THE SACRIFICES ARC 1 - SAVING CONNOR - Lightning on the Wave.doc

THE SACRIFICES ARC

Saving Connor begins an AU of Harry Potter's school years, the Sacrifices Arc, where Harry's twin Connor (bearing a heart-shaped scar) is acknowledged as the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry and Connor have a loving relationship, and Harry plays the role of personal bodyguard/silent support for his brother to the hilt.

It will have at least one major slash pairing (Harry/Draco), but that's much further along in the story. As for other pairings, that will not be Ron/Hermione- for reasons that will become obvious in about the fifth year analogue - or Snape/anyone.

Harry is a Slytherin in this story, but he's also devoted to his twin brother, to following him and protecting him and making him look even more heroic than he might. Therefore, he's going to clash with both people who are purely Gryffindor and with Slytherins like Draco and Snape, who will get frustrated with him. I can promise there won't be physical or sexual abuse. There will be a lot of arguments, darkness, death, and mayhem, though.

One conceit of this story is that a lot of things are different, the prophecy and the night that Harry and Connor received their scars included. The full story of October 31, 1981 won't be told until the AU version of Prisoner of Azkaban.

PART 1 - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2580283/1/Saving_Connor

It's Year 1 and the AU of Philosopher's Stone. It introduces Harry and Connor, and starts the different resonances that will ultimately (if all goes as planned) turn the AU into its own universe, despite some canon similarities.

PART 2 - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2612486/1/No_Mouth_But_Some_Serpents

This is Year 2, the AU of Chamber of Secrets. It becomes considerably darker than first year, and involves Harry's Parselmouth skills (as you may have been able to tell from the title). Said title is from Swinburne's Anactoria, http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/acs-idx.pl?type=section&rgn=level1&byte=97791:

I would my love could kill thee; I am satiated
With seeing thee live, and fain would have thee dead.
I would earth had thy body as fruit to eat,
And no mouth but some serpent's found thee sweet.

PART 3 - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2655016/1/Comes_Out_of_Darkness_Morn

It's Year 3, the AU of Prisoner of Azkaban and the one where Harry finally finds out the full truth about October 31, 1981. Title is from Swinburne's The Garden of Proserpine, http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/acs-idx.pl?type=section&rgn=level1&byte=265832:

Pale, without name or number,
In fruitless fields of corn,
They bow themselves and slumber
All night till light is born;
And like a soul belated,
In hell and heaven unmated,
By cloud and mist abated
Comes out of darkness morn.

JAMES STORY - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2720074/1/Maze_of_Light

This is a James-centric short story, and tells part of Comes Out of Darkness Morn from his perspective. Don't read this until you finish reading the novel itself; it spoils a good portion of the plot, as well as the ending.

PART 4 - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2721625/1/Freedom_And_Not_Peace

This is Year 4, the AU of Goblet of Fire. The plot will follow the Tri-Wizard Tournament for only part of the story, and twist rather violently in the middle and at the end. Also, there will be the first mention of HP/DM slash. Title is from Swinburne's To Victor Hugo http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/acs-idx.pl?type=section&rgn=level1&byte=222866:

But we, our master, we
Whose hearts, uplift to thee,
Ache with the pulse of thy remembered song,
We ask not nor await
From the clenched hands of fate,
As thou, remission of the world's old wrong;
Respite we ask not, nor release;
Freedom a man may have, he shall not peace.

PART 5 - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2836413/1/Wind_That_Shakes_the_Seas_and_Stars

This is Year 5, the AU of Order of the Phoenix. It follows the beginning of the War and the gathering of Harry's allies. Title is from Swinburne's Ilicet http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/acs-idx.pl?type=section&rgn=level1&byte=127287

Wind wherein seas and stars are shaken
Shall shake them, and they shall not waken;
None that has lain down shall arise;
The stones are sealed across their places;
One shadow is shed on all their faces,
One blindness cast on all their eyes.

PART 6 - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3014337/1/A_Song_In_Time_of_Revolution

This is Year 6, the AU of Half-Blood Prince. While this contains character backstories and concepts from that book which will count as spoilers, the plot by this time looks almost nothing like HBP's, save for the occasional homage. Title is from Swinburne's poem of the same title http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/acs-idx.pl?type=section&rgn=level1&byte=218409

Where the waters are emptied and broken, the waves of the waters are stayed;
Where God has bound for a token the darkness that maketh afraid;

Where the sword was covered and hidden, and dust had grown in its side,
A word came forth which was bidden, the crying of one that cried:

The sides of the two-edged sword shall be bare, and its mouth shall be red,
For the breath of the face of the Lord that is felt in the bones of the dead.

PART 7 - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3189131/1/I_Am_Also_Thy_Brother

This is Year 7, the current story, and the End. Contains HP/DM slash, and is by far the darkest story of the series. Title is from Swinburne's Hymn to Proserpine http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/acs-idx.pl?type=section&rgn=level1&byte=117105

But I turn to her still, having seen she shall surely abide in the end;
Goddess and maiden and queen, be near me now and befriend.
O daughter of earth, of my mother, her crown and blossom of birth,
I am also, I also, thy brother; I go as I came unto earth.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2580283/1/Saving_Connor

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/895946/Lightning_on_the_Wave

Summary: eventual HP/DM slash, (very) Slytherin!Harry. Harry's brother Connor is the Boy-Who-Lived, and Harry has devoted himself to protecting him—by being ordinary. But certain people aren't content to let Harry hide in the shadows.

Warnings: Much more for language and violence than for sex. But it will be slash, so don't read it if if you don't like that sort of thing.

Notes: Okay, this is the first chapter of what will be, I hope, a long and complicated retelling of Harry's youth in an alternative world. There will be events, places, and people familiar from canon, but I'm not going to follow the storyline of the books completely, or even closely in many places.  I've always enjoyed stories where Harry has a sibling who supposedly saved the world, and stories where Harry's Sorted into Slytherin, but most of the time all the characters except Harry wind up as caricatures of themselves. This is my attempt at writing a Slytherin Harry who's not necessarily evil, and a Snape and Draco who may be good but not nice, and a sibling (Harry's twin brother Connor) who's his own person.

Saving Connor

Chapter One: Brother's Keeper

"What are your vows, Harry?"

Harry knew what they were, even though he was only five. He whispered them as his mother held him over his brother's bed, and his mother said them with him, murmured hypnotic words that Harry had heard his whole life.

"To keep Connor safe. To always protect him. To insure that he lives as untroubled a life as he can, until he has to face Lord Voldemort again." There was the pause for breath that his mother always took, as though she were frightened. Harry waited until she started speaking again, and then joined his voice to hers. "To be his brother and his friend and his guardian. To love him. To never compete with him, never show him up, and never let anyone else know that I'm so close to him. To be ordinary, so that he can be extraordinary."

Harry remembered stumbling on that last word, back on his and his brother's birthday, when his mother had first coached him into saying it and not just listening to her say it. He'd never asked what it meant, though. His parents thought he was smarter than he really was, sometimes. But now he wanted to know, so he turned around as his mother bore him towards the other bed and asked.

"Mum, what does extraordinary mean?"

Lily Evans Potter hesitated for a long moment, looking down at Harry as though she didn't know how to answer that. Then she smiled faintly, and shook her head, and sat on the bed beside him. Harry wriggled under the covers. He kept his eyes on her face, never taking them off. They both had eyes the same extreme, bright green, while Connor and their father James shared bright hazel eyes. Harry considered, in the secret box of his thoughts where he put everything he couldn't say aloud, that he and his mother had a special bond because they had the same eyes. He knew it wasn't really true, of course, not when Connor was the Boy-Who-Lived, but Harry liked to pretend, sometimes.

Lily smoothed back his fringe from the scar on Harry's forehead, absently. It was shaped like a lightning bolt. Harry knew how he'd gotten the scar—from a bit of falling rock when Voldemort attacked, on that horrible night he couldn't quite remember, when Lily and James had been lured away from home by the idea that their twin sons had already been kidnapped. Voldemort had stamped in, and shot the Avada Kedavra curse at Connor, and Connor had deflected it and destroyed him. He had a cut shaped like a heart on his forehead, a curse scar.

Thinking about that night, Harry realized he knew the meaning of "extraordinary" even before Lily whispered it to him.

"It means—special, Harry. It means not ordinary. It means standing out from the crowd." She hesitated again, as though she didn't know how to speak the next words.

"And I have to be ordinary, so that Connor can be special," said Harry, nodding. He understood. His little brother would need help from him. It wasn't an easy destiny, Lily had explained to him every day, being the one expected to defeat Lord Voldemort from scratch. Voldemort wasn't really gone, and would come back someday. Connor had to be ready for that day, had to concentrate, which was another word that Harry had learned early. So Harry would help him concentrate by being ordinary.

He didn't know just how that would work yet, but he would find out. Whenever he looked over at Connor, he felt a fierce surge of love for his little brother. Connor was special, and he was going to be special. Harry would help him.

When he glanced back at his mother, she was smiling at him, that secret little smile that only the two of them shared. She nodded, whispered, "Yes, Harry, that's it exactly," and kissed him before she stood and walked out of the room.

And Harry knew then, in a rush of joy, that their special bond wasn't fake after all. His mum trusted him to take care of his little brother. That was important. That was special.

He turned and bowed in the direction of Connor's bed, a gesture he'd learned about from an old story his godfather had told him the other day. "I'll protect you, Connor," he said. "I'll be your knight, and you can be king."

Connor sighed in his sleep.

Harry grinned, knowing he wouldn't wake up—Connor was too heavy a sleeper for that—and closed his eyes.

"Good try, Harry! You almost caught the Snitch."

Harry grinned and landed lightly, stabbing his feet into the dirt so that he wouldn't accidentally take off again. He loved to fly so much that he was quite capable of shooting himself up to the sky without meaning to. "Thanks, Connor," he said, climbing off the broom and nodding to his brother. "I'll keep trying. I'm sure with you for a coach, it won't take me long to get better."

Connor, already off his own broom, bounced over and messed up Harry's hair, not that it needed the help. "You'll get better," he said. "Next match." Then he tossed the fluttering Snitch into the air, ran over to his broom, leaped on it, and started chasing the little golden ball.

Harry leaned back on the sun-warmed grass and watched. Connor was already fifty feet off the ground, then sixty. Then he spiraled down in a daring dive that just missed the Snitch and the grass both. He pulled out of it, and Harry let out an anxious little breath. He'd showed his brother how to do the dive himself, because Connor had to be a good flyer, but he couldn't help the dread in his throat just in case this was the time that Connor crashed.

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Harry rolled his head back, smiling when he saw who it was. "I didn't know you were here, Padfoot," he said, and sat up to hug Sirius. His godfather hugged him back, one-armed, and sat down beside him. His eyes were also on Connor. Firmly convinced that that was the way it should be, Harry leaned against Sirius and closed his eyes.

"James wanted to take your mother out somewhere private," said Sirius finally, and then leered at Harry.

"Sirius! Ew." Harry wrinkled up his nose. He didn't really want to think about his parents having sex. Their eleventh birthday was tomorrow, and they would receive their Hogwarts letters then. Harry knew that his parents were probably feeling anxious about this last month before they had to let Connor go out into the big wide wizarding world, but he would just as soon not know what they were doing to settle their nerves.

Sirius messed up his hair in turn. Harry was resigned to it by now. "Anyway," Sirius added, "they wanted someone here to look after you. Just in case."

Harry stiffened and drew away. "I look after Connor," he said. "That's what I do."

Sirius smiled gently at him. "I know, Harry, but Connor's still a child." He sighed and looked up as Connor missed the Snitch and flipped his broomstick half upside-down to chase after it. "And even though Peter—" he spat the name "—is in Azkaban, there are other Death Eaters who might be looking for a chance to harm him."

Harry nodded. He knew all about the Death Eaters. His parents had given him the names of the ones they knew for certain and had him study their families and their powers, and practice a few essential spells until he was almost good enough to stop Death Eaters. Almost, Harry repeated to himself. He wanted to think he was good enough, already, but that was hard to say until he actually faced a Death Eater in battle. Besides, he had to practice in secret. He was a little quicker than Connor to pick up spells, sometimes, and he couldn't embarrass or show up his brother.

A little quicker, that's all, he protested, and leaned back again to watch Connor once again catch the madly fluttering Snitch. And I'm a little quicker on the broom, too, but I always hold myself just under his speed. He'll never know. And no one else ever will, either. They'll all think he's the best.

That pleased Harry. Quite apart from giving Connor his place in the sunshine—which was what he deserved, after being marked for death by Voldemort—the extra advantages would come in handy someday. A Death Eater who thought Harry was slow on a broom might underestimate him, and then Harry would slam into him and take anyone trying to hurt his brother down.

"Merlin, Harry, you act like the weight of the world is on your shoulders sometimes," said Sirius, breaking his reverie. "Are you all right?"

Harry hunched for a moment, then relaxed. He reminded himself that Sirius, and Remus too, thought that he was just being earnest and childish when he talked about protecting his brother. They didn't know the truth, like his mum did. No one would know the truth. Harry would be ordinary.

"I'm fine," he said. "And I'm not carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. That's for Connor."

Sirius's face softened, and he once again watched Connor until he caught the Snitch. "He's going to have a rough road ahead of him," he agreed.

Not as rough as it could be, Harry promised himself, drawing his knees up to his chin and putting his arms around them. I'll always be at your right shoulder, Connor. I've got your back, and no one will see me until they try to hurt you and I hurt them instead.

It was life. It was a way to be ordinary and yet ready to defend the Boy-Who-Lived. It was a way to make sure that Connor survived.

Harry listened to his twin, destined for a life of hardship and pain, laugh, and couldn't imagine anything he wouldn't sacrifice to keep that laughter intact.

Chapter Two: Meetings, Cordial and Otherwise

"Now, Connor, be good for your professors. Do you have Godric? Good. Keep him in his cage for right now, at least until you get to Hogwarts. James, you are not sending the Invisibility Cloak with him. Yes, I saw you take it out of your pocket. Put it back right now. He doesn't need that in his first year…"

Harry trailed behind his parents as they escorted Connor towards Platform 9 ¾, smiling as he listened. Normally his mother wasn't this fussy, but normally she had Connor right at home where she could keep an eye on him, or have Harry or Sirius or Remus keep an eye on him, and could pull her wand instantly if someone who might be a Death Eater approached. In the shouting, clamoring bustle of King's Cross, filled with Muggles as well as wizards, there were more opportunities for someone to draw near and take aim at Connor.

Harry wasn't that worried. He had tried a few of his favorite spells with his new wand the moment he bought it, and to his relief, they worked even better with that than they had with the practice wand. He even thought he could trust his snowy owl, Hedwig, to spy out danger if it approached. She sat in her cage on top of his trolley right now, staring in several directions with bright golden eyes. She seemed more alert than Godric, Connor's black eagle-owl, who either sat with his eyes closed or craned his head around to stare at people Harry knew from the set of their faces were innocent.

"Harry."

Harry looked up, startled. They'd almost reached the magical wall that permitted passage between the station and the Platform, and he hadn't noticed his mother dropping back to walk beside him. Of course, she was an automatic non-threat, like Sirius or Remus. Harry resolved to be more careful, though. There wouldn't be any automatic non-threats on the train.

"Yes, Mum?" he murmured.

Lily hesitated for a long moment, as though she were thinking of giving him the stream of advice she'd handed Connor. Harry waited patiently. She was only going to say one thing, and he knew what it was. But, at the same time, he needed to hear it. It was confirmation of his purpose, of his loyalties and his position in the world.

"Take care of your brother," said Lily at last, and something coiled and tense in Harry's head breathed out a sigh of relaxation.

"Of course, Mum," he said.

Lily's hand swept across his fringe, stroking the scar that Harry knew was a distorted, imperfect reflection of his twin's curse scar. "You're the lightning bolt," she whispered. "You strike hard and fast, and you don't leave any remains behind. Connor's the heart. Protect his innocence, Harry. Make sure that he's still pure and unspoiled at the end of it all. Headmaster Dumbledore said that Connor would have the power the Dark Lord knows not. That's his ability to love, it has to be. But if he has to grow up too fast, he'll lose it." She bent down and kissed Harry on his scar. "Be sure that he can stay a child for just a little while longer."

"I will, Mum." Harry forced the words out through the lump in his throat. She had never said anything like that to him, ever. It was Connor's scar that was significant, Connor's scar that marked him for death and glory. To think that he was part of what his brother was a part of, even for a little while…

Lily looked as if she would have said something more, but Connor yelled from ahead. "Harry, come on! The train's getting ready to leave!"

Harry and Lily exchanged smiles. Connor was innocently excited about going to Hogwarts, and perhaps anticipating, just a little, what they would make of the Boy-Who-Lived. He saw it as such a big change in the life he'd lived so far, as if everything would be different and nothing the same ever again.

In some ways, Harry thought, that was true. Connor would be doing real spells now, much more often than he'd done them at home. He would have to start growing up, losing his innocence, learning to love not just his parents and Harry and Sirius and Remus, but the whole wizarding world he'd have to protect someday.

Harry was glad that his own life was so simple in comparison. His responsibility was what it had always been: protect Connor.

He touched his mother's hand one more time, then turned and walked through the barrier onto the platform. Hedwig hooted softly as he did so, as if impressed by the size and noise of the train.

Harry kept an eye on his brother as they boarded, but Connor luckily chose an empty compartment. Harry slid in behind him and raised his eyebrows at him.

Connor grinned cheekily back. They didn't actually look much like twins, Harry thought absently, the old insight brought home to him with new force because of seeing his brother in an entirely new place. Connor had black hair, but it was less messy than Harry's, so that his scar was usually half-visible, the lower curve of the heart just peeking out. He had James's hazel eyes, and Lily's lack of need for glasses, and more of James's looks.

Even that can be an advantage, Harry thought as he took a seat across from his brother. There's no possible way a Death Eater can mistake him, of course, but they might also not think I'm his brother.

"Aren't you excited?" Connor asked him.

Harry smiled. "Of course I am," he said. "But the best part is watching you bounce around like a Chocolate Frog."

"I am not bouncing," said Connor, bouncing.

"Yes, you are."

"Am not."

"Yes, you are."

"Am not."

So they continued, enjoying the completely childish argument that their parents would have been yelling at them to stop inside two minutes. They'd probably been at it for ten minutes when the door slid open. Harry turned to face it at once, making sure that his expression was welcoming and pleasant, just like Connor's innocent smile. His hand was on his wand, but that hung in the loose pocket of his school robes, which he already wore, and no one else had to know.

The boy in the open door stood blinking for a moment, as if he had not expected two of them. Then he moved forward. Harry studied his red hair and worn, if clean, clothes, and then slowly took his hand off his wand. The boy was almost certainly a Weasley, and the whole of that family was loyal to Dumbledore and fought for the Order of the Phoenix. The current mother had even lost relatives to Voldemort. Harry could trust this boy not to hurt Connor, at least until he proved otherwise.

"Hi," said the boy, and sat down across from Connor, next to Harry. "I heard that Connor Potter was in this compartment. Is that you?"

Connor grinned and lifted the fringe so that the boy could see the heart-shaped scar. The Weasley blinked and gaped in awe, then stuck out a hand, grinning. "My name's Ron Weasley. It's brilliant to meet you. Do you know my parents? I think they know yours. Mum said something about visiting you once, and Dad said it was restricted, but…"

Harry sat back and let the chatter wash over him, watching through half-lowered eyes as his brother responded, skittish at first, and then gaining confidence as he saw how fascinated with his presence Ron was. Connor had never been around other children his own age, any more than Harry had. It really was too dangerous for others to visit them, at least as long as Voldemort had a chance of coming back. That was one of the many reasons Harry was pleased they were going to Hogwarts now. Connor would have many friends. Not all of them could be the children of Death Eaters assigned to spy on him, though Harry was willing to think that many were, especially if they came from Slytherin House.

The door of the compartment abruptly slid open again, and another boy stood just inside it. Harry tensed. This wizard had blond hair and the practiced bored expression of a pureblood, and two other wizards flanked him like house elves. He glanced at the Weasley and sneered, and Harry's hand went to his wand.

"You're the Boy-Who-Lived," he said to Connor. "Aren't you." His tone, a lazy drawl that was too obviously forced, didn't make it a question.

Connor nodded, his shoulders tense. Harry gave his brother full points for observation. He didn't know who this was yet, though he had his suspicions, and Connor, sheltered from the outside world, disliked the boy on principle. A good sign of an innocent heart.

"My name's Draco Malfoy," said the boy, and stepped forward, hand out as if he expected Connor to actually shake it.

Harry stood, fully prepared to speak a hex. Lucius Malfoy had stood high in Voldemort's circle, and then escaped Azkaban on the flimsiest of excuses. Of all the children attending Hogwarts this year, his son was the one Harry would choose for Most Likely to Try and Kill Connor.

Malfoy gave him an odd glance, then laughed. "And who is this?" he asked. "Someone else paying court to you, Potter, like the Weasley?"

That's it, Harry thought, as he saw a familiar fire ignite in Connor's eyes. He's just lost his chance.

"This is my brother Harry," said Connor, also standing up. He was slightly taller than he looked, and when he turned his gaze on Malfoy, the man he would become was visible. Harry nearly stopped breathing with admiration. If Connor had to lose a piece of his innocence today, he was doing so for a worthy cause. "And this is Ron Weasley, my friend. You're never going to be, so don't insult your betters."

Malfoy froze for a moment, his eyes wide. Harry peered at him, wondering why.

Then he understood. Malfoy was an innocent in his own way, it seemed. He had come into the compartment as he probably walked everywhere, swaggering and drawling, and expected Connor to accept him as everyone must have accepted him. The Malfoys would have raised their son around other purebloods, groomed into perfect statuary by their parents to show obedience to the rich and powerful—and the Malfoys were both. Why should the Boy-Who-Lived be different from the children Draco had known all his life?

Harry sighed, feeling an odd pity for the boy, and took his hand off his wand. And then he heard Connor snicker.

"Not that I'd want you to be my friend," he said. "You have an ugly name."

"Connor!" Harry cried, shocked. Defending the innocent was one thing. Hurling a childish insult was quite another. The purebloods were part of the wizarding world, too, and Connor should have been above the kind of retaliation that Harry fully expected from someone like Draco. The hurt was still visible on Malfoy's face; he'd been too startled to hide it. Connor could have made the rebuke sting a little less with the right words, and been on the road to gaining a valuable ally. These were definitely not the right words, for all that they set Ron to laughing.

They closed off that little hurt look on Malfoy's face. He straightened, and the wizards with him looked to him for orders. But Malfoy merely glared down his nose at Connor, said, "I should have expected that someone with a Mudblood for a mother would have no sense of proper manners," and swept out the door.

...