Mirror Mirror, who am I?
His head hurt.
His head seemed to be pulsing with a raw newly discovered pain as he stared down at the sheet in front of him.
His surroundings blurred and he felt something wet drip onto his hands. It took him a good five minutes to understand that the water sliding down his face and landing softly on his hands with a tap sound were his own tears.
He started to tremble. His hands shook with renewed vigour and he shakily picked up the sheet and held it in front of his face for a better look.
His breath came out in quicker gasps and he found himself on the cusps of what seemed to be a full blown panic attack.
"Sir?" Charteris enquired softly. His voice cut in smoothly and provided as a decent means to snap Harry back to reality. His brown eyes were laced with concern and his face twisted into a vaguely sympathetic look. "Would you perhaps like me to explain?" he asked kindly and when Harry numbly nodded his head he gently took the papers from Harry's trembling hands and laid them out on the table once more.
"Hadrian Charles Edward Fredrick Windsor was born on the 31st July 1980 14:07 in St Mary's Hospital to former princess and Duchess of Wales, Diana Spencer and crown Prince and Duke of Wales, Prince Charles as their first born child and 2nd in line to the throne. He received the title of Prince Hadrian and was adored by many. On the 17th of January 1981, a unknown figure broke into Buckingham Palace and was unable to be detained. He took with him Prince Hadrian. From then on Prince Hadrian has been declared missing and despite the royal family's tireless efforts, he had not been found and was to be assumed dead in the next year. That is until when conducting another census for him, we stumbled upon you."
"Me?"
"Yes. You. Harry James Potter. Born presumably on the 31st of July at 23:59 to a family friend who died giving birth and arriving at Wools Orphanage on the 17th of January with other than the birth date and time, no prior information. Later to be adopted by Lily Potter nee Evans and James Potter. Your features being dark royal blue eyes, a prominent jawline and toned face with light curly black hair. Perfectly matching the description for Prince Hadrian. After some digging, some of your fingerprints were acquired and once close analysis and comparison was completed, a conclusion was reached. But however, this is the royal family. And despite the complete match of both fingerprints, more concrete evidence was needed. Evidence consisting of a hair sample obtained from one Poppy Pomphrey, residing mediwitch of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This evidence was tested and came to the same conclusion" Charteris stopped for a breath and gazed at Harry intently as if he was waiting for an explosion or a temper tantrum.
Harry however could only bring himself to nod softly and any questions he had wanted to ask had suddenly faded away and all that had come out of his mouth was a simple word.
”How?”
“The royal family has been aligned with the the British Wizarding world for many eons and currently still hold a large amount of influence. Obtaining the sample was no difficult task.” Charteris spoke, his expression surprised as he answered.
But that wasn’t the question Harry had asked. Nor he answer he was looking for. How? How him? How in the numerous inhabitants of the world was he, Harry the orphan, a royal?
His sudden eagerness to read their history and the numerous books on their life and times all seemed to make sense now. The connection he had always felt seemed to click into place yet only served to make him feel more and more of an outsider.
”the conclusion. What was the conclusion they came to?” He asked timidly needing to hear it. Just once so it felt less and less like a horrid fantasy and more like a true reality.
”The conclusion was that you Mr Harry James Potter are the missing Prince Hadrian and are an esteemed member of the royal family.”
There it was.
The words seemed to echo through the room. Their energy bouncing off every wall and rattling the perfectly aligned portraits of his aunt and uncle.
His aunt and uncle.
Except they weren’t his aunt and uncle any more.
Dudley wasn’t his horrid cousin and his aunt was no longer his last living relative.
He had family.
And instead of the warm feeling he would have embraced at the thought, a cold fear overtook him.
And for the first time in his life, Harry couldn’t figure out why.