(Edited 30/06/2020)

Chapter 1

Percy's Point of View

I was watching as Harry poured over a book of magical theory when the yelling started. Harry had read this book before, and I had already had it memorised, so I was daydreaming slightly of what it felt like when we actually used our magic (wandlessly, of course, as we aren't yet old enough to have a wand) as the library door was flung open and our screaming parents came tearing into the room.

"What do you mean there are two letters from Hogwarts?" Lily was yelling at James, her fiery red hair looking like a messy halo of fury as her green eyes – Harry's green eyes – flashed with confusion.

James just ran a hand through his black mess of hair (the same hair we had) and groaned. "Exactly that, Lily-flower. Two letters – one for Charles, one for Harry."

A spark of confused recognition dimmed the furious flames in Lily's eyes. "Harry...?"

Harry stood up from where we had been distracted from his book, and I sighed as he opened his mouth to speak. "Yes mother?"

Both Harry and I flinched as Lily let out a small scream. "Who- what- how-?"

"Oh dear Merlin." Guilt dulled James' hazel eyes as he stared at us. "How could we for-"

"Forget us?" Harry finished his sentence. "Well, my memory is a little fuzzy, but I think it was something to do with the fact we are apparently had dissociative identity disorder. I don't have DID. Percy lives within me."

I mentally giggled as I saw our parent's shock slackened faces. Normal 11 year olds apparently didn't have the mental maturity that Harry and I did. It took a good minute and a half for our parents to collect their thoughts, but we waited patiently until they did.

"Honey, who's Percy?" Lily asked eventually.

"Percy is the other boy sharing our body. He's very nice, why don't you like him?" Harry asked, innocent confusion literally dripping off his words. I was just as confused. Did my parents hate me? I was always polite and kind to them, why didn't they like me?

Father frowned. "Harry, Percy doesn't exist. He's just a figment of your imagination."

Each word he spoke was like a bullet to my heart. In the back of our mind I broke down in emotional tears, shutting out the world as Harry shouted back at our father. You'd think I'd be used to this by now, having had at least 3 psychiatrists tell us the same thing when we were about 4, but hearing it from my own parents hurt a lot more. From the hot wet tears trailing down our cheeks it must have hurt and angered Harry too, but I was only vaguely aware of what Harry was feeling. I was drowning in a pool of pain and nothing was going to pull me out...

'Percy, snap out of it! Father is an ignorant idiot, don't listen to him!' Harry shouted at me mentally, equivalently slapping me across the face. Suddenly the pool of pain felt more like puddle.

'Thanks Harry.' I smiled weakly.

I returned my attention to our parents, who were looking rather confused at how to treat us. James had tried to tell us that I didn't exist, and Harry had gone from acting almost grown up to having a full on screaming fit. Then he had blanked the pair of them as he comforted me, which made them slightly mad. Now we were just staring at them, making both Lily and James really uncomfortable.

Harry poked me with a gentle soothing thought and we slowly merged. I couldn't read all of Harry's thoughts, but I was more in tune to his emotions and the thoughts he was sending to me, just as he was with me, giving both of us equal control over our actions. This wasn't something we did often, but when one of us was slightly emotionally unstable it made it easier for both of us to cope.

"May we have our letter?" We asked, our tone deadly serious and slightly childish at the same time. We saw Lily flinch, and a slight frown brushed our forehead. We were only asking for our letter.

"Err, yes, of course." Our father agreed readily. "It's in the kitchen. Charles should be up soon, are you joining us for breakfast?"

A childish delight filled us and a wonder-filled smile lit up our face. "We can join you?"

Guilt once again replaced the confusion in our parents' eyes. A small tear trailed down Lily's face. "Of course you can."

We grinned and hugged Lily tightly, then hugged James too. "Thank you!"

After we turned 6 our parents had yelled at me when I had slouched in our chair at meal times, and so we had assumed that we weren't welcome to join our parents at meals. Therefore knowing we were allowed made us very happy. Maybe our parents hadn't deliberately blocked us out of their lives...

We sat silently in our chair, waiting for Charles to come downstairs with the smell of cooking bacon and eggs filling the room. Harry was subconsciously making sure that we were sat up straight with our elbows off the table as we used my slightly more polite speech patterns to make small talk with our parents. It felt... right.

Then Charles came crashing down into the kitchen and stopped short at the sight of me. "Who are you?" He demanded, rather rudely.

"We're Harry and Percy." We answered. Charles took a step back, fear lighting up his eyes. Hurt dimmed the happy feeling that our parents acceptance had given us.

"Charlie, dear, this is Harry, your brother, don't you remember him?" Lily introduced us.

Charles reply was short and sharp. "No."

Silence filled the kitchen, only broken by the soft tapping of our feet on the floor as my ADHD made us fidget, and the spitting of the bacon in the pan.

"Hi?" We offered hopefully.

Charles just huffed and turned his gaze on our parents. "Did my letter come? Can I see it?"

Our mother smiled happily. "Of course you can."

James handed Charles his letter, then passed ours to us. A ghost of a smile lifted our lips as we slowly caressed the seal on the back. Then, carefully so not to damage the wax seal bearing the shield of Hogwarts, we opened the letter.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment.

Term starts on 1st September. We await your owl by no later than 31st July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

'We can finally go to school.' The thought struck us both at the same time. Then a second thought hit me. 'We need to learn how to write properly...'

"Um... Mother, Father." We spoke up hesitantly, "Will you teach us to write? We mean, we can write, but it's always very messy."

"For Merlin's sake!" Charles shouted. "You're mad! Stop saying 'we', there's only one of you!"

"Charles!" Lily gasped. "Don't shout at your brother!"

Something about the fear in Lily's voice made us wonder what had happened in the library when Harry had been comforting me. It wouldn't have been the first time accidental magic had sparked when we were highly emotional. But the library had looked normal when we came back to them...

"He's just doing it for attention." Charles whined. "Seriously, it's just immature."

"Big word." Anger made Harry take back full control and sneer at our brother. "Are you sure you understand it?"

Charles started going red, much to my fascination. 'Harry, don't be mean. I think he's choking on something!'

Concern echoed through the bond from Harry, and he touched a finger to Charles throat, magic sparking though the touch. Nothing happened, and we both frowned.

'So he's not choking?' Harry asked.

I was equally confused at this point. 'So why is he red in the face then?'

"Don't touch me, you freak!" Charles growled.

"Charles are you ok?" All the spiteful anger had left Harry's voice. "You've gone red."

James started laughing, making Harry stare at him in confusion now. What on earth was going on?

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Honey, Charles isn't hurt." Lily told us. "He's angry."

"Then why is he red? I thought people only turned red if they were sick or hurt. That's what the medical books in the library told us." Harry blinked. We compared memories of what the library books had told us and we both had the same conclusion. People only turned red when ill or hurt. And sometime when overheated.

James was in hysterics by now, and Charles was starting to laugh too. Harry and I were completely confused at this point and so just sat there silently watching everyone.