Harry Potter and the Secret of the Twins

April 2002

The next morning Rose came down last and in a deadly mood. "Mum, next time would you take people's gifts into consideration?" she snapped irritably.

"What?" Maralin asked, attempting an innocent expression. It didn't work.

"You two," she said, glaring pointedly at her parents, "sparked a vision last night. There was, of course, the usual doom and destruction, not to mention death," her eyes flicked to Harry and back to her parents so quickly that it was barely noticeable, "but the part that concerns you is about Griffin."

"Griffin?" Sirius asked, obviously confused.

Rose shrugged. "I'm a Seer. I don't hear, I just have images to work from- nothing more. His name is Griffin, though."

"Who?" Maralin asked shortly.

"Griffin's my little brother. He'll be born on the first of September, 1996. And there will be some sort of ghost there... a girl of sixteen who looks like you, Mum, except with black hair and your eyes, Dad. I don't think anyone could see her. Her name is Caroline... she wants to come back." Rose shook her head in confusion. "Mum?"

Maralin snapped out of a horrified half trance. "Yes, Rosebud?"

Rose made a face. "When are you going to decide that I've bloomed?"

"When you have."

Rose wrinkled her nose slightly. "Mum, if I wanted to have a boyfriend, could I?"

Maralin pursed her lips. "When you've bloomed, little flower."

"Do I look like a bud?"

Maralin smiled. "You are only half open, flower. Still a bud."

"But enough for a boyfriend, right?" Rose asked, carefully not looking at her mother.

"No."

"What if I have... assurances... about him?"

"You already have a boyfriend, don't you, loveling," Maralin said flatly.

Rose winced. "Well, technically, no."

Her mother sighed. "So you might as well. What kind of assurances?"

"Um... visionary ones."

Maralin raised an eyebrow. "You had a vision about this boy? What's his name?"

"Er... Andiron Growl," Rose lied.

Maralin's other eyebrow went up. She obviously knew that Rose had lied. "I see. What was in this vision, sweet?"

Rose's eyes flicked to Harry again, then back to her mother as quickly as before. "Well, we get married, and are very happy," she said lamely. "For the most part."

"For the most part?" Maralin asked suspiciously.

She glanced nervously at Harry again. "You know, Voldemort and all that." She narrowed her eyes dangerously at Harry and added, "If you breath one word of this to Neville, then I'll-"

"Neville?" Maralin said, grinning slightly. "I thought his name was Andiron Growl."

"Er... no," Rose confessed sheepishly. "His name is Neville Longbottom."

"Longbottom?" Sirius asked suddenly. "Is his father's name Frank?"

Rose blinked, then shrugged. "He was raised by his grandmother and hasn't ever mentioned his parents."

Sirius nodded. "That might be him." He turned to his wife and whispered to her, just loud enough for Harry to unwittingly eavesdrop, but not loud enough to carry to Rose's ears, "Mara, I think that Rose should be aloud to go with Neville. That boy is safe, and if he's anything like Frank he's good."

Maralin nodded slightly. "I think she's blossomed inside, my little flower," she sighed. "However, I expect she's still got some blossoming to do physically."

"It seems like she's still so young, but think: how old were we when we started seeing each other?"

Maralin giggled slightly. "We were the same age, weren't we?"

Sirius nodded, then turned to his daughter. "Rose, honey, your mother and I have decided that you can go out with Neville."

Rose grinned and hugged her father, standing up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you, Daddy!" she squealed.

"Now, about Griffin," Maralin said. "You're sure it's this coming September?"

Rose nodded vigorously. "You're pregnant, Mum."

* * * * *

On Christmas Harry woke from the combined effect of someone bouncing on the foot of his bed and being hit over the head with a pillow. He half opened his eyes, registered that it wasn't light out yet, decided he wasn't going to wake up yet. Only, whoever it was kept bouncing on the end of his bed and hitting him with a pillow.

"Harry, wake up! It's six thirty, we can wake up Mum and Dad now!" said an overly cheerful voice. It should be illegal to be that cheerful that early.

Harry mumbled something that he thought meant, "Mum and Dad are dead."

"My mum and dad, you moron!" said the cheerful person. They stopped bouncing and hitting and yanked off his blanket. Harry pulled his legs up under him. "Get your lazy self out of bed! I thought you'd been up at the crack of dawn for Quidditch practice!"

"It's not dawn yet," mumbled Harry incoherently.

The cheerful person sighed and Harry felt something hard bounce off his head.

"Ow!" he shouted, sitting up and wide awake. Rose was standing beside his bed wearing a loose, sleeveless black nightgown with a bodice that laced up the front. It was light, but thick enough to be modest. She had obviously having just thrown the red ball that was laying beside him. The Portkey ball from that summer. He glared at her.

Rose grinned. "Harry, it's time to go sing."

Harry groaned and lay back down. "Wake me up when you're done."

Rose dropped onto the foot of his bed. "Harry, if you don't sing, you don't get presents. It's the rule."

Harry sighed and sat up. "What kind of rule is that?"

Rose shrugged. "One Mum made up while alone with a daughter who could sing beautifully. Come on!"

Harry sighed again and got out of bed, following Rose to the door of her parent's room she began singing Christmas carols, and Harry sung along with her as best as he could. Finally Sirius and Maralin, both very bleary eyed, came out of the room.

"We definitely have to make it later that they can wake us up," Sirius muttered. "What were you thinking, six thirty?" he asked Maralin.

"I agree," Harry said. "Six thirty is two early to be woken up."

Rose laughed. "Mum tried to make it eight thirty, but it didn't work. The clocks somehow ended up reading eight thirty at six thirty, or earlier."

Maralin yawned and nodded. "Six thirty was the best I could get. Maybe if the people who want it later outnumber her, we can do something." She looked hopefully at Sirius and Harry.

Both Sirius and Harry laughed and shook their heads. "Whatever Rose wants, she gets!" Sirius exclaimed. "Either you give it to you or she'll find a loophole!"

"We could ban waking people up before the sun is up," Maralin said hopefully.

Harry groaned dramatically. "The last thing we need is Rose figuring out how to make the sun rise and set at will."

"We could make the presents not appear until nine," Sirius suggested.

"Do you want he messing up time?" Harry asked.

"We could put tamper-proof spells on the clocks and not allow her up until eight thirty," Maralin provided.

"You already tried that one," Rose pointed out, grinning. "I proved to be more powerful than you and broke them easily."

Maralin laughed. "She's right. She was seven at the time."

There were more presents under the tree than Harry had ever seen.

Sirius grinned. "Jump in."

Rose and Harry dashed to the tree and started in on the pile of presents. Rose picked up the first package she came to with her name on it, long, thin, and suspiciously familiar looking...

"A Quicksilver!" Rose exclaimed, staring in awe at the broomstick. She ran over to plant a kiss on her father's cheek. "Thank you, Daddy!"

Harry's first present was from Ron, a package of Chocolate Frogs, and then he found Hermione's, a thick leather bound book entitled Seekers Who Fought the Dark. While Harry opened Hagrid's gift (Pepper Imps and Ice Mice) Rose added Those Who Died from Ginny and Keepers of Light from Hermione to her pile. Then his gift for Rose arrived. It was a male snowy owl of similar temperament to Hedwig.

"Thank you, Harry!" Rose exclaimed when she read the note in his beak. "I think I'll call him Merlin."

A moment later Hedwig entered with the Dursleys' gift, which proved to be one of Dudley's old sweaters, a much better gift than usual. Harry lay it aside and started to go back to the pile, but four more owls flew in. Three packages were given to Harry, and four packages were deposited on Rose's lap.

Rose opened the smallest package and pulled out with trembling fingers a ruby pendant in the shape of a rose on a fine golden chain. "It's from Neville," she whispered tightly, fastening the chain around her neck and smiling.

She set about unwrapping the second, and Harry opened his first. It contained an old piece of parchment and a note.

Harry,

This was found at the end of last year, and returning it has slipped my mind until now.

Albus Dumbledore

"It's the Marauder's Map," Harry said a little hoarsely.

Rose gasped, having finished unwrapping the second gift from the small flock of owls. It was a decorative comb of onyx carved with roses. "I don't believe it," she whispered, her shock clear in her voice. "He can't really mean it..."

"Who?" Maralin asked softly.

"Professor Snape," Rose said slightly tremulously. "Look at this." She handed Harry the note that had come with the comb.

Rose,

This has been in my family for generations, passed down from mother to daughter. I have no siblings and my mother died very young, so I received it to give to my daughter. I never married, for the very reasons I told you, and I pass it on to you.

Severus

"He's serious, Rose," Harry said softly.

"But, he might still marry, this shouldn't leave his family," she objected.

Harry shook his head. "Snape is very stubborn, Rose," he said dryly.

That left them two presents each. After a moment they both began unwrapping the smaller of the two gifts. Rose gasped again, more sharply, and Harry stared, stunned. Rose's was a gold ring of roses with a lion's head, and Harry's was a golden sphere with a touch clasp. When he touched it a Snitch flew out slowly, almost lazily. When Harry reached out to try and take it from the air it began fluttering its wings quickly, making them sing and throwing Harry into an almost familiar trance...

A beautiful woman with dark red hair and bright green eyes sat up in bed with a baby in her arms, a man with untidy black hair sleeping beside her, both the woman and her husband about twenty.

"Hello, Harry," the woman said softly. "Your father doesn't know I'm doing this. He tells me every day that we'll be fine, that Voldemort won't get us. I know he's set up gifts for both you and Rose, though, and our chances don't look very good. I've never really trusted Peter. I'm almost surprised we've lived this long since we made him our Secret Keeper, and it's only been six days." She sighed and smiled down at the baby in her arms, then looked back up towards him. "Never think for a moment that I don't love you." She turned to look lovingly at the man sleeping beside her. "We both love you."

The vision dissipated and the Snitch landed in its box, which closed, and Harry let out his breath. "Mum," he whispered. She had done this for him the day before she'd died.

"The ring's from her, too," Maralin said weakly. "It's her engagement ring."

Rose gasped and the twins in spirit opened the final gifts from the owls in silence. Each contained a sphere, Rose's a flaming mixture of red, yellow, and orange, and was Harry's a clear wispy blue.

"Oh!" Rose gasped. "It's fire."

"Mine feels like air," Harry whispered.

Just then another letter flew in, baring a letter. Harry took it and opened it, his hands shaking slightly.

Harry and Rose,

These are power spheres. Even now, when the pair of you are barely over a year old I can tell what your elements are. My gift would not allow for anything else, but you are both very strongly of your elements, much more than anyone I've ever met. I don't even come close, and I was the most of my element of anyone I'd met. Rose, you are of fire, and Harry, my son, you are of air, like me. A power sphere is used to boost your elemental powers.

Another of my gifts tells me that you two will be close. A vague if powerful form of Sight, that never tells me much of use, but the pair of you being as close as you will be tells me that you will both live. Lily doesn't trust Peter; I simply don't trust us to stay here for years. Who knows how long it will be before it will be safe for us to leave?

Harry, I want you to know that I love you. I have a feeling that I'll be gone by the time you read this. Rose, you're the closest thing to a daughter I have. Caroline probably would have been as close to you as to Harry. You are almost as much my daughter as Sirius's.

James Potter

Harry inhaled sharply and handed the letter to Rose, then took up his power sphere. :Air.:

Rose read the letter, then answered him. :Fire.:

:My parents left us these things. They knew they weren't going to live this long.:

"Are you two going to open the rest of your presents?" Maralin asked weakly.

Rose grinned sadly at Harry and opened her next present, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans from Ron. As he picked up his next Rose opened a gift from Mrs. Weasley, a red trimmed black sweater and a tin of home-made fudge. Harry's proved to be the same, except his sweater was plain dark gray. Harry opened Sirius's gift, a book entitled Human to Animal. He looked up at Sirius, who winked mischievously at him.

"Hey, Harry!" Rose exclaimed, tossing him a package. "Presents from Remus!" Both of them were books, Rose's called Exceptionally Complex Potions and Harry's Animagi.

Rose opened her present from Hagrid and gasped again. It was a golden harp carved with roses. "I can't believe this," she said weakly. "This is getting to be too much..."

Next came presents from Fred and George. Harry and Rose eyed each other apprehensively, then shrugged and opened them. Rose got creams and Harry got tarts.

"Somehow I don't quite trust these," Rose said slightly wickedly.

"They're probably Canary Creams," Harry said in an overly innocent tone. "I just want to know what they did to the tarts."

Rose shrugged, then picked one up and ate it. "It tastes like fire." She screwed up her face slightly. "Lemon fire. I don't like lemon."

Then Harry say a paper tucked under the tarts, pulled it out, and read the name. "They're called Flaming Lemon Tarts."

Harry picked up one of the last four presents under the tree, and Rose took another of them. Harry's present was a Foe Glass in hand mirror form from little Lily Weasley, and Rose got a Matrushka from Romina.

Rose waited on her last present while Harry opened his from her. It was a miniature stag, one of the moving statuettes that filled the Wizarding World.

"It has your father's markings," Rose said softly. Harry just looked at her, letting his gratitude flow through their bond.

Rose opened the last present under the tree and gasped. It was the picture Professor McGonagall had shown her earlier in the year, framed in ebony.

Harry and Rose were just about to settle with their presents when Maralin produced another for each of them. "These are books to remember," she said when they'd opened the gifts. "Rose, yours is a magical diary. I've been saving it for when you bloomed." She smiled at her daughter and turned to Harry. "Harry, dear, this is a Ramble Book for you. You can write down anything, but it's especially for working out your problems. Neither will never run out of room to write. No one can get in except for you."