Harry Potter and the Secret of the Twins

April 2002

Harry woke the next morning feeling well rested. He was confused by his surroundings until he remembered what had happened the day before. A smile slowly crept onto his face as he got up and got dressed in his magically cleaned team robes.

Rose was sitting in her chair in the central room looking decidedly tired when Harry arrived. Her hair was hanging haphazardly over her and the table she was laying her head on. Her eyes were half closed, and she seemed to be snoring lightly. Harry touched her gently on the shoulder, waking her with a start.

"Harry! I must have dozed off. I was trying to finish up my strategies..."

"You slept right through the night. I did the same thing last year- except I was trying to find out how to survive underwater."

Rose blinked, then shook her head lightly. "I better go get changed," she said. "I'm a mess..."

Rose slipped into her rooms and Harry took his seat at the table. The moment he sat down a plate of cold toast appeared, along with a bowl of porridge and a little dish of treacle. Harry ate his breakfast slowly as the other players came out, and saw there were three different breakfasts, apparently one from each country that they were from. Rose was the last out, looking much better than she had, and seemed quite pleased with her breakfast, though more with the toast than the porridge.

When everyone was finished Rose cleared her throat and looked around significantly. Everyone fell silent at once, and she addressed them simply. "I'd like to congratulate you on our win, and inform you that we will be practicing until just before game time. That means about nine thirty or nine forty-five. And don't get over-confident, or we'll loose! Being under confidant will do the same thing! We can win, know that, but don't think we will automatically win, or we'll loose!"

Rose was hard on everyone while they practiced, and often started shouting about working as a team. She seemed very nervous about something and was still tense at nine thirty when she stopped practice and had them rest.

Harry stepped up behind his friend and asked, "What's wrong, Rose? You seem nervous."

Rose stopped pacing and smiled broadly at Harry. "Thanks for pretending it's not as obvious as it is. Actually, it's the snake."

"And what about Sergio?"

"Oh just the vague feeling of doom I had..."

"You had a vague feeling of doom?" It was rather ironic, really...

"Yes, wonderful things, aren't they? Promising death and destruction, and not telling you anything other than there will be."

"Feelings like that aren't always right..." Harry said cautiously. "Sometimes people feel that way and nothing happens."

Rose smiled a bit tragically and shook her head softly. "When ever I have one of my feelings, something always happens. One time it took almost three years, but something always happens. I never know what it is, but I always know when it happens, and what, the moment rumor reaches my ear. For the first time I have a bit of an idea about what's going to happen, and all I know is that you are powerfully connected to the tragedy. But for all I know it could be you getting killed in your sleep when you're too old to lift a wand."

Harry stared for a moment before laughing uncontrollably. At least, until Rose delivered a swift kick to his shins.

"I'm serious, Harry!" she hissed. "Every single time there's been a tragedy attached!"

Harry did his best to look completely innocent and said, "I believe you, Rose. It's just that my Divination teacher predicts the death of a student every year to greet her new class, and sticks with it until they graduate. Not a one of them has died yet. I was the one she picked."

Rose stood there for a moment looking stunned, and then burst out laughing. Harry waited with a highly amused expression until she started talking between gasps for air and stubborn fits of giggles. "I was - hoping - the Hogwarts - Divination - Professor - could help - me - with - my gift. - Curse. - Whatever you - want - to call - it. I - can't - believe - she's - a - fraud!"

"She's not, exactly. She's had two real predictions. Detailed, but she doesn't remember a thing afterwards."

Rose looked disgusted. "Trance Predictions. They're never completely clear about anything, and the person can't explain afterwards."

A moment later the announcer's voice came loud and clear through the air.

"FROM THE SIXTEEN YEAR OLD OWLS, I GIVE YOU CAPTAIN/SEEKER ROBERTO ALANZO!"

"KEEPER CAROL GREEN!"

"BEATERS RICK JAMES AND GREG SMITH!

"CHASERS SAM HOOVER, SAM (SHORT FOR SAMANTHA) RICKERSON, AND BRADLY DICKSON!"

Rose mounted her broom, seemingly holding her breath.

"FROM THE STAGS, I GIVE YOU BLACK!"

"DIEGO!"

"DIEGO!"

"STERN!"

"ALBERTO!"

"KENT!"

"AND POTTER!"

The cheer that greeted Harry was deafening. The crowd was a mixture of colored dots with screaming heads. Albert Quirrell came zooming onto the pitch, the continuing cheer obviously having drowned out his introduction. Suddenly a whistle pierced the cry and the four balls appeared. Harry only caught a glimpse of the Snitch before it disappeared.

Spiraling higher and higher, Harry kept only half an ear out for scores while he searched for the Snitch. It seemed to have found a good place to hide, for it was dark before Harry even realized the sun was setting, the score neatly at two hundred and seventy to zero. Suddenly something glinted pale gold and silver in the full moon's light. Without thinking Harry dove more spectacularly than he had his first time on a broom. The crowd was cheering more loudly than the much larger crowd at the world cup the year before at the black streak that was Harry Potter, but nothing registered except for the Snitch. Then he pulled out of his dive so quickly that everyone in the stands gasped as one and tumbled onto the grass with the tiny Snitch clutched in his fist. Unintelligible screams greeted him as a shapeless mob pressed in. Then something struck Harry on the side of his head and everything went suddenly and completely black. He didn't even feel it when his head hit the grass, throwing everyone into a stunned silence.

The first thing Harry was aware of was that the right side of his head hurt. It hurt everywhere, but especially on the right side just above and behind his ear. Groaning slightly, he open his eyes and found that he couldn't see. He closed them again and tried to remember what had happened. Then it came back to him as suddenly as he'd been knocked out.

They'd just won their game and the tournament with an amazing four hundred and twenty to zero. He had been surrounded by a mob, when something had hit him. Apparently he'd been taken somewhere with a bed and his glasses had been removed. He opened his eyes again and sat up, feeling around beside the bed for his glasses. He couldn't even find a table.

"Awake, are you?" said a stern voice that strongly reminded Harry of a male version of Professor McGonagall. "You took a nasty blow. Stunned everyone into silence in a second. I'm glad I'm not the one who threw that medallion at you."

"Can I have my glasses?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yes, of course, Mr. Potter. Here they are."

Harry felt his glasses pressed firmly into his hand and put them on. He was in a small white room that looked decidedly like a miniature of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing. There was only one other person in the place, obviously the nurse. He was very thin with a close cropped salt and pepper beard and short graying auburn hair. He had a ready smile and a twinkle in his bright blue eyes not unlike Albus Dumbledore's. He wasn't really like Professor McGonagall at all, just stern when he had to be.

A moment later the man spoke up. "Well, Harry Potter, I'm Harold Dumbledore." When he saw Harry's stunned reaction, he laughed. "Yes, Harry, I'm related to dear old Professor Albus Dumbledore. His grandson, in fact. Poor Grandpa Albus's age is finally catching up with him. You might have noticed, though he's being very careful not to show it. He's determined to train a replacement before he has to retire. Anyway, here's the medallion. You might as well keep it. No one's going to claim it. Anyway, the official story is that you got accidentally knocked out. The truth will come out eventually, about the time it is public knowledge that Voldemort is back, but Fudge wants to keep it quiet. Now scat, it's time for you to go home."

Harry nodded slightly, still a bit unfeeling.

When Harry entered his cabin to gather his stuff a cheer greeted him. He was startled, and when Rose saw she smiled and said, "We won, and the seventeen year olds came in second. And this," she waved at his other teammates and Fred and George Weasley behind her, "is everyone I would let be here for when you came back. Everyone was really worried when you collapsed."

"I got hit in the head," He said quietly so that no one would overhear. "Someone threw a medallion at me. I'll show you at Hogwarts. Don't tell anyone."

Rose gave Harry a look that said quite clearly that she knew that and was not stupid before turning to the gathered group. "Harry got knocked out, but he's fine. Just a bump on the head, nothing serious," she said, winking at Harry as if to say how about this?

Harry smiled and slowly made his way to the boy's dorm while assuring his teammates he was fine. Finally he got inside to see it bare except for his trunk, Sergio, a silver trophy cup, and a bright red ball like everyone in the central room had been holding, now that he thought about it. "The Stags" was repeated around the rim of the cup in black enamel with a black running stag separating the phrase from itself.

Harry took hold of the trunk handle with the trophy in the other hand and the Portkey/ball in his pocket. He motioned for his snake to follow and went out again. Fred and George had left, and his six teammates cheered as he entered the room with the cup.

Rose smiled. "We decided that you should have the Cup, Harry. You really did most of the work."

Harry didn't object, he simply held up the cup with a wide grin, bringing more cheers. Then, slipping back into reality, Harry put the cup in his chest just before the little red ball took him back to his room in Privet Drive.

Harry sneaked down stairs quietly and peered around the corner into the dining room. The Dursleys were all there, as well as Aunt Marge and Sirius.

"As I told you, Miss Dursley, I will go and get Harry very early tomorrow morning, and we will both be here the rest of the summer. And if you will be kind enough to excuse me, Vernon, I'd like to go back up stairs."

Without waiting for Mr. Dursley to answer Sirius stood and went to the stairs, giving Harry a smile and taking him upstairs with him. When they were safely back into Harry's room, Sirius asked the one question Harry had been expecting.

"So, how did you do?"

Harry smiled and opened his trunk, pulling out the trophy. "We won," he said simply, smiling. A moment later his smile had faded, though.

Sirius looked concerned, the same coming through in his voice. "What happened, Harry?"

"Well..." he pulled out the medallion, showing it to Sirius. "Someone threw this at me. I was out for the better part of a day."

Sirius took it from him and inspected it carefully, then asked, "Who gave it to you?"

"Harold Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore's grandson."

Sirius nodded slightly. "I wondered how you woke up. From what I hear of Harold he works miracles," Sirius said, then looked sternly at Harry. "This medallion still has slight residue of the sleeping death curse. Not enough to harm anyone, but there was enough to knock out anyone who touched the actual medallion permanently. Usually you have to eat whatever the focus of the curse is. I believe apples are traditional, but anything can be used. Harold must have removed the curse from the medallion and woke you. There are various cures for this particular curse, but for other versions there's only one, and it would have been harder to cure you." He paused and shrugged. "True love's kiss has a tendency to make you think differently about the person, too. And few people have love that unobstructed."

"I see," said Harry, shifting uneasily. "The official story is that I got bumped. Fudge is trying to cover things up again."

"He won't succeed this time. Children talk."

"The others don't know what really happened," Harry said, trying not to blurt out except one, or worse except your daughter. They were going to surprise Sirius the first time he saw him at Hogwarts. Rose was looking forward to meeting her father, and Harry wasn't about to spoil it for them.

Sirius handed the medallion back to Harry. "I don't recognize anything on it, and it can't harm you. Maralin might be able to, though Lily was the best. They both had gifts for reading magical symbols, and I can read curses. James never disclosed his gifts, though he was obviously aware of them, and was easily the most powerful of us. You are as powerful as he was, if not more so. Lily was very powerful too. Really we all were, except for Peter."

"Why didn't he ever tell you?"

Sirius shrugged. "It never came up. I only told him about my gift because he was there when I found out."

"I wonder what mine are. I mean, aside from Parseltongue. I wasn't born with that."

"You'll find out eventually."

Aunt Marge's visit wasn't as bad as usual. Though she spoiled Dudley as usual, Sirius was determined to make his month with his godson the most he could.

They went to the zoo once, and Harry showed Sirius the place he'd met Sergio. There was another exhibit there now, a young Anaconda who was thoroughly enjoying terrifying children. Harry gave him a little extra fun by telling the story of Sergio's escape to a cluster of younger children who were watching the Anaconda, carefully from the view of a Muggle bystander. Sirius had obviously disapproved, but the children loved it and the Anaconda had come right up to the glass, hissing and striking at the glass (though never hitting it) as soon as Harry finished and winked at it.

Another day they went to an amusement park, and Harry had thoroughly enjoyed Dudley throwing a tantrum as they left because his parents wouldn't let him go. Not that Sirius would have taken him, anyway...

The most memorable trip of all, though was neither the zoo nor the amusement park, or any of the many other recreational trips they took, but the one bit of business Sirius had to complete at old Mrs. Figg's house.

When she answered the door, Mrs. Figg let them in immediately. "Sirius, I've got everything else ready. Do you have it?"

"Of course, Arabella," he said, handing her a carefully wrapped parcel. "Everyone's been notified, too, now... except for Maralin."

Mrs. Figg looked at Sirius curiously. "I would think that Maralin would be the first one you went to. She's practically been death walking since you got put in Azkaban, except about little Rose, though she's revived a bit since your escape. You were so eager to see her again when you came to tell me that You-Know-Who is back. And we'll need her before long. Only three of the are Five alive."

"Maralin will know when she's needed by the Order. I just..."

"I see. You're afraid she'll think you're guilty, and you'll have to explain. She loves you, Sirius, and I'd be shocked if she's not anxious to see you, too."

Sirius smiled slightly. "I'll go tell her after school starts. Harry will be gone then, and Rose..."

"I see," said Mrs. Figg again, and they left.

Harry wasn't as glad as usual when the summer ended, and Sirius went with him to King's Cross as a dog. Still, he was going home. He said a quiet good bye to Sirius, then went up to the two compartments in front that were reserved for the Prefects. This would be a very interesting year at the very least.