BROTHERHOOD ⟶ Harry Potter

Prologue

With his brother's crying growing louder, Milo helped Harry sit up, noting the new mark on his brother's forehead. He went to touch it but Harry wailed out before he could, leaving Milo fearful of doing anything but just sit there with Harry in his lap. Their mother, continued to lie there, her eyes open, staring up at the ceiling as if she were napping without closing her eyes.

"Mummum," Harry whimpered. "Mummum?"

"Mummy go night-night," Milo answered, wrapping his arms tightly around Harry as the two waiting for some form of help to arrive. They hoped that their parents would jump up at one point, pretending that they were just playing a game, kind of like when their father would hide behind the sofa and spring up to surprise them. However, Lily did not move and unbeknownst to them, downstairs, their father was dead, lying on the floor of the living room. 

***

Milo had been so thrilled to see Sirius when he arrived at the home, eventually, but it was short-lived as the man did not stay long. Almost instantly, he had broken down into a fit of tears, just spotting the two holding onto each other in the bedroom, next to their mother's dead body. The scar on Harry's forehead was obvious and there was no sign of Voldemort. But he left with an angered look on his face, making Milo wonder if he was upset with him. People continued to arrive, but when the final group of people arrived, the children were no longer left alone.

A large man that nearly crashed into the ceiling of the bedroom entered and lifted the children up. Harry could nearly fit into the palm of the man's hand. Milo positioned himself to grip the front of the man's coat, tightly, while also grabbing several of the man's beard hairs. Harry was easily soothed as he was wrapped in a blanket and ended up becoming sleepy from the nightly events. But Milo was wide awake after his nap, he wanted to know why his parents weren't coming with them and the man. All of his thoughts were drowned out as he found himself positioned to sit in a sidecar on a motorcycle.

Leaving his home felt wrong, he had remained there since his birth and over the recent year, his family hadn't left the house. It was always the four of them, day-in and day-out with the exception of visitors. Now, he found himself outside, in the cold night air, without his mother and father, leaving him terribly confused and upset.

There was no astonished look on his face as the motorcycle took to the air, Milo was upset and wanted to go back to the house with his mother and father. But no matter how much he cried and protested in the sidecar, he wasn't going anywhere but with the large stranger.

Harry appeared as the easier child, falling asleep during the trip but Milo didn't care as he wasn't going for first impressions. He cried and cried until he exhausted himself and finally fell asleep as well.

He slept until he felt himself being removed from the sidecar, opening up his eyes slowly as they burned from all the recent crying. The poor boy had a horrible case of the hiccups, which jolted his body every few seconds. The sounds of adults talking, instantly brought him to look around in hopes of seeing his parents, but none of the adults fit the description. His lower lip trembled, despite the fact that he recognized the older man standing across the way. He had been to the house numerous times before, especially after Harry was born. He paid a lot of attention to Harry, but Milo wasn't fond of him, mainly because he wanted to keep putting the man's glasses off his face like he did all the time with his father. 

Settled in the arms of a woman, while his brother was transferred over into the arms of the old wizard, Milo glanced up at her with a curious look. She wore glasses too, no smile on her face, and her hair was pulled back under her hat, giving her a stern appearance that Milo only saw when he was in trouble with his mother. However, as she peered down at him, her eyes seemed to be holding back tears as they were watery. He reached for her glasses, but her reflexes were fast, holding his little wrist gently before he could pull them off.

"There will be none of that," she told him in a softer voice. He didn't cry, but Milo didn't stop staring at her as the adults continued speaking around the two Potter siblings.

***

Minerva McGonagall held the child in her arms, uncomfortable at first as the toddler continued to stare at her, but he seemed obedient enough as he didn't dare grab for her glasses a second time. She had argued with Albus about leaving the boys with the Dursleys family. Even if they were of Lily Potter's family, she had observed their behavior and there was nothing in her mind that would convince her that it was a good idea for the children to stay with the family. But what choice did they truly have? Harry had to remain safe, as he was part of the prophecy? Was Voldemort truly dead? She would have liked to believe so, but the way Albus was acting, Minerva didn't believe they were in the clear. 

"Albus, you're expecting these people to take two children, on top of their own horrid child, I don-"

"It is Harry that they must take in," Albus said, making the youngest Potter the main priority, but Minerva certainly didn't see it as fair that the other one was not held in the same light of importance.

"And this child?" Minerva said glancing back at Milo, who was still watching her. His little fingers tracing over the patterns on her robes. "You can not just neglect this child because he was not part of the prophecy. Two children have lost their parents and-"

"Would you be willing to take him in?"

The question had caught the woman completely off guard as bluntly as Albus had asked it. Her eyes widened for a second, questioning whether or not to ask the man if he had completely lost his mind in that moment. She was preparing to say no, she was not a mother, she had once wanted children, but life had not been so kind in an opportunistic way. She wasn't at a stage in her life where raising a child would be appropriate, but Minerva would learn in a matter of seconds, that she didn't have much of a choice.

Milo's head came to rest on her shoulder, as he let out a tired little yawn. His hand that had been gripping her robes, fell to his side as he was beginning to drift off to sleep again. Albus was not giving an option when it came to Harry, but could she really allow two children to suffer a fate under such horrible people?

"There would be help, of course," Albus added. "You would not be raising him alone."

Guilt would eat the woman alive if she decided to leave the child among the Dursleys, it was bad enough they were leaving one to suffer.

"I will not lie to him," Minerva spoke after a couple of minutes in passing silence. "He will know who he is. He will know of his family and what became of them. He will learn how his parents died and he will know where his brother is and why they are not together. I will not keep him in the dark, Albus. If you can agree to this, I will raise him, with help or not."