade his mind. It felt as if Charles was giving him a mental hug.
Well, that’s how Harry would describe it if asked. It was a twin thing so it was hard to explain it to people who did not have a twin.
‘I know.’ Charles grumbled.
‘I swear!’ Harry whisper-yelled. ‘I don’t know how I got on top of the roof! It happened you know? Like mag-’
‘-Don’t say that word.’ Charles said in a tired voice, his eyes slowly opened. He looked so tired. He felt tired. ‘Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia don’t like that word. You’ll get into even more trouble if they hear you say it.’
‘But they’re not here! Just you and me! So it shouldn’t matter.’
‘True but they might overhear. I don’t know what time it is so it could very well be seven and Aunt Petunia could be coming to let us out.’ he lied. Charles sighed and closed his eyes again, this conversation was useless. He tried going back to the weird dream he was having of a flying motorcycle. Though he loved his brother very much, he was not in the mood for his antics.
Harry nodded and started to think. What will happen now? The last time he did something so … freakish, Aunt Petunia locked them in the cupboard for three days.
Harry became lost in thought, will she lock them inside for even longer without food? Make them do even more chores? What if she kicks them out? Whenever one of them manages to do something freakish, both of them get punished. He didn’t want Charles to get punished for something he did. He would gladly take any punishment so Charles wouldn’t get it.
Harry’s eyes started to feel heavy, he’ll think about what his punishment might be after he had a quick nap.
‘Boy! Get in the car.’ Aunt Petunia shrieked as she manhandled Harry.
‘Where are we going?’ Harry said with wide eyes. He had a sinking feeling something bad.
Uncle Veron was near the doorway and was putting on his boots. ‘Your freaky brother won’t be coming, just you.’
‘Why?’ Charles spluttered out. He was right behind Harry and Aunt Petunia. He wanted to know what all the drama was about when his aunt decided to pull his brother out of the cupboard. Normally They were locked in for a couple of days. So it was a surprise when Aunt Petunia wanted only Harry to go somewhere and not Harry and Charles.
‘That doesn’t matter.’ Uncle Vernon snapped.
‘Vernon! Inside voice! What will the neighbors think!’ Aunt Petunia whispered-yelled.
Uncle Vernon gave a loud sigh and smiled at Aunt Petunia. ‘Sorry Pet.’ He turned to look at the twins and had a menacing gleam in his eyes. ‘We were actually going to get Harry’s eyes checked. It’s been years since he last got new lens for his glasses.’
Charles didn’t like the look in his eyes and Harry felt panicky waves rolling out from Charles and wash over him.
In hindsight, they should have seen this coming. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon never took him to an eye doctor. Aunt Petunia never got him real glasses before. His first and only pair were fished out of a charity bin.
So he shouldn’t have felt betrayed when instead of a hospital, Uncle Vernon drove him to an orphanage.
He couldn’t breathe. Tears glistened in his eyes. His breath hitched. What would Charlie think? He didn’t know Harry wasn’t going to get new glasses. He didn’t know where Harry actually was. What would Uncle Vernon tell his twin? The truth? Or would he say that Harry ran away. If he did say that, would Charlie believe him?
He better not, Harry knows his twin would never leave him. He would never leave his brother to go to this ‘Shining Star Orphanage’ even if someone gave him a million pounds.
Harry tried to feel Charles through their twin mental connection. He felt nothing, they were too far away for him to feel anything. Harry let out a silent sob, he was never so far away not to feel his twin.
His head felt empty, like there was only one person inside it.
The day he became eighteen, he would go back to his brother. They would buy an apartment somewhere in London and live out the rest of their days there. But that day was eleven years from now. Would his brother recognize him? Would Harry remember him? What if Charlie came for him but Harry forgets about him? Eleven years is a long time after all.
When he went to make friends with the children, they all steered clear of Harry, ignoring him. That hurt a lot. He didn’t even do anything yet! Harry felt tears prickle in his eyes. He missed his brother, he missed his twin, but above all, Harry missed his only friend. He started to imagine what Charles felt when he would realize he would have the cupboard under the stairs all to himself . Harry was sure Charles would start panicking or something along those lines.
‘Where am I?’ Asked the boy.
‘Ah! You’re awake! Do you know where you are? Do you remember your name?’ A man asked him. He had sandy blond hair and sky blue eyes while his face stretched and anchored into a kind expression. He looked like he was in his fifties and was slightly round in the belly.
The boy stopped to think about this question. Did he remember what happened? No, not at all. To be honest, he couldn’t remember anything at all, and by anything, he meant his life. Just flashes of light here and there.
As for his name. What was his name? Did he have a name? He started to think and he slowly started to remember. ‘I don’t remember anything but I think my name is Harry Potter. What happened? Where am I?’
The man smiled at him kindly. ‘Yes, your name is Harry Potter. You live at ‘Shining Star Orphanage’. You're here because you and a few of your friends were playing a bit rougher than usual. So you tripped on a rug and hit your head on a table. Do you remember your life before the fall?’
‘No.’ He said. ‘Can’t remember anything.’
The Doctor nodded his head and started to write down everything Harry had said onto a piece of paper.
‘Regulus! You have a new room mate.’ The Matron said. ‘Let’s hope this one will stay.’ She said under her breath.
The boy was thin and on the short side. He had brown skin, messy black hair and startling emerald green eyes.
‘H-hi.’ The boy stuttered out. ‘I’m H-harry P-potter.’
‘I’m Regulus Black.’ He sighed, wondering how long they would be roommates before Harry started to scream bloody murder at him .
For as long as he could remember he could do strange things. Like make things float in the air all by themselves, set things on fire and other things. Once he got so angry that Justin Madison (another orphan who was a bully and was two years older than Regulus) . The next day Justin woke up to find himself outside in a dumpster wearing nothing. Absolutely nothing.
No one could link it to Regulus but they all avoided him after that, even Justin.
Regulus looked at Harry one more time. How long will he stay here for? Doesn’t look like much, probablyjust for the weekend.
‘Quick Reggie! They’re gaining on us!’ An eight-year-old Harry Potter yelled at the top of his voice as he raced past several shops.
‘Moron, do you think I don't know that?’ Regulus Black shouted back at him. They were both roughly the same age, both went to the same school, both lived in the same orphanage. Both treated like outcasts.
And both were currently running for their lives from school bullies.
He had only known Harry for a year but he felt as if he knew him since forever. He was like a brother to Regulus and Harry was the only one who understood the pain he felt every single day of his existence.
The pain would come from the bullies who were currently chasing them.
The bullies were catching up to them, they would never make it to the orphanage in time. Regulus closed his eyes. Despair filled his heart as he felt himself slow down from exhaustion. He waited for them to catch up to him and start to beat him black and blue.
Maybe it won’t be that bad if they focused on him… that could give Harry enough time to get to the orphanage, he could get help.
But who would help you? They HATE you. They think you're worthless. You are worthless aren’t you? If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be in an orphanage in the first place! You’d have a family. A mum, a dad, a granddad, a grandma and probably a few siblings and cousin-
‘-Quick! Let’s hide there!’ Harry said, pulling him out of his thoughts.
He’s grip around Regulus’s wrist was as hard as rocks. Regulus was pulled into a dingy looking pub called ‘The Leaky Cauldron’.
They were both panting from running for so long. ‘You alright?’ Harry asked.
‘Y-ya, I’m fine.’ Regulus breathed out a sigh in relief. ‘For a second there, I thought they would actually get us you know what I mean?’
Harry gave a small noise of agreement. ‘I know what you mean.’ He gave a small shiver.
He’s probably thinking about what happened the last time we got caught. Regulus looked at Harry’s left arm. It was black from the beating he received from the bullies.
Regulus looked around. The place looked like a pub, it was dingy, dark and a little grimy.
‘Oi! You kids! Over here!’ said a man behind the counter. The two young boys looked at each other and slowly but cautiously started to make their way to the man.
‘Muggleborns right? Off to Hogwarts? Came for your school supplies right boys? No worries, follow me and I’ll show yer kids how to get into Diagon Alley.’ He said. He started to mumble under his breath. ‘Kids seem to be growing smaller every year.’ He cleared his voice. ‘Oh, name’s Tom.’
Regulus opened his mouth to tell Tom that No, we are not muggleborns, we don’t even know what a muggleborn is! What is Pigfarts? Sounds like a disease. School supplies? No thank you, we don’t have enough money to buy supplies. Though we may have a bit of money to buy a few pencils and erasers and what the hell is Diagon Alley?
But before He could say anything, Harry shut him up. He whispered to Regulus’s. ‘Come on Reggie, let’s see where this goes. Besides, I need a few supplies for school.’
‘Do you have the money?’ Regulus asked. Harry gave him a large grin and patted his jacket pocket.
‘This day keeps getting weirder and weirder.’ Said Regulus as he held up his parchment.
‘I know right?’ Harry said. He looked at his own parchment in his hand. ‘Mr. Griphook. Sir? Does this parchment show any siblings or cousins I have or my ancestors had?’ He felt dizzy and a bit numb. It was a lot to take in.
Turns out, he wasn’t poor. Far from poor, he was part of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter and could potentially be heir to the Noble House of Fleamont. Most Ancient and Noble house of Pervell. Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. Most Ancient and Noble House of Gryffindor and Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Slytherin.
On top of that, he’s been spelling his name wrong since the beginning of time! It was actually Harri and not Harry.
In short: It was a lot to take in.
‘No.’ Said the Goblin. ‘It does not show any siblings or cousins you or your ancestor may have. It only shows your direct ancestors.’
‘I can’t believe we are related.’ Regulus mumbled. He didn’t sound sad, just surprised. ‘Could we take on the heirships now or do we have to wait until a certain age?’
The goblin had an expressionless mask on him. ‘You are allowed to take on the heirship, but.’ The goblin gave a dramatic pause before he resumed. ‘You must be at least seventeen years old before you could take on the Lordship.’
‘We’ll take up the heirships then.’ Harri piped up, he started to think. ‘Would we get any benefits after taking up the heirship?’
The goblin looked at him. ‘Yes, you would be able to take money from your vaults, though, in a limited amount. As well as other objects from the vaults, such as books.’
‘Ok, we’ll take the heirships now if that wouldn’t be any problem with you.’ Regulus said.
The goblins gave them a sneer. ‘Follow me.’ They followed the goblin into a small, grey room with a large ceiling. There was absolutely nothing in the room except for the center of the room, there was a table with a small black box on it.
Griphook started to speak. ‘To claim your heirships, you must place a drop of blood on the box and wait ten seconds. By that time your heirship rings will appear magically inside the box. At least, the Houses that accept you as an heir will. For example, it is very much possible that you may be heir to three houses, yet, only one ring appears. This is because the other Houses family magick did not accept you and thus. You will have no right to any of the properties of the House. It is also possible to lose the rings if you go against the family magick or do something to disgrace the family. If you do so, you will no longer have any rights to the properties.’
Harri and Regulus took some time to process the information. The day was so weird, just when they thought it couldn’t get anymore weirder, it did. Both of them desperately wished this wasn’t a dream. They both wished that they wouldn’t wake up.
Regulus was the first one to wake from his stupor. ‘I’ll go first.’ He volunteered.
Griphook handed him a needle to prick his finger with.
Even though Regulus was the heir to at least twenty different Houses, he was only accepted by six. After he was done retrieving his rings from the box, it was Harri’s turn.
Currently, Harri was waiting ten seconds before he could open the box. When the ten seconds were over, Harry opened the box to find five rings out of the six he could have gotten. The only ring that was missing was the Gryffindor ring.
Harri scoped up the rest of the rings and started to study them all. He expected them to be rusty or at least have a bit of grime on them. but, the rings shone like gleaming gemstones and precious metals.
There was one ring in the pile that caught his attention. It was a golden ring with a black stone on it and the stone had a triangular mark with a circle inside it. Divided in half by a line. He felt a pull towards the ring, as if it wanted him to wear it.
It wasn’t the design that caught his attention.
It was the fact that the ring felt warm in his hand, unlike the other rings.
‘Um… excuse me Mr. Griphook. This ring feels warm, unlike the other rings… Is there something wrong with it?’ Harri said with uncertainty in his voice.
The Goblin looked surprised for a minute, his eyes widened by a fraction for a second but he narrowed his eyes. ‘No, it’s not supposed to feel warm.’ The goblin quickly walked out of the room, he motioned the boys to follow him.
‘This day is so weird! I don’t think I would question you if you told me I’m famous or something!’ Harri exclaimed softly, he was wide awake and couldn’t sleep. Regulus was as excited as Harri yes but he wanted to sleep and Harri’s constant chatter was not helping. But even though he was so tired, he’s eyes were open.
‘I know.’ Regulus began softly. ‘We found a secret passage to a magical world. Turns out our parents were part of this magical world and left us a lot of money. We claimed heirships, you got a freaking soul removed from a lightning bolt shaped scar on your temple. One which neither of us noticed before. And one of the rings you have and we got two wands from our family vaults that are perfect fits of us, or whatever that means and then got a list of properties we got from our parents.’
Harri hummed in agreement. Today really was something to think about. Harri started to wonder, what would have happened had he never pulled them into that old looking pub? Would they ever learn that they were rich? Would they have ever learnt of this beautiful, magical world?
Probably no.
Regulus absentmindedly played with a leather cord on his neck, it was given to children so they could tie their heirship rings around their neck because they may lose their rings in an accident.
When someone adds an heirship ring to the cord, the heirship ring magically turns into a bead. Neither was sure why but Harri thought it looked more… What was that word adults say? Stylish. Yes, it looked more stylish compared to placing bulky looking rings on the cord.
Harri had five beads on his necklace while Regulus had six. Each bead was engraved with the family motto of each House and their symbol.
‘Hey Reggie?’ Harri whispered into the darkness. ‘Remember after they removed those... soul-parts they gave us a list of properties our parents had handed down to us? Do you have the list?’
‘Ya I have it, I kept it in the cupboard, why?’
‘Well, I was wondering if we could go to check out a few, you know, just to check. Tomorrow is a saturday so Madam Allen would let us stay out a little while longer.’
Regulus thought of the idea for a minute. ‘I want to go as well but we’re eight! No sane adult would let on a bus or something without an adult.’
‘But Reggie!’ Harri whined. ‘During our time at the bank, I found a few pamphlets on Wizarding transportation that you only have to be eleven to use the transportation without an adult helping you! There’s this thing called the Knight Bus that we could totally use if we could pretend to be eleven! Tom thought we were eleven, didn’t he?’
Regulus closed his eyes in frustration. His eyes felt heavy and he felt a sudden urge to sleep ‘Ok fine, we’ll do it in the morning, after breakfast.’
'Hey Reggie?'
'Ya?'
'What if this entire thing was a dream?'
'Well then. It would be the most beautiful dream I've ever had and would remember it for as long as I live. Now go to sleep.'