Part 5
Hogwarts
Harry stared at the suitcase in front of him blankly. It was fully packed and ready to go, everything from clothes to books to cauldrons to quills were loaded inside, and yet Harry barely recognized the sight of it all.
His trunk had never been so organised in his entire life. Harry remembered throwing his things into it willy-nilly, only ever really making sure his few true valuables were safe. Otherwise, he didn't care if his books got bent pages or his robes got wrinkles, he just hadn't ever thought about trying harder.
The trunk in front of him was perfectly and neatly organised, his clothes magically ironed and folded with his books stacked and his Potions ingredients sealed and his quills in beautiful cases so they wouldn't snap on the journey over. Harry almost winced at the thought of having to pack everything back up at the end of the year. That'd be a real pain since he hadn't actually packed at all, it had been Hadrian while Harry stood dumbly on the side watching.
"Are you ready to go?" Hadrian stuck his head in and paused when he noticed the trunk open on Harry's bed. "Oh shoot, your bag's open. Did I forget to pack something for you?"
"No, sorry, I was just looking." Harry shook his head and shut it, clasping the latch and picking it up. "Are we leaving?"
"Yeah, Mum and Dad are gonna Apparate us to the station."
"King's Cross." Harry said, following Hadrian out of the room and down the hallways of Potter Manor.
"Yep. Platform 9 ¾ is only accessible through the barrier column at King's Cross." Hadrian grinned, "Every year, without fail, Mum always gasps when she sees the Platform. It's because she grew up without magic, see, it never gets old for her." Harry said nothing, and Hadrian didn't seem to expect him to either.
Lily and James were waiting downstairs for them, and they both held out a hand for one boy each.
"All set?" James smiled as Harry took his hand.
"Yeah." Harry confirmed.
"Then, we're off." James' words were the only warning before Harry was twisted off his feet and Side-Along Disapparated.
When they arrived at King's Cross, after the unpleasant spinning and falling to his knees, Harry could only stare at the familiar surroundings. The arches were the same, the people bustling back and forth were the same, and the excited look on Hadrian's face was the same one Harry made every year back in his first life.
"This is King's Cross." Hadrian said, grinning.
"Nice." Harry said, wincing at the awkward reply. Luckily, Hadrian just laughed.
"Don't worry, this isn't the impressive bit. See there? That's the gateway." Hadrian pointed to the column with the platform markers for 9 and 10, one on each side, and Harry tried not to stare at it like he was experiencing heavy nostalgia.
"Come along now, don't want to be late." Lily smiled brightly, and Hadrian laughed again.
"Mum, it's only ten thirty, we're early. Just like every year." Lily just smiled at her son innocently, who huffed in amusement. Harry looked away.
"Just walk straight at the wall." James said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder to get his attention. "It might look solid, but Hadrian and Lily will demonstrate before you go. I'll cross over after you."
"Okay." Harry nodded.
Hadrian went first, and it was like watching Malfoy or even Ron cross the border. He walked through it with the grace of someone who'd been doing it their whole life, who'd grown up so sure of magic they never once doubted it.
Lily went through more like Harry did for his fifth and sixth years. She knew it would let her through, she'd been through it before so very many times, and yet being allowed entry was still magical for her.
When it was Harry's turn, he hesitated like he was a first year again. He'd done magic, and there was no way Death would block Harry from Hogwarts, so that wasn't why he paused. The thought of crossing over, to be surrounded by the people he knew and had grown up with, but who no longer knew him, was terrifying. There were so many people across the border that he'd once loved, once seen as family, who he would never be that close with again. Could never be like that close with again.
"Go on, I promise you'll make it through." James said, smiling encouragingly.
"Right, yeah." Harry shook himself off and passed through the barrier, briefly shutting his eyes as he walked through the solid wall, and then he was greeted by the sight of Platform 9 ¾ exactly as he remembered it.
Parents with their children stood along the platform saying goodbye or checking their belongings, kids with their friends ran laughing up and down it, and the Hogwarts Express sat on the tracks with open compartments ready for students to load on. Cats strolled up and down, rubbing the legs of witches and wizards they passed and demanding pets from those who paid them any small bit of attention.
Harry felt a little sick. He remembered the state of Hogwarts after the takeover, Snape as Headmaster and Death Eater teachers, and he wondered what the Platform looked like that year. He wondered if the first years looked at Hogwarts and didn't want to go back. He wondered how many Muggle-born or Muggle-raised kids hadn't ever seen the magical world before and had taken one look at their world amidst war and chaos and had just decided they wanted nothing to do with it. Just how many small children were lost in the crossfire simply because they were too young to understand what was going on?
"Harry?" Harry flinched when Lily touched his shoulder, and she withdrew her hand quickly as he looked up at her. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry looked away from her, pretending he hadn't seen the flash of hurt and pain in her green eyes. His green eyes.
James stepped through the barrier and smiled at them all, lingering on his wife a moment as he noticed the way she clutched her hand to her chest, and then knelt down to be eye level with Harry and Hadrian.
"Now boys," James said, putting a hand on each of their shoulders, "Lily and I are expecting both of you to be good at school, to do your best in your classes, and to be nice to your friends. Harry, I'd like you to try and make some friends in whichever House you end up in. Hadrian, I expect you to look out for Harry, just a little, while he settles in. Alright, you two?"
"Yeah." Harry nodded.
"Got it, Dad." Hadrian grinned.
"Off you go then." James said with a grin. It was the same one Hadrian had, Harry noticed faintly.
"We'll see you both at Holiday Break." Lily said, smiling at them again. "Have a good few months, and don't forget to write!"
"Bye Mom, Dad!" Hadrian grabbed Harry's hand and practically yanked him away, but Harry managed a backwards wave to the Potters before they were out of sight and lost in the crowd.
Hadrian seemed to know exactly where he was going. He was pulling Harry along behind him with a grin on his face as he wove expertly through the crowds, and he didn't even seem to notice that several people were staring or giving them bewildered looks as they went by.
Lovely. Harry hadn't thought of it before, but he very suddenly realised that he was again going to spend his years at Hogwarts being stared at. Last time because he was famous for not dying, and this time for having the same face as Hadrian Potter. It'd be different for sure, and people would probably adjust faster, but still. Harry wished he could be small enough or bland enough that he'd disappear into the background. He'd had enough of the staring to last a lifetime.
"My friends and I always sit in the same compartment." Hadrian said as he led Harry down the length of the train. "It started as a bit of a joke because Lisa always gets to the Platform two whole hours early, and can sit anywhere because no one else is there that ridiculously early, but eventually she just decided to pick a spot and not move. We all just sort of followed suit, I guess."
Harry didn't know how to respond to that, but he didn't get a chance anyway as Hadrian opened a compartment and pulled Harry inside. Two people were in there, and they looked up at the same time. At first they were smiling, but then their jaws dropped and they were gaping.
"Hi guys, I brought someone extra this year." Hadrian grinned, "I hope you don't mind." Hadrian took Harry's trunk and tucked it away before he set his own trunk right beside it.
"Is this some kind of prank?" The girl said suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.
"Nope, this is Harry." Hadrian said. Harry sat down next to Hadrian, across from the boy and the girl who were staring at him. "Harry, these are my friends Lisa Turpin and Anthony Goldstein."
"Hi." Harry said awkwardly, waving. They both looked him up and down, glanced at each other, and then back at Harry.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Lisa." The girl said, nodding to him. She had pretty brown hair that curled at the ends into little ringlets, and it was paired with wide eyes in the same shade of brown.
"Anthony." The boy waved. He had blond hair that was styled off to one side, and a pair of vivid blue eyes.
"Ah, I'm Harry." His introduction was followed by an awkward silence between the three of them, but Hadrian seemed perfectly content as he smiled and looked between them happily.
"So, where'd you come from, Harry?" Anthony leaned forward, putting an elbow on his knee, "I've never seen you before, and Hadrian never mentioned a brother."
"I came from an orphanage?" It came out more as a question than Harry intended, and he looked at Hadrian for help.
"He's adopted." Hadrian said smoothly, "Actually, it's a pretty funny story–" The door slid open and a boy stumbled inside.
"Ugh, my Mother is a total pain in my–" He was running a hand through his pin straight brown hair, but then he froze as his green eyes met Harry's. "Am I seeing double?"
"I'm Harry." Harry said. The boy blinked owlishly at him in response and didn't move from the doorway.
"Oliver, sit down." Lisa said firmly, "Hadrian was about to explain where Harry came from."
"An orphanage, apparently." Anthony added.
"Bloody hell, don't tell me you stole an orphan and Polyjuiced him to be Hadrian's twin." The boy, Oliver, slid the door shut behind him and slid in to sit between Lisa and Anythony.
"I've always looked like this." Harry rolled his eyes.
"As I was saying, Harry's adopted." Hadrian huffed in amusement. "A few months ago, I went to bed like usual but I woke up in some weird cramped space. I was wearing weird clothes that didn't fit me, and I'm talking maybe six sizes too big. It was totally dark, so I couldn't see a thing, and I couldn't stand up fully without hitting my head." Harry winced at the description. He felt kinda bad Hadrian had to experience that. "After fumbling around for a little while, I found a door handle, but it was locked. I started rattling the door and yelling for help, but I was starting to think that maybe I'd been kidnapped or something!"
"That's nice, but what about Harry?"
"Be quiet!" Oliver elbowed Anthony in the ribs, "He's not done." Hadrian nodded to Oliver appreciatively.
"Thanks. Anyway, as I was saying, I was locked in. After a while of banging on the door, someone finally came to let me out. Unfortunately, all she wanted to do was scream at me." Hadrian grinned, "This is the good part. So she opens the door and starts yelling, telling me to be quiet and that I wasn't getting breakfast, but she also kept calling me Harry. I was so confused, nothing else really even processed in my head. Eventually I just started yelling back that my name wasn't Harry, and that I didn't know what she was talking about, and that's when Uncle Severus showed up. With Harry."
Hadrian turned to grin at Harry, and his three friends looked at Harry both in confusion and with expectation. Harry blinked.
"Uh, my turn?"
"Yep, go ahead." Hadrian confirmed, and Harry cleared his throat.
"Well, I went to bed in my cupboard. That's… that's where Hadrian woke up." Harry winced.
"You slept in a cupboard?" Oliver tilted his head, "Why?"
"Well, the M-Mistress at the orphanage" Harry stammered a little as Death prevented him from saying 'Aunt Petunia', "hated me, she called me a freak and stuff."
"Because of his magic." Hadrian cut in when the three Ravenclaws frowned.
"Right, yeah." Harry nodded, "Anyway, I went to bed in my cupboard and I woke up in Hadrian's room. Lily came in and said I'd been screaming in my sleep, and I freaked out. The next while was Lily and James being confused and worried, telling me my name was Hadrian and that I was fourteen, but I just kept saying I was Harry and I was fifteen."
"You're older?" Oliver blurted.
"Quiet!" Lisa shushed him. "Go on, Harry."
"Um, then Snape showed up because the Potters thought I'd been Obliviated or something." Harry shrugged, "Basically I told him who I was and that I wasn't Hadrian, and then when he said he needed to find the real Hadrian I suggested he check my orphanage."
"So you went to get him." Lisa looked between them, and they both nodded.
"It was so weird, Harry was wearing my clothes and he looked just like me!" Hadrian grinned, "Honestly, I thought maybe I had a secret twin for a second."
"So you're not related." Lisa frowned.
"Nope." Hadrian laughed, "Just look-alikes!"
"Oh!" Oliver snapped his fingers with a grin, "What if Harry is actually your older brother, but your parents gave him up at birth because they didn't want him, and magic switched you so you'd be reunited??"
"My parents are dead." Harry said flatly. The three Ravenclaws blinked in surprise, and Hadrian sighed lightly.
"Seriously guys, leave it." Hadrian said firmly. He reached over to squeeze Harry's hand once, then shook his head and grinned. "Okay! Now that that's out of the way, how was everyone else's summers?"
Harry sat back as Hadrian and his friends enthusiastically chatted about their summers, but whenever someone asked a question Harry did answer and participate. He mostly talked about visiting Tom when he was asked about his summer. The Potters hadn't done anything of note besides being kind to him, and he hadn't done anything noteworthy apart from flying occasionally or maybe Hadrian's small family-only (+Harry) birthday dinner and watching Hadrian open presents.
By the time they arrived at Hogwarts, Harry was nauseous with worry about possibly being Sorted into Gryffindor. Of course, recognizing that the sick feeling was aimed at Gryffindor only made it worse. Gryffindor Tower had been home for so long, and Harry was terrified of ending up there to be surrounded by strangers who looked like his family.
"Is Harry going with the first years?" Oliver asked as the five minute warning announcement rang through the train. "He needs to be Sorted, right?"
"Actually he'll be coming with us, and then I'll snag a teacher." Hadrian said easily, "Dumbledore knows he's coming, and he probably told the staff. If not, I'll just go to Uncle Severus."
"What House are you hoping for?" Lisa asked as they got off the train.
"Um, one of them?" Harry shrugged, "I dunno."
"I think you'd be a Hufflepuff." Anthony said, eyeing Harry. "You're not outgoing enough to be Ravenclaw or Slytherin, and not loud enough to be Gryffindor."
"I totally thought Hadrian would be Slytherin." Oliver grinned.
"I nearly was." Hadrian laughed, "The Hat said I could've been either one, and I refused to pick. It said that tipped me towards Ravenclaw because I clearly wasn't ambitious enough to be Slytherin."
"It's not wrong." Lisa rolled her eyes, "Anyone on the fence who chose Slytherin are definitely Slytherins. I mean, Minister Riddle is a Slytherin, and so was Merlin. Great wizards come from Slytherin."
Harry barely noticed climbing into the thestral pulled carriages because he was too shocked at what he was hearing. Slytherin was being praised, not just as a House, but as a people. They weren't scared of kids becoming Death Eaters, or ending up like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, they were instead looking at the many successful and great Slytherins from both history and the present. It was astonishing.
Again, Harry was reminded just how much of an upside down world it was that he'd fallen into.
The carriages arrived at Hogwarts quickly, and Harry followed the group of Ravenclaws until Hadrian stopped outside the Great Hall and waved his friends away.
"I'll be right back." Hadrian said, "Stay here."
"Okay." Harry nodded, and then Hadrian slipped away into the crowd and into the Great Hall. Harry stared after him, and then leaned back into the wall with a sigh.
Being at Hogwarts… standing in the halls… students laughing and chatting… it was so easy to forget about the war and the devastation it brought to the Wizarding world, and to Hogwarts.
"Hey, sorry I didn't write to you this summer." Harry blinked in surprise as a girl jogged over and grinned at him, "I wasn't ignoring you, I swear. I just got busy."
"Uh… actually, I'm not Hadrian." Harry said awkwardly, "He went into the Great Hall already. He'll be back soon though, if you want to wait for him, or… something?" Harry winced as the girl just stared at him blankly.
"Are you mad at me?" The girl stepped closer and put a hand on his arm, "Why're you acting so weird?"
"I'm not Hadrian, my name is Harry." Harry took a half step backwards and ran into the wall, and the girl continued to stare at him oddly. "Seriously, we don't know each other. Just wait for Hadrian to get back."
"Are you okay? Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?" She frowned, and her thin dark eyes shone with concern.
"Nope, all good." Harry stepped to the side and slid around her, putting more distance between them. She seemed close with Hadrian, and Harry didn't want to cause unnecessary problems between them if Hadrian came back without warning.
"If this is some joke you better tell me right this minute Hadrian Severus Potter." She snapped, glaring at him.
"Look, my name is Harry, not Hadrian." Harry said with a sigh, "If you don't believe me, fine. Stay right there and wait. Hadrian will be back with a Professor any minute–"
"Oh, hey Su!" Harry slumped in relief as Hadrian appeared with a wide smile and Snape right behind him. "It's good to see you, I was worried when you didn't write to me."
The girl, Su, whipped her head between Hadrian and Harry so fast Harry was worried she might snap her neck by accident. After a moment of gaping between them, Hadrian laughed and stepped forward.
"Did you harass Harry while I was gone?" Hadrian teased, and she crossed her arms with a huff.
"Jerk, how was I supposed to know he existed? I can't believe you didn't tell me you had a twin!"
"I'm actually seven months older." Harry put in, and Hadrian laughed when Su frowned.
"I'll explain it all after dinner, can you wait that long?" Hadrian smiled gently, and Harry blinked in surprise when he reached forward to tuck a long strand of silky black hair behind Su's ear.
"I suppose." She sighed, and when Hadrian stepped forward to pull her into a hug she practically melted into him.
"Are they dating?" Harry asked Snape in a whisper.
"Not yet." Snape rolled his eyes, and then he cleared his throat loudly. "Mister Potter, if you'd release Miss Li we can go and get Harry settled."
"Right." Hadrian grinned, completely unabashed, and Su just pouted a little as she stepped back. "See you in the Common Room?"
"Yeah." She smiled at him and then headed into the Great Hall. Once she was gone, Hadrian turned to Snape expectantly.
"Come with me." Snape said, and then he strode off with a swish of his dark and familiar robes. Harry scrambled to keep up, but Hadrian walked with long strides that were clearly used to following along with such a quick pace.
Snape led the two boys down several hallways until they'd wrapped all the way around the Hall and ended up at the side entrance the first years entered through that led to the High Table.
Harry remembered walking through the door and being faced with the entire school, the teachers behind him, and going down to be Sorted in front of so many eyes. Harry shuddered a little. The first time around he'd been terrified of being sent home and not being accepted into any House; now he was more worried that people would be staring at him. He already knew he wasn't going to be sent away; he belonged at Hogwarts, even if it wasn't home anymore, and even if nobody knew him.
"You'll be Sorted after the first years." Snape said, stopping outside the door. "Both of you will stay here until I come to retrieve you. Then you'll both enter with me, and Dumbledore will introduce you-" He nodded to Harry, "-and make it clear people shouldn't hassle the two of you about who you are or where you came from. Does all that make sense?"
"Yes." The two of them nodded.
"Good. After that McGonagall will call your name off the list, and you'll be Sorted." Snape said to Harry, and then he paused. "Do you know your last name?"
"... No." Harry said after a moment's thought.
"Well the Sorting Hat will, and so will the list." Snape warned him, "Don't be surprised by the name, and you don't have to be called it if you don't want to."
"What if I don't have one?" Harry blurted, "What if I only have a first name?"
"If you aren't given a last name at birth, and you don't have one on your birth certificate, the Hat will simply call you by your father's last name." Snape explained patiently, "Or whichever parent kept their last name. If your parents created a new last name when they got married and both took it, that'll be the name on the list. However, it's extremely rare a child isn't given a last name at all, so I doubt that'll be an issue."
"Okay." Harry tried to sound normal, but it came out a little uneasy and doubtful. Snape didn't call him on it, thankfully, he just nodded and disappeared.
"Well, this'll be exciting." Hadrian grinned, "I bet they're bringing both of us out to prove that there really are two of us. If it was just you up there people might think you were me."
"Yeah." Harry nodded absently, and Hadrian reached over to squeeze his hand.
"Don't be nervous." He said, "You'll be fine. Whatever House is yours will be super nice and cool to you, but if people are mean just let me know and I'll kick their arses for you." Harry couldn't help the snort of laughter he let out at Hadrian's mischievous grin.
"I'll keep that in mind." Harry smiled, "Thanks."
"Anything for my big brother." Hadrian grinned, and Harry grinned back at the warmth that filled him. Maybe they weren't really brothers, but having Hadrian accept him as his honorary brother was just as good.