A Prophecy of Two Boys

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Harry's Point of View

We curled up in a small alcove in the library, as far from the door as was physically possible on the second level. Tears dripped slowly down our cheeks as the sound of laughter drifted up from downstairs.

'Why aren't we ever good enough?' Percy asked.

I shrugged, retreating with him to the very back of our consciousness to hold him tight. 'I don't know, Percy. But we don't need them. We have each other, and Draco, and Blaise and Theo and Severus and the entire Slytherin House. We don't need them.'

No matter how many times I repeated the words I couldn't get either of us to believe them. We did need them. No matter how old we got, the childish desire to be loved and looked after never quite left. Maybe it never would.

A light touch to our shoulder snapped us back to the present. To our shock, it was Charles that crouched in front of us. We angrily swiped at the tears on our cheeks and attempted to glare at him. I say attempted because… we failed. We utterly failed at summoning any anger or ill will towards our brother, and collapsed into his waiting arms instead, sobbing our heart out. He held us close, murmuring random nonsense in our ears. We must have sat like that for a good hour before the tears finally dried up.

"Why?" Percy asked in a broken voice. "Why do they always notice and talk about you, but fail to as much as see us?"

Charles sighed. "I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm the boy who lived. Maybe it's because you're so quiet and so good a hiding when you don't want to be seen. I don't know, Harry… Percy."

There was no menace behind our brother's words. He was just stating facts. Normally those words would have bitten deep into us, hurting like a dagger to the heart, but strangely they weren't today. They seemed comforting in some twisted way.

"I used to hate you, you know." Percy told him in that same broken voice. "Harry did to. We've always envied you. You have the love of Lily and James, you get all the tutoring ever, all the training in duelling and spell casting… all we've ever had is books and dreams."

"Strange." Charles gave us a small smile. "I was envious of you too. You were like a shadow drifting round the manor for years. I saw you so many times, hiding in the rafters during my lessons, watching from the window when I played Quidditch, watching and listening from behind the door during family dinner… I thought that you had decided you were above coming and playing with me. Then you got your letter, and came back into my life. You have this amazing control over magic, and earned the respect of the Goblins, and no matter how much I tried to prove myself worthy of your attention and friendship you always pushed me down."

Our eyes widened at the misunderstanding and admitted: "We through you were just being a spoiled brat. You were flaunting your fame and tutoring… We thought you were trying to push us down…"

We laughed. It's strange. Neither Percy nor I had ever seen Charles in this view before. He had always been so bitter to us at Hogwarts, so angry at us and our House. We'd assumed it was just James' old rivalries affecting his attitude, but it kind of made sense now. He was bitter to Slytherin because we were there and not in Gryffindor. A faint trace of guilt washed through us.

"I'll make deal with you." I offered, my voice ringing stronger than Percy's had. "We'll help you with work at school, and go over anything you don't understand if we can sit in your holiday tutor sessions."

Charles looked at us in shock. "Really. You would trade your spare time at school for more work over the summer?"

I laughed. "Priorities, Charles. Knowledge is power."