The Forgotten Twin
The Sorting

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here!” A booming voice from a giant of a man called in attention almost immediately after the train pulled to a stop.

Dressed in his Hogwarts’ uniform, Bard jumped down to the floor of Hogwarts’ station and wandered over near the crowd of gathering first years. Nearly bumping heads with a boy in front of him, he hurriedly bowed out of sight when a glimpse of blond caught his peripheral view. He waved and gave a smile at the girl that noticed his doing so. Thankfully, she was a no-nonsense kind of girl and kindly left him alone.

“Alright there, Harry?” Bard heard the giant say before they were off to follow the giant down a steep, narrow path. A couple of minutes stomping through the wooded path with only a lamp as their guiding light, several students let out awed gasps as they came upon the edge of a great black lake.

Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky was a vast castle with many a turrets and towers. It was a pretty sight, but not as magnificent as when winged, reptilian-like horses flew in view at the school.

It was a sight he would never forget.

[Hogwarts]

By the time they were ushered in an empty chamber off the entrance hall, Bard considered himself extremely lucky. Every one of the students were too immersed in their nerves to notice his obvious connection to the boy-who-lived for apparently, before they were to settle themselves in the school, they were to be tested in front of all. One bushy haired girl, he noticed, was already muttering spells under her breath while some others appeared to be frightening themselves with thoughts of what might come to be. A quick look at Draco and he almost laughed out loud.

Sweaty palms and twiddling fingers, the poor boy reminded him of En before he was about to be subjected by his very strict caretaker. He almost gave in the urge to calm the blonde as he would to En but before he could rethink his actions, a scream tore through the wave of tension. Bard looked up and almost toppled over.

Ghosts, -ghosts!- started flitting in about their little chamber. His brain seemed to shut down from shock, only to restart when the very strict Professor McGonagall shooed them away by sight alone.

“Now form a line and follow me.”she said, unbothered by the souls of the living dead.

It took a moment for his body to react back to movement.

Like the book Hogwarts, A History had mentioned, the Great Hall consisted of hundreds of candle lights floating in mid-air and a bewitched ceiling to replicate the sky outside. Four long tables that Bard had guessed were for each house and the staff table where the teachers sat. In the middle, Bard couldn’t help but notice the old man sitting at the center on a large gold chair. Even for a wizard, the robes he wore looked very … avant garde.

His eyes then took a shift as Professor McGonagall placed an old pointed wizard’s hat on top of an equally old fashioned, wooden stool and reminiscent of the brick entrance to Diagon Alley, the hat twitched and opened the rip near its brim up widely. It then started to sing.

Oh you may not think I’m pretty,

But don’t judge on what you see,

I’ll eat myself if you can replace

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There’s nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can’t see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryfreplaceor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryfreplaceors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you’ve a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always replace their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You’ll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don’t be afraid!

And don’t get in a flap!

You’re in safe hands (though I have none)

For I’m a Thinking Cap!

The whole Hall burst in applause after the hat had finished its song and bowed to each of the four tables before becoming quite still again in which after, Professor McGonagall stepped up with a roll of parchment. Looking at its size, Bard prepared himself for the long wait of his name to be called. He was terribly excited.

He couldn’t wait to try on that hat.

“Abbott, Hannah!” … “Finch-Fletchley, Justin!” … “Granger, Hermione!” … “Longbottom, Neville!” …

“Malfoy, Draco!” Bard let out a low, impressed whistle as he watched the blond’s sorting. It didn’t even come to the point of touching before the hat bellowed out Slytherin’s name. He let out a smile and joined in on the applause for Draco, happy that he had gotten into the house he clearly wanted to be in.

It took only a handful of girls afterward for his name to be called.

“Potter,” Bard spied a look at his twin brother. “Charlus!”

A shocked of disbelief silence descended the Hall and Bard was grinning like a fool.

Draco was in near spluttering outrage.

Hagrid, the giant, sat stock still, speechless. A man dressed in all black looked equally so.

And nearly everyone in the room thought that Professor McGonagall read the name out wrong.

Bard’s body felt as it was on vibrate. He couldn’t wait to write to Remus, En, and his Master about their stupid looking faces.

And finally, finally, his twin turned about to face him.

An almost mirror image of himself stared back at him.

“Harry,” a tall, gangly red haired kid next to his twin whispered, as if he couldn’t hear them from their measly distance. “You never mentioned anything about a brother.” Harry swallowed in response.

“That’s because I don’t have one. … Or at least, I don’t think so.”

“Charlus,”Penetrated the no-nonsense voice of Professor McGonagall through loud whispers and stares, “Come and sit. NOW.”

And just like the parting of the red sea, the few students left standing in the middle of hall, made a path for the mysterious Potter.

As Bard sat and the Sorting Hat placed atop his head, the whole of the room witnessed for the first time the hat doing more than just singing and talking. It visibly cringed. Bard was laughing so loudly in his head, the Hat almost asked to be let off the student’s head. And because of that, Bard had the longest time sitting on the stool for that year.

“SLYTHERIN!”

Polite applause from Slytherin and his teachers. Bard frowned, disappointed. He expected enthusiasm at least (he was actually hoping for Hufflepuff) but he probably shocked the whole Hall out of a full year’s worth of booming applauses and took a seat on an empty slot near the end of the table. Once seated though, a grin stretched widely on his face. He couldn’t stop it even if he wanted to.

Harry, the chosen one, was sorted into Gryfreplaceor as well as his red-headed friend Ron Weasley. The last student, Zabini, Blaise procured a seat next to a fuming Draco in Slytherin.

The Headmaster, an Albus Dumbledore -the person with the colorful robe, stood up to say a few words.

“Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!” Then a feast of grand proportions appeared on each of the table’s plates. Bard happily helped himself of it, not once staring back the far end of the Hall at his twin. He deemed the student body did enough of it for them both.

He blinked when an arm blocked his way from his plate.

“You told me your name was ‘Bard’” Draco hissed angrily, uncaring of the attention they were gathering.

“It is ‘Bard’. That’s the name I’ve known myself be called by since I was given it. Five years ago.” Bard pushed the arm away.

“Lie!” accused Draco. “You’re a Potter! You delib--”

“I didn’t lie Draco.” Bard spat the word, disgusted as he glared. “I never knew of the Potter name before an owl gave me an invite to Hogwarts. Even of the wizarding world.”

“So you’re a muggle born?” Draco looked mortified. Bard made an obvious display of looking around for ogling eyes.

“Can we continue this later, Draco? I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be made spectacle of a scandal just on your first day.” He emphasized. To his surprise, Draco sniffed and sat right across him. He expected the blond to leave but it only meant that Draco, no matter what, stuck to his decisions. Even at a cost of his reputation.

“You better tell me everything, Potter, or I promise you, you will regret it.” In a release for angry frustration, he roughly grabbed the handle of a serving spoon and placed a thick glob of mashed potatoes on the plate in front of him. Bard couldn’t be any happier than at that moment.

[Slytherin Common Room]

“You were dropped as an infant?”

“Left at a doorstep of an orphanage in Bristol. Weren’t you listening?” corrected Bard.

He felt ridiculous, with his back to the fireplace and standing in front of Draco’s sitting form on the couch, as if in court with him as the accused. Though it wouldn’t be so far out of truth of what they were doing. But even tired and sleepy, -not to mention, having to wake up at dawn for his routine exercise, he wouldn’t stand being accused of something so dreadful, being called a liar.

“And why Bristol?” ignoring the barb, Draco continued the interrogation. Bard managed to hold himself from rolling his eyes.

“Why not Bristol? I was picked up by a muggle, Draco. I’m lucky enough to have been found at least.” Bard said irritably.

“What was so dreadful about the orphanage that you chose to run away?” Pansy Parkinson, one of the people who stayed behind in the common room to be a witness to his story, asked him. A snort from his left sounded.

“Do you have to even question it, Pansy? It was a building full of muggles. No self-respecting wizard would want to stay in there for long.” Bard quirked a brow at Theodore Nott’s given opinion at his place on the armchair.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Bard defended, “it was as normal as any Christian Orphanage can be. I just liked the circus better.” He shrugged.

“Uh-huh, and then you just happened to replace a kidnapped prince in the place where you were doing your work and gave him back to his attendees?” Pansy sarcastically implied.

“You wouldn’t believe the amount of things it took to make En stop crying. I nearly got accused of taking him ransom myself when I brought him back. He wouldn’t let go of me though and they had to believe me when I told them I just found him in a barrel.”

“They had to believe you?” Blaise Zabini repeated on his other side.

“En wouldn’t let go.” Bard emphasized.

“And you’re now living in the palace of Ezra with the prince and as an apprentice of this… Master Scorpius?” Draco continued skeptically.

“Scorpius Diaab, High Advisor of King Asfour and former Chieftain of Ezra’s Eastern Territory,” dictated Bard.

“And you mean to make us believe of this bizarre tale? That you were somehow lost as an infant, made to live in a muggle orphanage in Bristol, ran away with the circus five years later and rescued a prince from being ransomed?” To his honest surprise, it was Crabbe standing behind Draco who had asked the question. Goyle next to him was nodding in agreement at the suggesting fanciful notion of the idea. But Bard raised a brow in defiance.

“The story goes that Harry Potter was left to live with his only remaining family which are muggles. This only means that some blubbering fool lost an infant and covered up his magnanimous mistake by declaring to the world that it died along with the parents, making only the baby that he didn’t lose as the Boy-Who-Lived.” Draco gave a sniff of disgust.

“Probably some silly Gryfreplaceor, I reckon.” Pansy quipped as the interrogation seemed to come to close when they all stood up intending for bed. Bard was amazed that they had so easily believed his story.

“Any Slytherin worth his salt would have conducted a much more believable story than that, Potter.” declared Draco. And just like that, Bard understood the Slytherin way of thinking.

“‘Bard’ or ‘Ignatius’, Draco. Don’t call me ‘Potter’.” Bard told him. And just like any good Slytherin would do, Draco proceeded to call him ’Charles’.

Tbc