The Forgotten Potter Twin

Draco squinted slightly at the cards then a massive grin spread across his face.

"Harry!" he exclaimed in realisation and excitement.

Harry breathed a small, silent sigh of relief. "So you remember me? I was worried you'd forget," he left out 'like everybody else'.

"No! Of course I didn't!" he sat up more and looked a lot more comfortable. "To be honest, you were the first friend I ever had. How could I forget you, Harry Potter!"

Harry was very relieved that he was being referred to as his name and not as 'the other Potter twin', which everyone else seemed to use.

Draco had changed a bit. It was clear he was taller and his hair slightly longer, but his face still looked the same, if aged slightly.

"Mind if I join you, Drake?" he asked pointing at the seat in front of him.

"Go ahead!" Draco grinned. "It's great to see you again. Maybe this is a good omen for what's to come!"

Harry grinned back and sat down close to the window, he was facing the direction they would be going.

"I nearly didn't end up here. I nearly ended up at Durmstrang," Draco commented, he seemed very excited.

"Durmstrang?"

"Yeah, the one in Russia."

"Yeah, my cousin goes to that school. He says it's so exciting, full of exciting dark arts and wizards and witches of lots of nationalities."

"Yeah, I heard that to. Father wanted me to go because they do not accept muggle-borns. Or, as he calls them, 'mudbloods'," Draco seemed a little nervous when discussing his father.

Harry guessed Draco's relationship with his father hadn't improved much since the last time they talked, so he decided to try and avoid that conversation. At least for the first day.

"Well, according to my cousin, Romeo, not everyone there discriminates against muggle-borns."

"Your cousin? Is that where you vanished to? I went back to the house but never saw you again. Did you go and live with an aunt or uncle or something?"

"Not exactly."

Harry told Draco the story, starting from crying in his room about desperately wanting to be loved. Then finding himself miles away in Diagon Alley before being found by Allyssa Rose, the woman he now called mum.

"Wow. So you just found yourself in Diagon Alley? You didn't cast a spell or anything? You just found yourself there?"

"Yeah. I don't know how I got there, but I did. Strange isn't it?"

"Very weird. But it was a very good thing wasn't it?" he asked, as if he was really hoping he was right.

"Oh yes! Mum has been fantastic! I have a life, Dray, I know who I am and I'm happy! Which is a lot better than I had been a long time ago. Plus I have an owl now." answered Harry with passion.

"Like a happily ever after!" Draco grinned.

Suddenly the compartment door opened, standing outside the door was two boys and a girl. One of the boys cleared his throat and said

"Who's your friend, Draco?"

"Come in you three," Draco smiled in welcome, waving them inside.

They all entered quickly and closed the door behind them. One of the boys sat next to Harry and the other two sat next to Draco.

"Harry this is Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Theodore Nott or, as we call him, Theo. Blaise, Pansy, Theo, this is Harry Potter, my best friend," Draco informed everyone.

"Wait, I thought I was your- Never mind, it's nice to meet you Harry," Theo said smiling.

"Don't worry, Theo, there's plenty of Draco to go around!" Draco teased.

"Oh, that's what he thinks!" Harry played along, pointing his wand at the three with a laugh.

Every one joined in laughter as he put his wand away with a grin. He looked out of the window at the clock on the station. It was 10:58.

"We'll be leaving in two minutes!" he commented with excitement, which seemed to be shared by everyone else.

Pansy leaned forward to get a look out of the window. "Oh, here comes the little prince!" she scoffed.

Everyone in the compartment leaned towards the window to see what she meant. Low and behold, strutting into the platform as though he owns the place. The boy Harry hadn't seen in seven years. Colin Potter, with his head held very high, smiling like the cat who got the canary. Behind him stood the two people Harry had learnt to discard from his mind whenever he could. His parents. James Potter stood tall and proud. He hadn't changed much at all, his hair was still messy, but shorter, and his face had barely aged at all. A life of comfort. Lily Potter, who had her arm linked to her husband's, had only changed an inch. Her hair was longer. That was it.

Colin Potter had changed drastically. His red hair was gelled behind his ears and he stood tall and proud (the only likeness he had to his father), his lips were pressed into a smug grin. But he was no longer the 'puppy fat' little boy. He was rather plum, although not too fat, it was rather noticeable. The fact was even more clear by the robes he was wearing. The gryffindor styled robes that Madam Malkin had said she sold to him after a destructive temper tantrum. He seemed to be flaunting them around at the crowd that gathered around the famous family.

Harry also noticed Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin walking alongside them. Harry hadn't seen Sirius, his godfather, in a long time. He'd been a fantastic godfather (even if he had been absent), at least he cared enough to remember he existed. Even if he never searched for him...

The family entered the first compartment at the front of the train one by one, starting with Colin, as the crowd was pushed back, screaming loudly for Colin as though he were a rock star. Sirius was the last person to enter the train, but he seemed to paused and seemed to be staring at something curiously.

Harry followed his gaze and saw he wasn't staring at any old something, he was staring at someone. It was his mum! (Allyssa, of course, not Lily. She could never be 'mum' again.)

His mum, who was stood quite far from the crowd at the back of the platform, looked back at Sirius with a strange look. Sad? Angry? Harry didn't know.

Sirius smiled at her, and she shot her gaze away. Then her look turned to furious. Wow, maybe there was some history there that Harry never knew about?

Suddenly the whistle for the train blew. Now everyone got excited. The compartment started to get a very excited buzz and Harry caught a glimpse of Sirius being pulled onto the train. Harry stood up and opened the window calling out to his mum.

"Mum! Mum!" he called, waving furiously at her.

Allyssa saw him and ran over, push past an ever growing crowd. "Bye Harry! Have fun!" she called as the train began to move.

"I will!" he called back, moving away from the window to let a now standing Draco call out to his mum.

Harry kept waving to his mum as the train quickened more and more. Until she was out of sight and school was now starting to begin. He felt sad, but excited.

"Nice to have someone to wave to?" asked Theo, you could tell he was trying hard not to sound bitter.

"It is. Are your parents not here?" Harry asked.

"Mum died a long time ago. Father isn't exactly... stable. He's... not a good man. He's cruel and... just vile. He sent me here by floo powder..."

"Yeah, same here," piped up Blaise. "Except my lousy parent is my mother. She's beautiful and has been married seven times-"

"Seven?!" Harry cried in shock.

Blaise nodded. "Yep, seven. And all seven, including my dad, have died under 'suspicious circumstances' which mum says were just accidents." He rolled his eyes and pressed his lips together tightly.

"That must be hard. Father raised me to despise muggle-borns and fight for a world where mudbloods are thrown aside like blood to the floor in execution," joined in Draco.

Did Harry imagine it or did Theo, who was sitting next to him, flinch slightly?

"Oh, same!" said Pansy. "My family are as pure as you can find, and proud. They tell me that they don't care what grades I leave school with, all they care about is that I leave school with a pure blood husband!"

"Shut up..." Harry's mouth fell open in disbelief.

"It's true..." Pansy sulked. "Sad really."

"Wow... Without sounding cold, I'm happy I found a new family instead of grow up with all this..."

"Who are your real family, Harry?" Pansy asked, with confusion.

Harry hesitated, but answered. "The Potters..."

Everyone, excluding Draco, shot up in shock.

"So what, is Colin your older brother?" asked Theo with a slight yell.

"Yes, by seventeen minutes."

"You're his twin!" Blaise exclaimed.

"Well spotted Captain Obvious, you're a massive help to society!" said Pansy sarcastically.

Harry wondered if she had heard that in a movie or something.

"So you don't live with them?" Theo broke in quickly, preventing a comeback from Blaise (and potential war).

"No, I don't," Harry then told his newfound friends his story, about never having his own clothes, never leaving Potter Mansion, what happened at the birthday party.

Blaise whistled after hearing what James had told Harry that night. "He said that? To his own son?"

Harry nodded.

"Damn... my father is a lot of things, but to say that I'm nothing compared to my twin in his eyes would be shattering!" said Pansy looking at Harry intently. Theo nodded in agreement.

"The story get's better," Harry continued. He told them about crying and finding himself in Diagon Alley and meeting Allyssa Rose.

"Allyssa Rose? As in Lady Rose of the Noble and ancient family?" asked Pansy.

"Yes, that's her."

"My father hates her family. He says they are far too 'muggle loving' to even be considered a pure blood family," said Theo.

"She's a fantastic person! She taught me so much and really helped me be happy despite everything!" said Harry, a little defensive.

"I'm not trying to insult her!" Theo quickly apologised. "In fact, I don't believe my father about a lot of things, especially his views on muggles. They're very... violent."

"Mum says that the world belongs to everyone, not so-called superior beings, or the world would only be about surviving, not living."

The compartment went silent for a moment, the only noise was the train rattling and muffled laughter from neighbouring compartments.

"I wish I had your mum," said Blaise.

"I wish my mother was here and exactly like that," said Theo.

Pansy seemed to only trust herself to nod. Draco smiled a small smile.

"I wish I had a family who would actually encourage me to do well," said Pansy quietly, she hid her eyes from them.

"I wish my dad would actually tell me he was proud of me," said Theo, doing the same.

"Me too," said Draco, staring at the floor.

"So we all just want a family that cares about each other, not stupid traditions..." Harry speculated.

"Exactly!" said Draco, everyone else seemed to agree.

There was a knock at the compartment door, it was an older lady pushing a trolley full of sweets.

Theo opened the door.

"Anything off the trolley dears?"

Everyone stood up to buy sweets. Pansy bought some chocolate frogs and a pumpkin pasty. Theo bought loads of chocolate frogs and some exploding bon bons. Blaise just bought pumpkin pasties. Draco bought some Honeydukes chocolates.Harry bough several different bars of Honeydukes chocolates, five packs of Bertie Botts every flavour beans, chocolate frogs, some pumpkin pasties, some cauldron cakes, and a liquorice wand. And still had money left over.

As Harry ate a chocolate frog, he noticed Draco eyeing the pumpkin pasties that sat in a pile next to Harry. He handed a few to him.

"No, it's-"

"Take it Drake."

"No, really, it's fine-"

"Take it Draco, before I smash them into your face!" Harry joked.

Everyone snickered, including Draco as he took them with a "Thanks".

As they ate and watched the horizon go by, Harry came up with an idea. But before Harry could say anything, a loud and girly scream filled the compartment. Harry dropped his chocolate bar as he jumped and looked over at the source of the scream. He, to be honest, expected it to be Pansy, but it was Draco!

Draco was pointing at the compartment door window, which a small frog or toad was stuck on from the other side of the glass.

When everyone saw what had made him scream they all joined in screaming, with laughter! Harry, choking back his own giggles as he opened the compartment door and retrieved the little creature.

"It's not funny!" cried Draco.

But everyone laughed harder.

"It kind of is..." giggled Harry, holding the now squirming little thing in between his hands as he sat back down.

"What's so scary about that little thing?" asked Theo, trying (and failing) to hold in his laughter.

"Just look at it! It's a slimy frog-"

"No it's not, it's a toad. You can tell because it's skin is dry and bumpy, a frog would have slimy skin," said Harry, running a finger along the toad's back.

"Right..." said Draco, still keeping his distance.

A little while later, a bushy haired girl, who was already wearing her robes, burst into the compartment, without knocking.

"Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one,"

Harry held up the toad. "Is this it?"

"Neville!" she called. "This boy has found your toad!"

A weeping boy came into view, already wearing his robes as well, when he saw the toad in Harry's hands his face lit up.

"T-Thank you!" he smiled as he took the toad carefully.

"Slippery creature isn't he? Keep him safe!"

The boy nodded and hurried away.

The girl, however said "Actually it's a toad so-"

"The skin is bumpy and dry," said Harry, Draco, Theo, Blaise and Pansy in unison.

The girl bit her lip in silent fury, then said "Yes," as she closed the door and ran off to join the boy.

"Anyway..." said Harry after a moment. "I've had an idea."

"In my experience, boys and ideas are a dangerous mix," Pansy grinned.

Harry grinned back. "We all want a supportive family, then let's make our own."

"Make our own? What, recreate blood?" asked Draco sceptically.

"No, I mean all of us, we put aside any differences, whether it's blood, beliefs, traditions or houses. We all agree to stand by each other and give each other the support we need, like a family should!"

"Like a brotherhood in a sense?" Pansy caught on.

"Exactly!"

Theo nodded grinning widely. "Sounds good."

"Definitely!"said Draco eagerly.

"Should we have a name for it?" asked Blaise.

"A name?" questioned Theo. "We need to be careful if we have a name for it, a club is very like... for six year olds."

"True. What could we call ourselves then?"

Everyone sat in silence in thought. No one said anything until-

"How about The Aeternum?" suggested Theo.

Everyone looked at him.

"It's Latin for eternity," he explained leaning back in his hair, clearly not very confident in his answer.

"The Aeternum," Harry tested. "The Ay-ter-num. The Aeternum."

Everyone else echoed him as they tried it out for themselves.

"Sounds good to me," said Harry, nodding, shooting a smile at Theo.

"Same," said Blaise.

Pansy nodded with a smile. "Sounds like an elite rather than a club. I like it."

"Great! Then we're officially The Aeternum. Which means we need to swear to stand by one another like a family should," explained Draco.

"I swear!" said Harry, holding up the three fingers to promise.

Everyone else in the compartment did the same.

"Hold on," said Theo, nervously. "What if I'm in... say, Ravenclaw and you are all in another house, does that matter?"

"Of course not! Even if we're all in different houses that changes nothing, we should all still stand by one another!" said Harry, passionately.

As everyone nodded, the train came to a halt. They had arrived.