"Harry" indicating speech
'Harry' indicating inner thoughts
Daphne Greengrass-Black was confused. It wasn't often that you saw your future headmaster, and probably the most powerful wizard in Britain, barge into your living room during your weekly dinner. Dumbledore had gathered her family and the Potters urgently. Though she was thankful for the interruption, unsure if she could tolerate Potter, being more of a pompous ass, it was to be expected. After all, he was the boy-who-lived, and the wizarding world thought he was Merlin's gift to man. His friends, the Weasleys, didn't help much either. Daphne almost shuddered at the thought of the two youngest siblings.
Ronald Weasley thought that being friends with Danny Potter meant he had already half made it. He tended to act superior and make snooty remarks towards her and her sister, and she didn't enjoy his company at all.
But he was still better than his sister, Ginerva Weasley. She believed every girl had a crush on Danny and played the possessive girlfriend whenever she was around, even when Daphne went out of her way to avoid them.
But she took her mind off them as Dumbledore gathered them all into his office and sat behind the desk, looking at them seriously.
"Albus, what's this about?" asked Lily Potter curiously.
"This morning, Minerva brought a letter up to me. Usually, they're managed by the deputies, or rarely by Hagrid, but the letter had a special name on it."
'Why would Professor Dumbledore mention a letter? Unless', Daphne theorized, it was related to the missing prodigal son himself. Daphne had never really cared; she always believed he was dead, and she had never known him. The goblins probably made a mistake, but if they hadn't...
Dumbledore paused to let it sink in as realization slowly hit her. Lily must have also picked up on it as she gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.
Lily had always hoped for this day to happen. She had been so distraught when she found only one of her children in the room after regaining consciousness. It had blossomed into hope, though, when she found out he was alive—a hope that dwindled over the past ten years when he hadn't been found, 'Even I started believing you died Harry,so too see him infront of her, she wished she hadn't lost hope and kept on searching. So she could only hope that this was real!
Before Dumbledore could expand to clue the others in, a door swung open in front of them where a slightly elevated plane leading to the headmaster's room living quarters was located.
Daphne saw a boy, wearing a towel around his body, walk out. He was, well, quite gorgeous—obviously having taken the best of both of his parents. His wavy maroon hair fell to his shoulders, and she almost gasped as she looked into his eyes. They were different from Aunt Lily's, darker and deeper and, well, dangerous. He looked completely at ease being in a foreign environment and in a situation like this. He moved with grace, different than that of what would be expected of a nobleman, more akin to a hunter or a predator.
'So twins aren't always made equal huh?' Daphne mused, eyes locked on the the figure in front of her.
Shaking her head slightly, Daphne broke her train of thought, annoyed at herself, and observed the boy. He was clearly surprised by the audience before him.
The boy stared at the group of people, and they stared back until Dumbledore broke the deadlock.
"It's magic, my boy, simply ask for what you need," he said, the corners of his lips quirking up in amusement.
"Harry?" Lily stepped forward tentatively.
"Unbranded products aren't of the best quality. Consider upgrading," ignoring the gathered crowd, and with that, he re-entered the bathroom to presumably finish his shower.
"Wait, that was Harry, our Harry Lily?!" half asked, half shouted a shell-shocked but elated James, turning to look at his wife.
"That's our pup, Albus?!" asked an equally elated Sirius.
"Yes, it was quite a surprise when I received a letter for one Harry James Potter this morning.
Sirius wooped and him and James embraced excitedly, but before their celebrations could really take off, they where brought back down to earth by Dumbledore
"though dare I say it. he was even more of a surprise."
Elizabeth Greengrass-Black frowned in confusion. "What exactly do you mean, Albus?"
"This is a fine time, in my opinion, to remind you of the fact that he is not a child. Orphanages are often cruel environments; there is usually a lack of love, and every child is treated as a liability. You have to fend for yourself. That would only be further exacerbated by him being homeless for the past five years in the seediest part of London. He will not respond well to you being overly affectionate, neither does he consider you to be his parents yet."
Lily's face reflected grief for what her son had endured, mixed with confusion at his following words. "What are you trying to say, Albus? He's my son, no matter what happened to him while he was out on the streets! Shouldn't we show him that he belongs, that he has a home?"
Elizabeth walked up to her and placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Of course, you should remind him he's your son and that you love him. But he hasn't been with you for ten years. Imagine how it must feel to think you're all alone in this world, surviving day by day, and then suddenly to have it sprung on you that you have a family now, living luxuriously while you struggled!"
Lily still looked stubborn. "She's right, Lily-flower. He's not a kid anymore. You don't stay a kid for long on those streets, or you don't survive them, no matter how much I wish I could hug him and make up for lost time," James interjected, causing Lily to acknowledge the points made.
"How bad was it, Albus?" asked Sirius, for once his demeanor fitting his name.
"While it was bad, it wasn't as terrible as you think. He had a roof over his head, one of the abandoned buildings, and he also had access to adequate amounts of food. He seems to be a step above all of you in terms of skill and acumen. Why, he was able to grab money from inside purses! That's one of the most astonishing things I've seen in my entire life!"
Dumbledore looked flabbergasted at the notion, causing Astoria to let out a giggle. Everyone looked at her, prompting her to explain, "I just found it funny that Albus Dumbledore, defeater of Grindelwald, inventor of six uses of dragon blood, is astounded by something so mundane."
This lightened up the mood as everyone let out a chuckle, even as Dumbledore looked slightly offended at Astoria's words. Well, almost everyone. Danny didn't seem to be enjoying the discussion much. He felt jealous, but to be fair, his brother seemed to have gone through a tough time. Danny could sympathize a bit. After all, his life wasn't all that easy either. He had homework and physical exercise, though he did cut corners while performing them— a lot of corners. Not to mention, his parents forbidding him from signing pretty girl's autographs. So, he could sympathize.
"I concur with the old man; it is quite impressive," said the person of the hour. Harry Potter walked out of the bathroom, drying his hair. "Old man, did you know your bathroom can spawn VO5? The expensive stuff. Smells divine."
He continued, "Also, it is quite rude to talk about a person behind his back. The walls are paper-thin, but I'm assuming it's magicked so that you guys couldn't hear me?"
Harry appreciated the old man and the blonde lady's words. They had been pretty accurate, well except for the fact that he wasn't a mere pickpocket. He had been a warrior and a killer. He experienced politics and faced loss. His age was a non-factor with what he'd been through in the past few years.
"Why yes, it is Harry. Did you say anything important in there?"
"Na, just stubbed my toe. Your bathrooms are for tall people, old man. I was cursing up a storm back there."
Lily was appalled at the fact that her son was cursing. Before she could say anything, she received a slight nudge from Elizabeth, who looked at her with her eyebrow quirked, clearly predicting what she was going to do. Lily conceded her point as she refrained from scolding the boy.
Danny, however, did not get the memo. "You're not allowed to curse!"
"Why?"
"Mum said so."
"And?"
"You get punished if you do!"
Harry was annoyed. He got it; his brother was eleven and, for once, was not the center of attention. But the snooty tone pissed him off, and the boy had tried to pull off a tactic eleven-year-olds pulled. He tried to make himself seem the bigger and better kid by following the rules laid down by the parent and reprimanding him.
Harry couldn't care less about the rules and decided to spite his favorite (and only) sibling. "Fuck."
Danny seemed flabbergasted that someone had broken the rules and that too so blatantly.
Before he could respond, James put a hand on his shoulder and gently shook his head, telling him not to respond much to Danny's indignation. He decided to remain quiet, no matter how unfair it felt.
Taking a moment, Harry looked at the other people arrayed before him. There was an admittedly quite stunning blonde woman with a miniature version of herself who had been looking at him a bit too intently for his liking. Next to her was a man with curly black hair, and finally, there was a little girl with black hair and grey eyes similar to the man above her, though her face shape matched what he assumed was her sister and mother.
"Lily and James, I'm assuming James is my father and Lily my mother because if it was the other way around, I think I might need a minute," Harry joked, breaking the ice and the air of uncertainty his standoff with Danny had caused.
"Oof, Lily, this one's your son for sure, has your biting tongue at this tender age," Sirius laughed. "Lily's the redhead just to be clear, while I'm Sirius, your God-Father. This is my wife Elizabeth and my daughters Daphne and Astoria."
"Hello there, Harry," said Elizabeth, smiling at him.
"Hello, thank you for your words. You too, old man," to which he received a smile from Elizabeth and a chuckle from said old man.
"You have nice hair!" blurted out Daphne, much to Harry's confusion and her embarrassment as she flushed, even as Sirius and Elizabeth exchanged sly glances and Astoria laughed.
"I'm Astoria, and this is Dum Dum's Daphne, though she's not usually like this. Maybe it's because of someone-"
She was cut off by Daphne smothering her lips with her hand, still flushing red and refusing to meet Harry's eyes.
Lily laughed at the interplay before looking at Harry with a motherly smile. "Hello, Harry. I'm your mother, Lily Potter, and ignore the mangy black-haired mutt; he likes to yap a lot."
"And I'm your devilishly good-looking father. I can see where you get your looks from," he joked back. He then patted his brother's shoulder, who had looked a bit overwhelmed by the ongoings but had puffed up his chest in response to his father's attention.
"I'm your brother, Danny, the boy-who-lived, but don't worry, you're my brother and I'm sure people will take notice of you as well," the boy said pompously.
Harry was underwhelmed. He could see Lily shoot James a look at his brother's introduction, to which James just scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He also noticed the blonde girl rolling her eyes, and while Harry knew the moniker his brother had been crowned with, he decided to mess with him a bit.
"Did you survive cancer or something?"
The blonde girl's lips quirked up at the statement, while the black-haired girl had to cover her mouth to contain her laughter. Their reactions also exposed what they thought of his brother; they didn't like him.
Danny puffed out his chest, similar to a preening peacock. "What! No, I vanquished the Dark Lord."
"How'd you do that?" Harry asked, the innocent curiosity still present in his tone. From what he knew, the happenings of that day were a mystery. The boy in front of him seemed to struggle for an answer for a second before he was saved by the bell.
"That night remains a mystery, Harry. We can speculate what happened later. For now, how about you head on down to the Great Hall with your brother and the lovely Greengrass-Black sisters and get some food while I talk with the adults for a bit."
"No, let them go, I'm staying. I'm assuming you'll be talking about me."
Dumbledore paused as if to consider his words before nodding his agreement. "Tipsy," he said, summoning a creature with large eyes, an equally large nose, and a small frame.
"Guide them to the Great Hall and prepare some food for them, please,"
The house elf nodded, but before she could begin guiding them, his brother piped up, "I want to stay too!"
"Daniel Matthew Potter, go to the Great Hall this instant," Lily demanded strictly, using her son's full name.
Danny seemed hurt, following after the already leaving Daphne and Astoria. Lily had a moment of regret for her strictness. She had doted on Danny, and so had James, babying him and being more affectionate, something she would admit was due to losing one of her children. She would make it up to him later, but for now, she had other priorities.
Daphne sorted her thoughts as she walked towards the Great Hall. It had been an interesting evening, to say the least. Not one she could have predicted. Even as she held her sister's hand, who was in awe at the paintings and suits of armor, she speculated on what exactly they were talking about and what she wondered herself: Why had they not found Harry before?
She was wrong; there was something far more pressing. Unbeknownst to her, a heavy atmosphere settled into the office.