The Hidden Hero

At Mark Twist’s incredible challenge that Harry Potter was a fake, the crowd gasped, and Harry 2 froze. “What did you say?” he whispered.

“You are not Harry Potter,” repeated Harry. “You are an imposter. Harry Potter has green eyes. You have brown.”

“What!” “No way!” “Are you out of your mind?” were among the various comments the students shouted at Harry.

Draco shouldered his way past Harry 2 and shoved Harry hard. Harry fell back a step, but did not respond. “That’s not true!” yelled Draco. Draco turned to Harry 2 and demanded, “Tell him. Tell him that you’re Harry Potter!”

Harry 2 had turned sheet white. He tried to laugh dismissively, but it came out sounding insincere. “Of course, I’m Harry Potter,” he said. But, he didn’t sound convincing. “Who says Harry Potter has green eyes, anyway?” he challenged. “No one else has ever mentioned it.”

Harry thought quickly. “Hagrid told me,” he lied. Silently, Harry kicked himself. He had let his temper get the better of him and had unmasked Harry 2. But, he didn’t have a story ready to explain how he knew that Harry 2 was an imposter. Winging it, Harry hoped fervently that no one would ever check with Hagrid. “He was the one who took Potter to his aunt’s house after Potter defeated You Know Who. Hagrid told me that the baby looked like his parents – black hair from his father and green eyes from his mother.

“At first, I wondered why no one else questioned why you didn’t have green eyes. But, then, I realized that very few people saw Potter as a baby. After all, his parents went into hiding before he was even born. The only picture I’ve ever seen of the kid wasn’t clear enough to see his eye color.”

“Kids eyes change color! Or, Hagrid realized he was mistaken,” insisted Harry 2. “He’s not the one questioning me.” Despite his arguments, the other students were looking at him more and more suspiciously.

Harry didn’t back down. “Potter was already 15 months old when Hagrid last saw him and green eyes don’t turn another color. I don’t think Hagrid realized that. But, when Hagrid mentioned that the kid had green eyes, I became suspicious and I wondered whether you were a fake. After all, you had denied that you were Harry Potter when you were first found. And, you don’t have any scar on your forehead.

“I contacted the school Potter attended before he went missing. It wasn’t hard to do. I know how to deal with muggles. I’m a muggleborn, remember?” He enjoyed rubbing that in Harry 2’s face. “I pretended that I was a principal of another school where Harry Potter had been a student. I wrote that I needed to reach his relatives but that our files on him were misplaced. I said I remembered that Potter had previously attended this other school and I asked if the principal could give me his family’s contact information. And, to make sure that we were talking about the same boy, I wrote that the Harry Potter I was interested in had dark hair and brown eyes.” Harry waited a beat, staring directly at the other boy, who gazed back defiantly. “Well, the principal wrote back and said that, unfortunately, he couldn’t help me. The Harry Potter who had attended his school had dark hair and green eyes – bright green.”

There was silence. The watching students waited anxiously to hear what Harry 2 would say. Harry 2 didn’t look at the other students; he kept his eyes trained on Harry and tried to bluff his way through. Going on the offensive, Harry 2 unwittingly hit upon the weak link in Harry’s story. “Oh, yeah? Where is this letter? And, why haven’t you said anything before?” he challenged.

Harry hesitated a beat. “I threw the letter out.” Harry could almost feel the skepticism that greeted this weak response. The students were starting to side with Harry 2 again.

Harry 2 smirked. “A likely tale. You’re a liar. Just like you lied about Sirius Black.”

Harry’s temper rose. “I didn’t tell anyone that you were a fake because I thought that you had your reasons for hiding. I figured that you were running away from something and I didn’t want to expose you.”

“Potter!” The students turned around and saw Professor Snape watching them.

Harry 2 didn’t like Snape but, at the moment, he was all too eager to end this conversation. He approached Professor Snape quickly. “Yes, sir?”

Snape looked down his cold eyes at the boy. “I think it best if we went to see the Headmaster.” It was clear he had overheard the conversation. Harry 2 said nothing, but he looked sick.

Snape turned to walk away, with Harry 2 following behind. Without looking back, Snape called, “Mr. Twist. Please join us.”

Harry hurried to catch up to the professor who was already half-way down the corridor. He didn’t speak or look at Harry 2 as they walked to Dumbledore’s office.

Snape muttered a password Harry couldn’t hear and the gargoyle guarding the entrance to the headmaster’s office sprang aside. The boys joined Professor Snape on the spiral stone staircase, which started to rotate and move upwards, like a revolving escalator. Harry had been to the headmaster’s office before, so he was not surprised. But, he always felt a bit queasy from the moving staircase.

Professor Dumbledore called out, “Come in,” in response to Professor Snape’s knock on his door.

The headmaster was sitting behind his desk, with a quill in hand. Obviously, he had been interrupted in the middle of some correspondence. However, when the elderly wizard saw the group standing in his doorway, his eyes widened, he lay down his quill, and leaned back in his large chair.

“Is there a problem?” he asked.

“Headmaster,” began Snape. “Mr. Twist has made an interesting observation, sir. He has pointed out that Mr. Potter’s eyes are brown whereas he claims he has learned that Harry Potter has green eyes — like his mother.”

Harry couldn’t quite read Snape’s tone of voice. Snape had spoken calmly but there was a hint of strain underlying the words. The man’s eyes glittered oddly and the skin on his face stretched tightly. It was clear that the man was struggling to contain some emotion, but what? Was he glad that Potter might be a fake or was he upset by it?

Dumbledore drew in his breath sharply. His eyes flew to Harry 2, who looked back defiantly. Before Dumbledore could speak, Harry 2 interjected, “This is crazy! I am Harry Potter. Why believe Twist when he says that Potter’s…I mean my…eyes are green? Where’s the proof he claims he has? Conveniently gone, that’s where. He’s just a liar.”

Dumbledore said nothing. He just stared intently at the boy, his gaze piercing, and silence reigned. No one spoke as the long minutes passed. Then, slowly, Dumbledore put his hands on the desk and pushed himself up. He remained stooped over the table for a moment, before gathering his composure, taking a deep breath and straightening. It was clear that he had suffered a tremendous shock.

“Andrew Danirson,” said Dumbledore. Harry 2 gasped and stepped back a step. He gazed in fear at the headmaster.

Dumbledore continued. “You are not Harry Potter. We have been misled. We have seen what we were so eager to see. We wanted you to be Harry Potter so badly, that we didn’t challenge you to prove that you were. And now, looking into your mind, I see that you are not.

“I don’t know why you pretended you were Harry. I can only surmise that you believe you had some compelling reason to do so. But, your actions have led us to abandon our search for the real Harry Potter. He remains lost and who knows in what danger?”

Dumbledore looked away from the boy, who stood silent, eyes downcast. He exchanged looks with Snape and said, heavily, “I must alert the Ministry at once. This is grave news indeed.”

“Headmaster, what do we do with Mr. … Danirson?” asked Snape, his voice dripping with contempt when he said the boy’s last name.

Dumbledore glanced back at the boy. “For now, I suggest that you take Mr. Danirson back to his house. We’ll discuss this further with the representative from the child welfare department. If Andrew ran away from his family, there must have been a reason.”

Andrew lifted his fearful eyes back to Dumbledore. Answering the silent question, Dumbledore responded, “We will not send you back to an abusive situation, Andrew.”

Harry, watching silently in the background, thought to himself, “Liar. You left me with my aunt and uncle, knowing what they were.”

As if reading his mind, Andrew (still “Harry 2” in Harry’s mind) said, “You did with Harry Potter.” Dumbledore looked completely taken aback. Andrew rushed on, “I mean, I learned a lot about Harry Potter in the last number of months. He was abused by his aunt and uncle and ran away. That’s why everyone thought I was him. You left Harry with his relatives. Why should I trust you to give a damn about me?”

“You know nothing, idiot boy!” snapped Snape.

Dumbledore held up his hand to silence Snape. Drawing a deep breath, he nodded slowly. “You are right, Andrew, to question us. I can only say that Harry Potter’s situation was unique. And, we did not realize the degree of danger he was in with his aunt and uncle. But, if you ran away from your parents or guardians because they were harming you, we will take steps to ensure your safety. We can discuss this in greater detail at a later time. I’m sorry but I must speak with the Minister now.”

Snape put his hand on Andrew’s shoulder and yanked him back toward the door. Irritably, Andrew shrugged off Snape’s hand and marched defiantly out of the room. Silently, Harry went to follow in Snape’s wake.

“Mr. Twist.” Harry turned at Dumbledore’s call. Snape and Andrew continued down the stairs, leaving Harry alone with the headmaster. Dumbledore was watching him intently. “When did you realize that Mr. Danirson was not Harry Potter?”

“Er…I…I suspected for some time, headmaster,” said Harry, trying to be as truthful as possible. “I only knew for sure recently, when the principal of Potter’s old school told me that Potter’s eyes were green.”

Slowly, watching Harry’s reaction carefully, Dumbledore asked, “Why did you wait until now to mention that Harry Potter was an imposter?”

“I didn’t think anyone would believe me. Everyone knows I don’t get along with Potter …er, Andrew…and they would have just said that I was jealous of his fame.”

“But, your proof was compelling. You had no trouble convincing us that you were correct as soon as you mentioned it to us.”

“I… I didn’t want to get…Andrew into trouble. I didn’t really think it was my place to interfere, sir.”

“Yet, you took it upon yourself to contact the principal of Harry’s old school asking about Harry Potter’s eye color? Even though it ‘wasn’t your place’?” It was clear Dumbledore didn’t believe him.

Harry stayed silent. Dumbledore continued to look at Harry, consideringly. The silence dragged out. Finally, Dumbledore said, “It is…alarming…that Sirius Black escaped yesterday. The timing is oddly coincidental. I had thought we had Harry Potter protected. But, now, we discover that Harry Potter is still missing, the day after Black escapes …”

Harry interjected, angrily. “Sirius is innocent! I’ve told you and told you, Peter Pettigrew framed him!”

Harry felt the buzz that indicated that Dumbledore was trying to penetrate his mind. “Stop that!” he swatted at his head, as if a fly were nearby. “I’m telling you the truth!”

Dumbledore gave up trying to use legilimency on the boy. “Well, it is obviously not your fault that Harry Potter is missing. Although, you should have let us know about Mr. Danirson sooner, so that we could have continued our search for Harry.”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”

“You may go, Mr. Twist.”

Harry needed no urging. He exited the room swiftly, practically running back to the Gryffindor common room. He couldn’t believe it! The headmaster blamed him for letting Sirius Black go. He wasn’t sure whether the headmaster thought he had been confunded or was in league with Black but, either way, Dumbledore didn’t trust him. And, somehow, Dumbledore thought Harry was a danger to the missing Harry Potter. It would have been laughable if it weren’t so serious.

Harry entered the common room and was greeted by dozens of his classmates demanding to know what had happened. Everyone speaking at once gave him an instant headache. “Stop!” he said. Everyone quieted. “I was right. The boy pretending to be Harry Potter is really a kid by the name of Andrew Danirson.”

The room erupted. The din was almost unbearable. Harry picked random questions and tried to answer them. “Dumbledore’s gone to speak to the Minister to tell him Harry Potter is still missing. I don’t know what’s going to happen to Danirson, but they are going to try to find his family. Dumbledore thought he was probably abused and that’s why he ran away. So, they’ll be getting child services involved.”

At the mention of abuse, the room quieted down a bit. Hermione piped up, “I’m sorry if he was abused, but it was really wrong to pretend to be Harry Potter. He put us all in danger! Sirius Black almost killed Ron, looking for Harry, and he wasn’t even here!”

Harry started to remind Hermione that Sirius hadn’t been trying to kill Ron at all. But, apparently guessing what he was going to say, she continued hurriedly on before Harry could speak, “And, no one’s been looking for the real Harry Potter for months!”

Others agreed and the noise swelled again. “I hope that he gets sent to Azkaban,” said Ron, angrily. “I always knew he was a prat!”

“You’re just angry because you were always toadying up to the kid, thinking he was Harry Potter,” said Fred.

“I did not!” denied Ron.

“Just think how Draco Malfoy feels,” said George.
“Yeah,” mused Ron. The thought of Draco learning that he had befriended an imposter put Ron in a better mood.

“It’s a good thing that Mark realized that Harry was a fake,” continued Hermione.

Harry found himself slapped on the back and congratulated by his housemates.

“Good going!” said Percy. “It doesn’t make up for your helping Black escape yesterday, of course. But, no one can blame you too much for that – it’s clear you weren’t in your right mind.”

Harry set his teeth and used all of his self-restraint not to respond. He was relieved when, after a few more minutes, the other students started to drift away, to chat among themselves.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew Potter was a fake?” asked Ron angrily.

Harry was taken aback at Ron’s anger. “Er…I only learned recently and I…wasn’t sure what to do.”

“You didn’t trust me to keep a secret, did you?”

“Of course, I trust you, Ron. I’m sorry! I should have told you. I made a mistake. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

It was obvious that Ron was still annoyed with his friend, but he gave a jerky nod of his head to show that he was willing to forgive him. Harry realized that he had hurt Ron’s feelings. He should have thought of a better way to unveil the fake Potter. He had let his temper get the best of him and he hadn’t thought it through.

*

Dinner was a strange affair as everyone kept looking around for Andrew Danirson. In scanning the room himself, Harry noticed that Professor Lupin’s chair was empty at the staff table.

“I heard he took ill,” said Hermione, noticing where Harry was looking. “It’s a good thing he gave his exams before he became sick,” she added.

Ron muttered under his breath, “And how is that a good thing?”

Harry ignored them as he thought about Lupin. He had briefly toyed with approaching the professor to discuss Sirius’ innocence. After all, Lupin had been one of the Marauders and Sirius’ friend. But, on the other hand, what would be the point of speaking with Lupin? The fact that Sirius hadn’t approached Lupin himself meant that Sirius either didn’t trust the other man or didn’t think that Lupin would believe him. Either way, what purpose would be served by Harry’s speaking with the teacher? Oh, well, if Lupin was ill, there was nothing more than Harry could do anyway.

Along with everyone else, Harry kept glancing over at the Slytherin table, but Andrew Danirson didn’t show. Harry wondered whether Dumbledore would say anything about the imposter. He had his answer, when after the dessert plates were cleared, the headmaster stood up and the Great Hall fell silent.

“I know that there have been rumors flying about the school regarding Harry Potter. I think it only fair to tell you the truth. It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that the boy we knew as Harry Potter is actually Andrew Danirson.”

The students didn’t react and continued watching Dumbledore closely. It was clear that everyone had already heard this information.

“Mr. Danirson is American. He was traveling with his parents in Italy when he ran away. According to Mr. Danirson, he ran away because his father was abusive. We have learned that his parents have been searching for him in Italy these last months. They had not realized that he had been able to run as far as Great Britain.

“Mr. Danirson left this evening to return to his grandparents in the United States. He will stay with them while the American child services department decides what to do.

“He has asked that I convey to you all his apologies for having pretended to be Harry Potter. He says that he knows it was wrong. He hopes that you will forgive him for his breach of your trust.”

At this, muttering broke out. Harry heard Ron breathe, “I just better never see the git again or I’ll show him how much I ‘forgive’ him!” Harry suspected many of the other students’ comments were in a similar vein. Harry was also unimpressed with Andrew’s “apology.” After all, the boy had snuck away in secret, too much of a coward to apologize in person.

Dumbledore waited for the muttering to subside. “I understand your sense of betrayal at Mr. Danirson’s actions. I would urge, however, that you balance your anger with compassion toward a boy who was acting out of fear. The same fear, I remind you, that the real Harry Potter may be feeling, wherever he is.”

At the mention of the still missing Harry Potter, the students shifted uneasily. Harry dropped his eyes to the table, feeling guilty. Dumbledore continued, “Needless to say, the Ministry will be continuing its efforts to locate Mr. Potter. We can only hope that he was able to find a safe place to stay, as Mr. Danirson was able to do. It is getting late, and I know you are all tired. So, with that, I will say goodnight.”

Dumbledore turned to leave the staff table. He seemed older and more tired than usual, Harry thought. As if sensing his eyes on him, Dumbledore turned his head and looked at Harry. Their eyes caught before Harry lowered his eyes to the Gryffindor dining table.

Dumbledore watched the silent boy for a minute and then slowly left the Great Hall. Why was Mark Twist at the center of so many of the school’s scandals? Dumbledore mused. It was very suspicious that Twist had contacted Harry’s old school and, having learned that Andrew Danirson was an imposter, stayed silent. Was the boy a rising Dark Wizard, cleverer than Tom Riddle had been in hiding his true intentions?

Well, we’ll see whether he can stay out of trouble next year, the headmaster thought to himself.