A Baby Wizard and His Cousin Harry

The second Harry Potter stepped into Dursley home on Number Four, Privet Drive, for his sixth year holiday, he knew things had changed while he was away. Apparently, his Aunt Petunia had had another baby boy while he was at Hogwarts. Harry's first thought was that the baby was going to end up as fat and piggish as Dudley. However, this was not to be the case.

"No, Duncan. NO!" Aunt Petunia screeched as Harry and his uncle stepped into the kitchen.

"Doing it again?" grunted Uncle Vernon.

A stressed out Aunt Petunia sobbed as she picked up the pieces of a shattered glass from the ground. "Nothing... nothing.... I'll clean up the mess."

Harry examined the situation closely. He remembered doing similar things when he was little. Maybe... maybe... no, impossible!

The three-month-old Duncan Dursley gurgled good naturally when Harry stepped closer to his cradle. Duncan gave Harry a toothless grin and attempted to grab his hands. He was chubby, but not fat; his hairless head glowed like a light bulb. Harry found himself looking at his newfound baby cousin fondly, much to his surprise. He had never thought that he would ever find a Dursley charming.

"Mom! Dad! Harry is doing something to Baby Duncan!" shouted Dudley. "Maybe all these weird things happened because Harry put a spell on him. Maybe Duncan is... like Harry!"

Petunia and Vernon stopped dead in their tracks upon hearing the second part of Dudley's speech. They had been going to "rescue" their baby just before Dudley made his last statement. The two adults looked at each other fearfully. Maybe Dudley was right.

"There's nothing wrong with turning out like me," Harry retorted. He felt insulted. "At least turning out to be a wizard is better than turning out to be a pig."

"I... I... think we should inspect Duncan for a few days," trembled Petunia. Having a wizard for a son was definitely not a pleasant thing for her to contemplate, but giving away her own son wasn't acceptable to Petunia either. "Maybe... maybe Dudley is wrong...."

Vernon grunted again. He, too, didn't want a wizard for a son. The change that Dudley was correct, however . . .

"But Duncan seems to like Harry a lot," said Dudley. "Just look at them!"

Sure enough, Duncan and Harry were playing. Duncan paid a lot more attention to Harry than his own family.

Suddenly, Vernon exploded. "That's it! That scrawny thing is going to the orphanage first thing tomorrow morning." Aunt Petunia opened her mouth to argue. However, Uncle Vernon stopped her. "No 'but', Petunia. You know as well as I do. This funny business had been going on for more than a month now. I don't want to discover my house burnt down when I came back from the office. That's bound to happen when he's old enough to speak.

"This is all your fault," Vernon glared at Harry. "If we weren't related to you, how could we have had a funny baby like you?"

Petunia momentarily looked as if she wasgoing to argue, then agreed with Vernon.

Dudley, happier than anyone else to get rid of his baby brother, was jumping up and down, causing the house to shake. "No more funny thing in the family," he sang.

Harry scooped up his baby cousin. He was determined to keep this special baby from a horrid fate. "You are not sending him to the orphanage, unless I say so. He is your son. How can you send him away? He's a human being just like you. He deserves a chance!"

Uncle Vernon sneered at Harry. "Really? You can have the boy then. I don't want him. And, if you are not going to take him to the school of yours when your holiday ended, we'll send him off anyway. I am not about to work my bloody hands off, trying to provide for a baby I don't want."

Harry turned and silently walked to his room with Duncan in his arms. As much as Harry would like to bring the baby to school with him (anywhere's better than the orphanage or the Dursley household), he had never heard of students bringing babies to school.

Harry set Duncan, who was fascinated by Hedwig, on his bed. "Be a good boy and go to sleep," Harry told him. "I have a few letters to write."

Harry took out a few pieces of parchment and began to write. His letter was, of course, directed to Dumbledore.

"Dear Professor Dumbledore,

As you probably already know, my aunt gave birth to a baby with magical ability earlier this year. Today, he had started to show his ability and was rejected by his family. I'm wondering if I may take him to Hogwarts with me? I know this is probably against school regulations, but I want to keep my cousin from the orphanage. I don't want my baby cousin to turn out like Voldemort. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Harry J. Potter"

Harry sent the letter off with Hedwig. He crossed his fingers and prayed that Dumbledore would agree to let him take Duncan to school.

Turning back to his bed again, Harry noticed that his baby cousin had already fallen asleep. Not wanting to squash the baby flat, Harry rested his head on the table.

Questions swirled through Harry's mind. Harry had no previous experience in taking care of a baby. How should he know what to do?

Harry blocked the question out of his head for now and drifted to sleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When Harry woke up the next morning, he was surprised to find Hedwig already back from her errand, a letter tied to her leg. Harry opened the letter immediately.

"Dear Mr. Potter,

Indeed I am aware of the fact that your aunt had given birth to a child with magical abilities. I was rather anxious, too, to know how they would take it. Since you asked, a special permission has been granted to you to keep your cousin in Hogwarts. However, you must understand that the baby is your personal responsibility. No staff member will help you in taking care of the child. A special room has been arranged for you and your cousin, in order to avoid disturbing your current roommates. Also, I'd like to remind you to keep up with your schoolwork. Should you fall behind, other arrangements will have to be made.
Good luck with your cousin!

Albus Dumbledore"

Harry put down the letter and smiled. "Hey, Duncan, you're going to Hogwarts with me! Aren't you excited?" Harry asked as he picked up a rather sleepy Duncan. "Hogwarts is so much better than this hole."

Harry knew that it would be a hard year, with N.E.W.T. exams and a baby to take care of. It was a good thing that he wasn't a prefect or Head Boy, as he was sure that he would never pull the year off with those responsibilities. However, Harry was happy that he had saved his cousin from orphanage. As he laughed and played with his cousin, he was able to forget about the Prophecy and the return of Voldemort.

Harry announced Dumbledore's permission at breakfast that day. Uncle Vernon only grunted and Dudley didn't make any comment at all. Unless Harry was mistaken, though, he thought he saw Aunt Petunia sighed in relief.

As it turned out, Harry was right about Aunt Petunia. As soon as breakfast ended, he ran back to his room with Duncan. He was about to write to his best friend, Hermione Granger, for some tips in looking after baby, as he had no experience in the field. Being the know-it-all she was, Hermione would certainly have some advice. And if she didn't know, she would definitely look things up for him in childcare books.

Just as Harry picked up his quill, Aunt Petunia sneaked into his room and nearly frightened Harry out of his wits.

Aunt Petunia did a very strange thing. She thanked Harry and hugged him tightly. Aunt Petunia's bony hug at that moment could easily have rivaled and beaten Mrs. Weasley's bear hugs. "Thank you so much, Harry!"

Surprised, Harry disentangled himself from Aunt Petunia's grip. "Wh... what for?" gasped Harry, willing more air to flow in his lungs. Aunt Petunia had never, in his life, hugged him before.

"Thank you for what you did for Duncan," Aunt Petunia wiped a tear from her eyes. She was crying! "I know that we have treated you very badly before. I can't believe that you could forget the past and take my son under your wing. Duncan's funny acts began long before Vernon found out. I tried my best to conceal the fact from him as I knew what Vernon would do if he knew little Duncan could do magic. Though I have despised magic since the day Lily received her letter, I don't have the heart to cast out my own son for being what he is. As a mother..." Aunt Petunia sniffed loudly. "As a mother, I'd rather having you taking Duncan tothat school rather than having Vernon taking him to the orphanage. I can at least see him again if he's with you. Thank you so much!"

Harry was more than embarrassed. He had never suspected that his aunt would react like this. He had thought that his aunt wanted to get rid of Duncan as much as his uncle. "Um... it's quite all right, Aunt Petunia. You see... Duncan and I get on pretty well."

"That's good... that's good..." wept Harry's aunt. "Tell you what, before your school begins, I'll take care of Duncan while Vernon's gone for work. Thank you!" Aunt Petunia gave Harry a kiss on the cheek as she left his room with her son in her arms. "I'll bathe him and feed him while I can. I hope you don't mind."

"No..." said a bewildered Harry. "Not at all...."

Wow! thought Harry. Aunt Petunia behaved almost like a normal human! Harry was glad that he didn't have to write to Hermione after all. Despite being willing to ask her for advice, he needed some more time to adjust to having Duncan._ He also needed to figure out just how he was going to tell Ron and Hermione that he was bringing a baby with him to Hogwarts.

_

A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter. I hope you liked it and will continue to follow it. This is originally written and posted in the PK H/Hr challenge threads under "New Arrival" about half a year ago. I've finally gotten my Beta, Spencer, to go over it as it contained a lot of mistakes. Therefore, I'm reposting it. Hopefully, this version will be me readable and the development is less weird. For those who've followed it when it first came out i "New Arrival", you would know that I haven't posted the last few chapters yet. It's true that I still haven't got around to write them, but I will. I won't be able to do that any time soon as I am extremely busy these days. But there's plenty already written chapters to keep my readers occupied. Thank you, Spencer, for your patience in correcting all the mistakes. And thank you, my reader, for opening this window.