Chapter 3
The twins were now staring at their uncle (technically their father legally, but he acted more like an uncle. [He was their actual uncle after all] They couldn't imagine ever calling him Dad). He had just claimed that due to the dumb actions of some supposed wizards, they now had to live in Britain with a bunch of strangers and learn magic, all while having to change their appearance and act like they weren't twins for 40 weeks every year for the next 7 years.
One thought passed through their mind and they simultaneously blurted out the same thing.
"Are you fucking insane you stupid old man?"
(They eventually found common ground to make an agreement on. They would go to the school, but that was about it.)
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
2 days later
"Hi, my name is Harry, I'm 11, and will be staying with you for 3 weeks."
...
"Why are we doing this?" Petunia was frustrated. Two nights ago she had gotten a call from her sister's brother-in-law asking her to take in her sister's brother-in-law's sister's son (technically her sister's sister-in-law, but both of them were dead [The kid was her nephew-in-law] ) for three weeks at the end of the summer holidays for the next few years.
It wasn't a bad deal at the time. They get paid, quite a bit actually, and they'd hardly ever see the boy.
Then they met him.
A very good looking boy. Could easily pass off as a child model for a big brand. Sea green eyes, pure black hair that was messy, but in a good way somehow, like a model, not the rolled out of bed look, and seemed to both absorb all surrounding light and act as light source with the shine he emitted, a sharp jawline, symmetrical lips with a clear cupid's bow, he didn't seem that bad at first. In fact he seemed almost angelic. Pure. Kind. Innocent.
Then he opened his mouth.
The boy was, without doubt, the single most annoying person she had ever met in her entire life. The devil maybe.
He was worse than Tony, and that's saying something.
Sarcastic, check.
Annoyingly smart, check.
Ridiculously Magical, check.
Dirty minded, check.
Mean, check.
And worst of all, he manages to sound rude and polite, at the same time, all the time!
It now made sense why they had been given so much money to look after him for three weeks. It was a lot of work. Thank goodness her darling Duddykins was so pure. If he understood anything that was coming out of the boy's mouth, even if he was just curious, it would have been a disaster.
"Mum! Why does Harry get my room!?" She was shocked out of her thoughts by the cries of her son, who had been moaning ever since they gave Harry his second bedroom.
"Duddykins, sshh... it's just for a few weeks and then it's all yours again, okay? Besides, after this we can go on a holiday, yeah?" Duddly slowly calmed down as she sighed. This was going to be a long three weeks. Who cares that the school term starts in less than three weeks. They are going on a vacation as soon as that demon leaves.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Percy sighed. The last three weeks had been, without a doubt, the most boring of his life. He had hardly ever seen Harry and their uncle was in America, where he couldn't bother (bully) him.
It. Fucking. Sucked.
At least now that they were on Hogwarts express heading to Hogwarts he'd see Harry right? No. His brother was nowhere in sight. He had looked everywhere. He'd found Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, Slytherins, Ravenclaws, 1st years, 2nd years, all the way to 7th years, and a bunch of adults. He'd check compartments, bathrooms, the drivers compartment, even a random witch's trolley. His twin was honestly missing! I mean where could he be? Not here obviously. There was just a bunch of empty compartments and a moving bush.
…
A moving Bush. On a train. Now, he might not know alot about magic yet, but that didn't sound quite right. Hold on. Let's check again.
Ah…
It's not a moving Bush. It's a witch. The Bush is her hair. Her not very well taken care of hair. She seems to be a first year like him actually. She was with a shy looking, round faced boy outside a compartment, talking.
Hmm... might as well check out what they're doing.
Might be interesting.
…
30 minutes Earlier
Harry sighed.
Earlier he had let some redhead into his compartment, even became friends with him.
Ron, was his name. Ronald 'Ron' Weasley. Silly name if you asked him. Old fashioned, and was just asking to be laughed at. Not that Ron would find out. At least not from him.
He was a nice guy, rather outgoing, and had a big family. A little annoying though. Had been babbling on about some quidditch shit for the last 20 minutes.
Then a bush had knocked on their door, asking if they had seen a Toad.
He had to admit, he had been confused for a solid minute. I mean, why does a bush seem to have a face? And how was it talking?
Then he realized the Bush was actually a human. Haha, he totally knew that. Not
The Bush human had introduced themselves as Hermione Granger. And now they were chattering. Sure, she was nice, but she was a bit of a nervous, and, oh! She'd started talking about kinds of illegal magic and how silly it was to ban them. How fascinating! Yes… he had a feeling they would be friends. Plus he could help her with her hair. Auntie Pepper would have a heart attack of she saw how poorly cared for it was. It was his duty to prevent that.
But right now he didn't care. He missed Percy. He needed his twin.
…Then he heard someone clear their throat.
"Ahem, excuse me Miss Bush, could I please enter?" Hermione frowned
"Miss Bush? That's not my name." Harry blinked. Miss Bush. Bush. That's what he was thinking. And that voice… it sounded like…
"Percy!"
"Harry!"
. . .
"Sooo… you two are twins?"
"Yep."
"And your Harry Potter."
"Yep."
"But you're not actually Harry Potter because James and Lily Potter were your Aunt and Uncle, not your parents."
"Yep."
"And everything that is known about Harry Potter are lies?"
“Yep.”
“That’s wrong actually, Harry Potter doesn't exist.'' Ron and Hermione stared at him in silence. Neville had left just after Percy arrived, deciding that he didn't particularly want to know this stuff before he actually got to the school he'd be spending the next 7 years of his life at. Smart decision really. One Hermione and Ron were currently wishing they made.
"Wait, you're telling us this, why?" Harry Shrugged.
"I have this feeling we'll be really good friends. Besides, it's not like we are trying to hide this information. We just... won't explicitly tell anyone like we have you."
You could see the cogs turning in their brains as they stared at Harry and Percy. They didn't know what to think. They didn't want to know what to think. So, they went with the most sensible option available. Changing the subject.
"Let's talk later, right now we need to get changed. We're nearing Hogwarts. This conversation took longer than I thought it would."
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
"Ugh, seriously, what was Dumbledore thinking? Hiding the Philosopher's stone in school full of children? It's being guarded by a dog that could kill one of the students, but doesn't stop the people trying to steal the stone as long as they play music, and the door can be unlocked by a simple alohomora! Not to mention the fact that he hired Quirrel fully aware of the fact that he is possessed by Voldemort, trusting Hagrid, the worst person ever at keeping secrets to not tell anybody. Is he trying to kill everyone here?" Hermione was disgusted.
And as much as the others agreed with her, they were keeping their distance.
They liked the way they were very much, thank you. In one nice piece.
"Calm down-"
"Calm down, CALM DOWN!? How am I supposed to calm down!?" She interrupted Ron who was trying to save them all. The twins sighed, as much as they wished to honor his sacrifice, they would have to rescue Ron.
"Mione" She paused and turned to look at them, raising an eyebrow to say 'What?'
"I think what Ron is trying to say is that we can't do something about this if we're in hysterics. So let's solve this problem quickly. I want a Christmas without worries of stupid wraiths, Thank you very much. " Hermione stared at them, then sighed and turned around.
"Fine. Let's get this over with quickly."
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
'Dear Nicolas Flamel.
We weren't sure what to do with this, so we decided to send it to you.
We decided it wasn't best to leave it in a place that a bunch of first years could access if they tried hard enough. We would know. One of us is an eleven year old.
The person targeting the stone, if you were aware of their existence, is no longer able to come after it, and even if they were, they are now under the impression that it was a fake.
We weren't sure if you knew about it being in Hogwarts, so placed another fake in its stead, in addition to the fact that the fake was "destroyed".
If you see fit, you are welcomed to tell Dumbledore that it is a fake.
We wish you good health and a Merry Christmas.
Sincerely
‘The Company’
Nicolas stared at the letter. When the owl knocked at his window he had been curious. The wards wouldn't let most things in, so a letter reaching him was rare.
Then he read it.
And now, he was furious.
And annoyed.
And, quite honestly, just fed up.
He had wondered why Dumbledore had been acting so shifty lately, and it was because he had stolen the Stone. Thank goodness this ‘Company’ whoever they were, had sent it to him with some info. He could guess why Dumbledore had done something like this, the idotic arrogant fool. He should have known.
That child had always been surprisingly… Dumb.
But ‘The Company’. A interesting choice of a name. Multiple people is what the letter has implied. One of which who is apparently eleven. Quite curious. He was looking forward to seeing what they would a Achieve.