I know what you're thinking, that Severus Snape's kid couldn't have turned out very good. But it's not my fault that I wound up living with Sev. He wasn't my father biologically, but he was as good as. Nobody else knew about me, not many people. Dumbledore knew, but he insisted I be a secret, and Sirius knew too, but Dumbledore modified his memory just a bit before he was dragged off to Azkaban. Lupin knew, but he was sworn to secrecy, though he did visit occasionally. So, I virtually didn't exist.
Hardly anyone knew that I was Harry Potter's twin sister. After my parents went into hiding, they only remained in contact with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Nobody outside that little circle knew that James and Lily Potter had a daughter as well as a son, a daughter with Lily's dark reddish-brown hair and bright green eyes. After the attack, everyone thought that I had died, though this was not the case. Hagrid did not find me, but Sirius did.
After Hagrid took my brother to live a tumultuous life with the Dursleys, my distraught godfather found me crying among the wreckage from the house. He went straight to Dumbledore's office with me, of course. Dumbledore modified his memory then, quite neatly, so that Sirius always thought he had passed out from shock when Hagrid left. Then Dumbledore took me to the one person he could think of: Severus Snape. And Sev took me in, the plan to change my name from Rose Antonia Potter to Rose Antonia Evans was put in motion, and I led a virtually normal life.
It was hard to live with Sev during the school year, but we managed. I traveled with him to Hogwarts, and while he was teaching, I stayed hidden. Dumbledore lent me my father's Invisibility Cloak, and I spent my days talking to house elves in the kitchen, playing in the Room of Requirement, and talking to Hagrid, who just knew me as the little girl that Dumbledore was hiding from the Death Eaters. Hagrid never let slip who I was to anyone; since he only knew half the story, he was perfectly safe.
In the evenings, we slept in Sev's living quarters, which had been comfortably divided into three small rooms, like a hotel suite. There was a small sitting room, with a fireplace, two very comfortable chairs, and a small table where I ate in the evenings. This room was also crammed with bookshelves, containing mostly Muggle classics that I poured over from the time I was five, when Sev first taught me to read. The two other rooms were our very small bedrooms, each consisting of a bed, a wardrobe, and a magical radiator in the winter. During the summer holidays we returned to Spinner's End very briefly, and then left for our true home, Hogwarts. Such was my world for ten years.
When I turned eleven, I got my Hogwarts letter, just like all the other eleven-year-olds of the Wizarding World. My letter had nearly as many complications as my brother's, though mine didn't involve mad uncles and trips to creepy huts on stormy seas. No, that day, my birthday, was very different from my twin's.
We had the usual birthday tea. Dumbledore sent me a card, as did Lupin, and Sev gave me the usual box of chocolate frogs and my first Wizard Chess set. We sat eating birthday cake, and then Sev told me that I was now old enough to learn where I had come from.
This startled me. I had known from the very beginning that Sev wasn't my actual father, and I had narrowed everything down to two possible reasons for this. The first was that Sev was actually some distant relative, and the second was that he had adopted me from an obscure orphanage when I was a baby. So the fact that I was about to “learn the truth” confused me, since I thought I had always known it.
“I already know where I came from!” I said
Sev looked startled, and a little amused. “You do?”
“Of course I do! You're, like, a distant uncle or cousin or something, and when my parents died you took me in. Didn't you?” I was beginning to feel a bit frightened.
“Not exactly,” said Sev. He had a weary look on his face, but he gave me a rather tired smile. “I did know your parents, but I was not related to them. We went to school together. Your mother and I were close friends. I never particularly liked your father. He used to pick on me. But he was a good person in general. He saved my life.” He said this grudgingly, as if it caused him physical pain to say the words.
Sev plowed on with his story. “Your parents- Rosie, they were Lily and James Potter.”
I stared at him, my mouth gaping. “Be serious.”
“I am,” he said, a little sadly.
I shook my head. “No. There's no way. I mean- that would make- Harry Potter...” I couldn't finish.
Sev nodded. “Harry Potter is your twin brother.”
I sat back in my chair, and dropped the remnants of the chocolate frog I'd been eating on the ground (where it was picked up by my cat, Artemis). I felt sick, and frightened. My whole world was being turned upside down. After I had regained the use of my voice, I croaked, “How? Why? Explain.”
Sev jumped right in, though I could no longer see his face, and his voice came from far away.
“A long time ago, the Dark Lord wanted to kill your parents. They went into hiding. Nobody knew that Lily Potter had twins, because nobody knew where she was. They only remained in contact with Professor Dumbledore,” (Sev always insisted we call him “Professor”) “Lupin, and another man. They were the only ones who knew about you at all, aside from a few neighbors.”
“Who was the other man?” I interrupted, suddenly full of questions.
“He's in prison now. Professor Dumbledore modified part of his memory, so that he wouldn't remember you,” Sev continued. “Anyway, the Dark Lord murdered your parents, and nobody knew about you. Professor Dumbledore thought you'd surely died, but someone found you in the wreckage of the house and took you to him. He brought you to me. We changed your last name from Potter to Evans to prevent suspicion. It was your mother's surname, so we thought it was appropriate.”
“Why didn't you change it to Snape?”
“Because that would be nearly as dangerous as you staying a Potter. Rosie,” he struggled with the next few words, “I used to be a Death Eater.”
I felt myself go numb. I had been raised to see the Death Eaters as horrible people with twisted morals. Sev wasn't a perfect parent. He did have his shortcomings. But he wasn't a bad person. He'd always taken good care of me, and in rather an odd way, I loved him. The idea of him being a Death Eater was something I simply could not comprehend.
“But, Sev, you aren't bad!” I choked.
“That doesn't mean I haven't done bad things,” he replied. “I was an ill-informed boy when I joined, hardly of age. I'm not trying to justify it, but the fact was that I was very naïve. Later on, when I found out he was going after you and your mother, I stopped. I just didn't want to do it anymore. Instead, I went to Professor Dumbldore and became a spy. I relayed information to him, and in return he offered me a job, and protection.”
I nodded slowly. A question had floated into my mind, but I was afraid to ask it. I looked at my shoes, purple hightops that I was exceedingly proud of. I asked them, “Have you- have you ever- you know, killed anyone?”
My shoes didn't answer me of course, and I didn't think my guardian would either. He did, though.
“No, Rose. I have not killed anyone. I have, however, done some despicable things, things that are almost worse than murder, and I'd prefer you not ask about them.”
I nodded, and was suddenly able to look at him again. “So, the reason I know all this is because nobody can know that I live with you?”
“More or less.”
“Okay, then.”
We sat in an awkward silence for a minute. I looked up at Sev again, after I'd finished digesting this information, and was a little surprised at what I saw. I had seen him angry, happy, worried, and serious, but never once had I seen him sad. That was the look on his face then, and it made me realize that he had been just as frightened by the whole story as I was. After all, he couldn't have been very calm when he found out that he had to take care of his dead friend's child. Strangely, this thought made me feel better.
“Hey,” I said quietly, “I'm not angry or anything. I mean, I was kind if scared, but I'm not scared of you. I'm scared of those other people. But not really, not anymore.”
Sev looked slightly relieved, and that made me relieved too. That was that. I knew everything about myself, or almost everything.
~ * ~
I started school normally, riding the train, sailing on Hagrid's boats, and being sorted. Much to my pleasant surprise- and Sev's too, though his surprise probably wasn't of the pleasant variety- I was placed in Gryffindor. I was happy to be in my parents' house, but part of me felt slightly guilty, and I glanced over my shoulder to give Sev's stony face an apologetic smile.
That night, after the Feast, I went to Dumbledore's office. I had to talk to him. When I got there, he was seated behind his desk, as usual, and Fawkes greeted me with a loud and musical caw. Dumbledore looked up and smiled at me. “Is there something I can do for you, Rose?”
I nodded. “Professor, Sev told me everything.”
Dumbledore's smile grew more knowing. “Yes. We were both under the impression that you took the news rather well.”
“I did, sir. I just wanted to give you something, because I don't need it anymore.” As I spoke, I held up the Invisibility Cloak that had kept me safe within these walls for the past ten years. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows slightly, but continued smiling. “I used it to hide from the other students, when I was little, and sir, I don't need to hide from them now. I was wondering, could you maybe give it to Harry? I bet he'd like to have something of Dad's.”
Dumbledore was positively beaming now. “I'll see that it gets to him. By the way, the Gryffindor password is Caput Draconis. If you take the secret passage by that rusty suit of armor out in the hall, you should just make it before Mr. Filch begins looking for stragglers.”
I smiled. “Thanks- thank you, Professor.” And I was on my way.
Over the next few years, I made friends with others in my year, made enemies with Draco Malfoy, and stood by as my brother had one near-death experience after another. The troll and the Basilisk gave me particular pause, and especially after third year, there were times when I was torn between the urge to hug him and say how proud I was and in the same instance hit him for nearly getting himself killed- again. Either probably would have earned me a perplexed look. Despite this, I managed to keep a low profile. But, this story really begins in my sixth year.
~ * ~
The summer I was almost sixteen, Sev was getting more and more worried about Voldemort's rise to power. He spent lot's of time relaying information to Dumbledore and other members of the Order of the Phoenix. Meanwhile, it was barely two weeks into summer and I still hadn't unpacked. Honestly, I was just bidding time until he announced that I was moving. I knew that this was inevitable; because Sev was a Death Eater double-agent, he associated with other Death Eaters. I knew I couldn't stay long.
Sure enough, the two weeks after I'd arrived home, Sev told me I was leaving. “You're going to stay with your friend, Samantha Roberts- that's her name, isn't it?” Sev didn't keep track of my Gryffindor friends. I didn't blame him. His unfair treatment of my classmates annoyed me sometimes, but now that I was older, I realized that in retrospect, it was a bit like the way McGonagall treated the Slytherins: quicker to punish the opposing team. Except I did feel that sometimes, she was more justified.
“Yes,” I said plainly. “Honestly, Sev, I haven't even unpacked yet. When do I leave?”
Sev smiled at that particular comment. “You'll be going about at about ten this evening, and Dumbledore will accompany you by side-along-Apparition.”
I nodded. “So, why so suddenly? I thought I had at least another week.”
Sev's face got an annoyed look. “Wormtail has been getting underfoot lately, and the Dark Lord feels he should be under my feet rather than his. If it's any consolation, I'm likely to be just as annoyed as you are."
I laughed. “You could put him on kitchen duty, at any rate. It looks like a Blast-Ended Skrewt got in here,” I said. Sev looked as though he thought that wasn't a bad idea.
We finished our lunch, and then I went upstairs and gathered what things I had been bold enough to unpack. I also had to tell Artemis we were leaving. She was a black streak as she ran to hide in my closet. Like me, she doesn't enjoy change.
I spent most of the day in my room, hiding all traces of my existence in case Wormtail stumbled into my bedroom. Most of my belongings went with me to Hogwarts, but my Tye-dye comforter, Weird Sisters poster, and Holly Head Harpies flag might have been a give away that I lived there. I boxed them up, and put them up in the attic, praying Sev's guest wouldn't discover them. Then I went back to my room. It was small, slightly larger than the one I had in Sev's Hogwarts living quarters. My bed was pushed against one wall, my closet was empty except for a few wire hangers, and the blue walls seemed empty without my posters. I peered through the yellow-and-white checkered curtains at the dull street below. It was empty, and a little cloudy. Turning, I went back to my bed, now only adorned by white sheets and a single pillow. I flopped onto it and fell asleep.
The Other Potter by georgeisholey
Story Notes:
I've always wanted to make up a sibling for Harry! I hope it doesn't sound too crazy. This is my first ever fan fic, so I WANT FEEDBACK. Please. Oh, and I'm one of those American kids, so if I screw up on any of the quaint little British sayings, please don't judge me! Oh yeah, and I, regretfully, do not own Harry Potter, or any of my wacky pop-culture references, but you have to wait until later in the book to see 'em. Enjoy!
Chapter Notes: I don't own Harry Potter. This chapter might be a little boring, but it is essential to the plot, so pay attention! I don't own Harry Potter, fyi.
Chapter Endnotes: Hey, do you guys see that little box down there? It looks sad and empty. Why don't you put a review in it? Might boost the poor thing's self esteem.