How Did I Miss That?
Albus Dumbledore was old. Older than most people cared to remember which could be a blessing or a hindrance. He tended to overlook small details he would have immediately noticed in his youth and his body slowly abandoned his mostly perfectly functioning brain and hurt on a daily basis.
He wasn't as fast or agile as he used to be and it showed. He couldn't protect Harry or Cedric in the Tri Wizard Tournament and has trusted the imposter of the man he thought he knew like his own backhand. He couldn't forgive himself for this grave error and in his disappointment he did what he always did when he needed his mind off of something. He left.
This time he went to Godwicks Hollow, the place where Lily, James and their older son Daniel Potter died and Harry Potter his destiny started.
The house was just as he left it almost 15 years ago and so he went to the Potter twins' bedroom. Why, he didn't know, maybe he would find something, anything to make Harry at least a little bit happier.
Dumbledore idly wondered if it had been a good idea to never tell Harry about his twin and to even ask of both Remus and Sirius to keep quiet about it. The boy didn't need to know that he lost another family member that fateful night.
After searching through some cupboards he moved over to the crib and moved it while looking around the room. He sighed once more and shook his head: what was he even doing here? He turned around to leave when he noticed a letter on the ground. Being the curious man he was he bent down and picked it up.
It was an old letter, already yellowish and the writing was almost unreadable. With a quick swish movement with his trusty wand the letter turned white and the writing was once again readable. Dumbledore chuckled slightly. Magic never seized to excite him.
He carefully read the letter and his usually twinkling blue eyes widened in shock. If what he just read is true then Daniel Potter was probably still alive and Lily has had a girl friend she entrusted her baby with?
Dumbledore turned around and apparated, letter in hand, back to Hogsmead to get to Hogwarts.
After carefully evaluating the letter several times he went to his pensive thinking hard. Even if he did not look at memories he liked to stand in front of it to think. Did Lily ever mention this Maddie? Could this be true? It was too good to be true, if he was honest with himself but he had to know for sure. An hour later he travelled to Amity Park, Illinois with a not-so-legal port key just because he can and obviously to show himself that the ministry wasn't yet more powerful than him. He arrived near a park in the centre of the city.
Without further ado he asked the next passers-by if they knew of the whereabouts of the Fentons and if they'd be so kind to point him to their living place. The stranger rolled their eyes in amusement and told the old man with the funny clothes where the Fenton family resided.
"You know, they are strange, the Fentons. The whole lot. However, they are the only ones with anti ghost weapons, so I suppose we have to deal with it." With that the stranger walked on and left a confused Dumbledore.
Albus of course knew of the most haunted city on earth and he knew that ghost hunters all around the world came to visit and tried their luck in capturing these ghosts occasionally. He was however confused that the residents of Amity Park just accepted the supernatural. It made him wonder if they'd be so accepting of wizards and witches as well if they knew?
He shook his head no. It wasn't good to think of such possibilities, they may be accepting but with good comes bad so it's better if everything stays the way it has so far.
After a ten minute walking trip he arrived at what was unmistakably the house of the Fenton family. Whatever the big instalment on top of the house was supposed to be, it definitely defied the natural laws of Physics and yes, the old wizard was quite interested in the muggle subject.
He went closer and stopped when he heard the, what he assumed to be, residents shouting and a moment later the front door flew open. The wizard saw a lanky boy with unruly jet black hair and ice blue eyes that seemed to be able to peer into people's souls.
Albus couldn't believe it, sure the boy had the wrong eye colour and probably no lightning bolt scar on his forehead and he didn't seem to need glasses, but besides that he was the spitting image of Harry. Mirror Harry- or rather Daniel turned back to the door with an angry expression on his face. It startled the headmaster how much he resembled both James and Harry Potter.
"Jazz, I'm serious. You can't help me right now. Just leave me alone, please!" The boy seemed exasperate and threw his arms in the air while talking to a young girl with waist long orange hair and aqua blue eyes. She reminded Dumbledore of Lily and Albus couldn't help but smile fondly when the girl walked towards the boy with an irritated expression and put her hands on his shoulder.
Jazz was seriously annoyed, she just wanted to help her baby brother with his ghostfighting and he knew that, so why was he so adamant about her leaving him alone! She put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at her "Danny, I know you don't want me to come with you so you can go with only Sam and Tucker but I thought I've gotten better by now. I can help you. Come on Danny, don't be so stuck up."
She could see the reluctance in his eyes faint and smiled slightly. Danny just sighed "Look, I know you are usually right with your assumptions but not this time. I'm only meeting with Sam." He looked up at her with a lopsided smile and coughed nervously.
Jazz just turned red "Eh, yeah, right. Okay little brother. Have fun and when something happens, call me, okay?"
"'When'? Not 'if'?" the young boy asked knowingly and Jazz just patted his head "Yeah, when. We both know your 'luck'." With that the redhead turned around and went back inside. Her younger brother stood still for a couple seconds before he too turned around and went down the streets.
Dumbledore watched the conversation and knew, that boy was Daniel Fleamont Potter. He seemed to be happy. A nice family and pretty much safe as well since he lived in Amity Park. The city was filled with ectoplasm. So much that magic couldn't be detected and MACUSA has long since stopped to try and find new witches or wizards. This way even Tom wouldn't find Daniel.
Albus Dumbledore stopped. This boy was obviously very happy, something that couldn't be said about Harry right now. So should he still tell the boy about his heritage and bring him into a war he was so blissfully unaware of? Dumbledore watched Danny disappear down the streets and sighed heavily. He was almost a hundred percent sure that he was a wizard. Twin children almost always shared their magical properties.
It could be dangerous for Daniel to remain untrained but on the other side, in this city, flying ghosts were normal, they would just blame ghosts if Daniel were to do accidental magic.
The wizard was torn between the options and decided to ask a second party.
After he travelled back to Hogwarts he carefully read the letter once again and called for Severus Snape. He didn't have to wait long before his alarm system announced a visitor. "Come in" the man said and waved the door open.
Severus entered with his long black robe flattering behind him and stared at the most powerful wizard he knew next to the Dark Lord, of course.
"You called, Headmaster?" The bat like man drawled carefully. The headmaster nodded "Indeed I have, my friend. Lemon drop?" Severus shook his head no and Albus proceeded to eat his lemon drop before he glanced down upon the letter. To Snapes relief he finally started "I have a rather odd thing to ask you. Tell me, what do you know about Daniel Potter?"
The potion master looked confused before he sneered, annoyed and shook the question away, yet he answered a second after "What, exactly, is there to know? He was the older twin of Potter and died with Lily and James on Halloween almost 15 years ago. Why?"
"Because I have reason to assume that he is still alive."
"What?" Snape stopped dead in his tracks and looked incredulously at the headmaster "That is impossible? I mean sure, there was no body but how can you possibly think he is still alive? Now at all times?"
Instead of answering Dumbledore just handed the younger man the letter he found and said "I was at their place today and stumbled over this. I then went straight to Amity Park to get a view at the boy myself. It really is him. He looks just like James and Harry, except for his eyes. He has ice blue ones."
Snape just stared at the letter and finally acknowledged his boss "So what now? If he's alive- great. Get him here so he and Potter can have a heartfelt reunion." Dumbledore just shook his head. When would Severus finally look past James and see the children for who they are?
"That's why I wanted you here. Daniel has no idea about the wizarding world and lives happily with his adoptive family. I don't know if I can just push him into the war. I also don't know if he would want to come and if he'd even be able to help Harry with his trauma since I can not support him as much for now, I'm afraid."
The two men looked at each other silently for a long time until Severus finally looked down and grumbled "I don't know about you but everyone deserves to know about their heritage, even if it's another Potter boy. If he wants to come to Hogwarts after learning about him being a wizard, which I assume he is, then he should."
When the potions master looked up he locked eyes with a beaming Dumbledore. He groaned "If that's all you needed I'm going back and spy a little more on the dark Lord, as it is my job." He was about to turn back when Dumbledore stopped him "I believe it would be nice if you came to Amity Park with me, so let's go."
Before Snape could even say a word Dumbledore has already pushed him out of the room and led him out of Hogwarts grounds. From there he apparated them to Amity Park, Illinois to meet Daniel Potter.