Chapter Text
Prologue
Harry Potter was dead. The Potters knew that. Everyone did. They mourned like any family would, but couldn’t wallow in it. They had another son. Harry’s twin, Charlie, was still alive. They had to focus on him. Make sure he was ok. They didn’t have time to grieve. after all, the boy-who-lived needs a lot of attention to make sure he’s raised right.
Dumbledore chuckled. He placed the bundle on the door step. Harry potter couldn’t stick around. He was dark, and would have to die. A horcrux was not a simple thing. Here he would be raised and when Dumbledore needed him to die, he would be a malleable puppet. A perfect martyr. Willing to do anything to be loved.
Vernon Dursley took one look at the baby on his doorstep and called the police. He explained that the baby had been there when he went to fetch the paper, that they couldn’t care for it, that they had their own to worry about.
the baby was taken into the system and within a month was adopted by a Mr. and Mrs. Williams, who couldn’t have kids of their own. Harry was their second, and by no means their last. they loved every kid they took in and when harry's accidental magic started acting up, they did what they could to help him control it.
at eleven years old, he got no letter, intercepted by Dumbledore, thinking Harry was still at the Dursley’s.
at fourteen Harry became Hari, and he became they.
at fifteen their life changed forever.
Chapter One
it was meant to be a quiet, simple trip to Diagon alley. nothing more. buy the school books for that year, get new robes, all starting off with a trip to Gringotts to pick up some money. but while they were there, they hit a bump. Charlie was supposed to receive the heirship ring for the potter house. a ring that, traditionally, goes to the oldest child in the family. when the ring didn’t accept him though, they had to start asking questions. the only kid they had that was older than Charlie, was dead. right?
a quick inheritance test on Charlie shined an eerie light.
Twin Bond: Harry James Potter [Hari Jem Williams] (active)
James shook his head, confused. “That can’t be right. A twin bond dies when the twin does.”
“yes. am i right to assume you’re under the impression your son is dead?” the goblin said drily.
“under the impress— WE BURIED HIM! WHAT DO YOU MEAN UNDER THE IMPRESSION?”
“James, honey, don’t raise your voice.” Lily grabbed his hand.
“right, yes, I’m sorry. what exactly does this mean, if the twin bond is active?”
“It means that whoever or whatever you buried was not your son. Did you see the body?”
“I don’t remember, it was a hard day, a hard couple years really. I-“
“No.” Lily cut in. “Dumbledore said the body was to mangled to see. That it would only make everything worse.”
“Yeah. yeah that’s right.”
“So, Harry’s alive?” Charlie spoke up, looking hopeful.
“It looks like it.” James paused. “We need to talk to Dumbledore.” He turned to the goblin. “Thank you for your time. if that’s all...”
“yes that is all.” the goblin said, picking up the testing materials. “would you like the test results?”
“yes thank you. it was a pleasure.” James said taking the parchment. the goblin just hummed.
the potter family left the bank with new fervor and a lot of questions for the headmaster.
•••
the headmaster was having a good day when the doors to his office flew open. In walked Severus, Lily and James, followed by young Charlie.
“Oh hello. i wasn’t expecting visitors. it’s always welcome though.”
“Albus,” James said, and Dumbledore’s smile twitched. “I need you to explain this to me.” He slammed a parchment on the desk and pointed to a few words.
Twin Bond: Harry James Potter [Hari Jem Williams] (active)
“My boy, I don’t understand what you ask of me. Charlie had a twin. that’s what a twin bond means. surely the goblins could’ve explained you that.”
“Yeah, I know what a twin bond is. it says it’s active. Which means my son is alive.”
“Well it could’ve been a mistake. personally, I don’t trust goblins.”
“stop playing games old man. what happened. to Harry.”
“James, my boy, you have to understand—“
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” James began pacing. “Ha. You’re kidding.”
“My boy, he was dark.”
“He was a baby.” Lily spoke up. “There’s no way to know that.”
“My Dear, trust me. It’s better this way.”
James turned to glare at the old man. “But we can’t trust you now Albus. You lied. For years you’ve lied.” He walks back up to the desk.
“Now where is my son.”
•••
“The Dursleys, James. He left our baby boy with the Dursleys.”
“I know Lily. I know. But we’re going to go get him. We’ll fix this.”
They stopped walking when they reached the mailbox with the number four on it.
“Ready?” He asked?
“No. Not at all” Lily said before walking up the drive.
The door opened to a Petunia Dursley that neither of them really recognized.
She looked at them and sputtered. “You?”
“HI Tuney.”
“You’re dead.”
“I’m- No. There’s been an issue. I’m sorry. We were told you had our son.”
“No. I-“ She sighed.
“What do you mean?”
“We couldn’t take care of him. We’d just had our own and we just couldn’t afford another. Last I heard he got adopted.”
“Oh my god.” Lily looked despondent.
“Is there any other information you could give us?”
“No. Now get out, I don’t want the neighbors seeing you.”
“Bye tuney.” Lily and James turned to go.
“Yes, yes goodbye.” Petunia looked around before slamming the door.
•••
Mariah Williams was a simple woman. She took care of her family, working as a nurse at an urgent care not ten minutes from home, and married to an accountant. Both of them knew they wanted kids and when they couldn’t have their own, they didn’t lose hope. they knew there were plenty of kids who could be adopted and were happy to do so. the first was Sam when he was eight. then Harry when he was two. followed by Margaret when she was five. then Antoine when he was fourteen.
She knew it would be harder, taking kids out of the system, kids who’d been through more than ordinary kids. But she was willing to put in the effort and while it had been hard, it was worth it. She loved her family with all her heart and wouldn’t trade them for the world.
So when someone came to the door claiming they knew her kid’s parents, she didn’t know what to do. Especially considering she’d been told they were dead.
“I’m sorry, how would you even know that.”
“It’s a long story,” the man who introduced himself as Remus Lupin said, “But we were able to find a record that said so.”
“We?”
“His parents, and I.”
“And where are they now?”
“They stayed home. I was worried they’d do something rash if they came. I know he’s happy and settled and might not want to meet them. Not to mention, they’d might try to take him home without thinking to much. We’d been told he was dead.”
“Uh-huh. And, uh, what are his parents named?”
“James and Lily Potter.” She nodded.
“And why did they- you said they thought he was dead? Why would they think that? How did they realize he wasn’t?”
“Thats where things get complicated.” He glanced around nervously. “I can’t explain here.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“I know, I know. I sound sketchy, and if I were you I’d close and lock the door. But if you give me ten minutes of your time, I think I can convince you.”
she sighed and opened the door to let him in. “Would you like a cup of tea?”
“If it’s not too much trouble.”
“Wouldn’t ask if it was.” She muttered before closing the door.
Mariah Williams listened as Remus Lupin told her everything. Or, at least it seemed like everything. He explained magic, the statute of secrecy, Gringotts, the lordships, the heirships, Dumbledore. It was clearly unrehearsed, as with everything he added he realized there was more background information he missed. They’d been sitting in the living room for an hour. Their tea hardly touched and growing cold.
She’d been convinced for some time now, but was curious about this whole other world her kid apparently had been kept out of. As soon as he mentioned magic, she knew. Hari had always been able to do things she couldn’t explain. Her and her husband had found anything they could to explain and help. It made sense now why there was so little information knowing that the “wizarding world”, as Mr. Lupin called it, kept everything under wraps.
In the end they’d taught them regulation, through breathing and meditation, and they slowly gained control of their gift.
Mr. Lupin paused his rambling. “Is any of this making sense? Merlin, I probably sound like a mad man.”
“No I understand. Besides, Hari's always been different. It’s not as strange as it may seem.”
Lupin sighed. Suddenly the front door opened. In walked her husband and two oldest. Including Hari.
So i actually tried writing this idea but i don’t know where to take it. It’s a pretty common problem for me. But there is actually two chapters of this idea written if you’re interested. I love chapter one and hate chapter two. Chapter one gives a much better summary than what i have here. Not what was expected
So, dumbledore dropped harry off at the dursley’s and vernon immediately calls CPS or whatever the UK version of CPS is. Harry is taken and adopted.
I was going to skip this detail and make it optional but it turned out important for the story. James and Lily aren’t dead (for some reason, who cares) and have another son, harry’s younger twin. They, and dumbledore think that the second son is the BWL, and maybe he is, it could go either way.
(ok so this can go one of two ways. I had it so harry may or may not have been the BWL (i hadn’t decided) but he was older, so when the younger twin, who thinks his older sibling is dead tries to get an inheritance test, it says harry’s alive. This way harry being the BWL doesn’t actually matter. The other way harry could be the younger or older twin doesn’t matter, but he has to be the BWL because it’s Voldemort who tells them that no this is not the kid I tried to kill, I can tell with my magic. (similar to the opening of this fic here: Son Of Thor And Loki
by ILoveSlash1996 )
Harry grows up, in his loving adopted family and dumbledore blocks his hogwarts letter, thinking he still lives with the dursley’s.
Harry is a feminine nonbinary who wears makeup, has hair partially died green (see attached image (of a coloring page i did out of laziness) and goes by Hari not Harry. (it’s an indian name.) (also harry’s indian because i like that trope) (you could cut that if you really wanted to)
After hari’s birth parents find them again they (somehow) convince them to go to hogwarts and they gets into ravenclaw. (I had this joke about when hari get’s sorted, they ask the hat to put them in the green or blue one because red or yellow would clash with their LookTM). And basically they flirt with almost everyone and is smart and creative and pisses off their brother who is the gryffindor golden boy and doesn’t understand his sibling at all. Also Dumbledore and the weasley’s are as confused as the potter’s.