DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.

CHAPTER 1

Standing in the middle of the ruins Dumbledore deliberated; in front of him was a large crib in which lay two tiny infants. The one with the curling mop of red hair was called Darren, the elder of the two; he had James Potter's warm brown eyes which were peering steadily up at him while the other child had black, messy hair and was called Harry. His eyes were veiled by his eyelids at that moment, but Dumbledore knew that the child had Lily's eyes, a stunning emerald color.

Looking down at them he ran his mind over the prophecy, focusing on the first two lines of it which spoke of the chosen one;

One of two…born as the seventh month dies with power to vanquish…

The dark lord will mark him as his equal…

Reaching out to the children, Dumbledore searched for the mark that would distinguish the chosen one and saw a tiny snake like scar over Darren's left arm. Harry however appeared blemish free so Dumbledore was able to come to an easy conclusion in that instant; Darren had to be the chosen one! Turning to the frazzled Potters, Dumbledore gravely told them of his choice.

Lily broke down with huge wracking sobs immediately; if Voldemort truly returned, her son would have to fight the most evil man in the world sometime in his life; destiny had indeed played a very cruel game with her family, her own son to be the chosen one was a terrifying thought; going up against a man who could not die what chance did anyone have of surviving!

This was not what she had envisioned for their future, too much they had lost in this war already, the Potter line had nearly been wiped out and now impending doom hung over her son like a dark cloud yet again.

James held her close and looked determinedly at Dumbledore over her shoulder as if to say 'give us a few a minutes alone,' then he turned towards his wife and made an oath, "I promise to protect you and my sons with my life. The three of you are all I have left whom I can call family; I will fight with everything I have to keep you safe."

So saying he let go of her and walked over to the crib, bending down he picked up both his sons and held them close to his bosom, closing his eyes he murmured, "With everything!"

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A few years later

Darren and Harry were as different as night and day. Darren was the elder of the two by six minutes. He was bright, sunny and very endearing, like a brilliant flame. Lily never found a moment's peace with him, but nevertheless she indulged him, never to the point of spoiling him, but still gave him his freedom to do whatever he wanted.

He was an innately, happy child and even though the world hailed him as their savior, even though, on his birthday he received a mountain of gifts which the Potter's sneakily divided between the boys, he never acted too proud. He was indifferent towards his fame, and never let it get to his head.

His beautiful auburn hair which sometimes shone bronze in the sunlight, his deep brown eyes and the mysterious snakelike scar had graced the front covers of many magazines already. Lily had secretly bought a few and stored them in the family vault unable to hide her pride.

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Harry, on the other hand was very quiet and undemanding of attention; he was not as striking to look at like his brother while hiding his beautiful green eyes behind glasses.

Oh, he joined Darren on his many crazy schemes but he never really initiated the fun. Ronald Weasley who was Darren's best friend on the other hand got on famously with the elder Potter boy; both he and Darren were often goaded by the Weasley twins into pulling off tons pranks.

Harry liked Ron but could not keep up with the two boys, not that he felt bad for it. He was content reading, flying or cycling. His latest past-time was playing the guitar, an instrument that their godfather Sirius black coveted .He played for him-self only and was yet to have an audience.

Harry was calm and more placidly happy, he covered for Darren valiantly when they were caught and took pride in his brother's fame. In his heart he felt that even as a baby Darren must have been protecting him, and that thought gave him great deal of happiness.

He hated crowds however, so whenever the family was accosted by strangers on the streets looking to shake the hand of their savior, Harry would quietly sidle behind his father and wait till they had gone.

A few days after the boys had been brought home after the attack by Voldemort, James noted a small, very insignificant, lightening shaped scar almost pencil thin on his forehead. He had dismissed it without a second thought thinking Harry had probably hurt himself on the bars of the crib or while playing.

Darren and Harry were not as close to one another as the weasley twins because of the differences in their personalities. But they loved each other and were always there for each other when the situation called for it.

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They had gone to the same primary school as other magical children near their locality, the Weasley's ,the Brown's, the Zabini's and the Longbottom's. They learnt basic languages like Latin and English, a little history about magic. They were drilled on self-control for when they were finally able to hold a wand and lastly they learnt a few things about the Ministry and a little about mathematics.

But if asked they would have said that the best part of it all was learning about each other and laying the foundations to some lifelong friendships'.

Darren was one of the most popular boys in the school. Not because of fame, but because he was fun and interesting to be with. Harry being caught up in his own world moved around with Darren's friends who were fond of him but never really paid too much attention to him, except maybe Neville.

There was one person however who looked at Harry differently, cautiously even. It was his class teacher Miss. Rose, for she had witnessed something extraordinary about him that even now she was not too sure had actually happened.

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Darren's first bit of accidental magic had astounded his parents. It had happened on the night of his third birthday after the guests had left his and Harry's birthday party.

They had gone to kiss the children goodnight after cleaning up, going first to Darren's room, when they saw almost every single toy in his room suspended in the air! An aura of power hung over Darren's crib which made James feel excited , running over to the crib he snatched his son up in his arms proudly and kissed him.

They immediately informed Dumbledore of their astonishing find giving the man profound satisfaction at being right about his choice. Yes, maybe things were already starting to look up for them and if there was going to be another war again they would be completely prepared for it this time around.

Harry however was a bit of a disappointment. His first time of showing signs of magic was when he was five. He had been quietly sleeping near Lily as she knitted a scarf for James, when she saw him wave his chubby arms about and suddenly change James's red and yellow scarf to a gorgeous purple instead!

It was now James's favorite scarf.

They were happy with Harry's development, but were still hung over Darren's stunning show of power. They had expected it to be that way from the beginning and yet they loved both their sons equally.

But that had been only what the Lily had thought, it did not however match with what Miss Rose had witnessed few years ago!

It had been when Harry was two years old.

She had been playing the role of the boy's part time sitter because the Potter's had gone out for dinner, when she heard a loud gusty wailing sound coming from Darren. Trying to shush the boy, she suddenly noticed tiny little colored lights appear, twinkling over the crying boy's head, dancing around happily and calming the boy back to sleep.

At first Miss Rose had thought it was a hallucination or reflection of some sort, so she ignored it and went over to check Harry's crib as well when she saw faint twinkling lights in his beautiful green eyes, but decided not to mention it to the Potter's, as it would make her sound stupid.

The next time had been when Harry was four.

Darren had been playing with a tiny whizzing toy broom, when the broom suddenly went haywire and struck him on the head, leaving a red angry bruise on his forehead. She had gone to get a cold pack as she wasn't too proficient with healing charms but when she came back to the room however, she saw that the mark had completely disappeared from Darren's forehead and Harry who had been playing quietly in the other side of the room was now sitting next to Darren.

None of these incidents made Miss Rose think that Harry was different. It was only when one day, the now eight year old boys were in school when she saw something that made her feel that Harry might be special.

It had been recess at school and all the children had gone to eat lunch, she however had gone to the playground to pick up a few fallen toys. When she went there, she saw Harry squatting on the ground crooning over something he held in his tiny, cupped hands.

Quietly going over to the boy so as not to startle him, she peered over his shoulder to see what the boy was quietly singing to in his hands, when what she saw gave her the shock of her life.

It was a tiny blue and silver song bird, the fabled ice Phoenix! It was small, but beautiful with a light blue aura hanging over it. The poor thing had broken its wing when Harry had picked it up.

Listening quietly to the boy sing softly, she got the second shock of her life. The wing was slowly starting to repair itself with every word that Harry sang becoming stronger and stronger, so she gasped wonderstruck.

Harry quickly turned around to find his teacher looking at him in awe, the bird in his hand however on hearing the intrusion disappeared with a pop.

"Was that an ice phoenix Harry?" she asked, looking stunned.

"I'm not sure" was his quiet reply "To me it was just a bird in distress, so I had to help it."

Still reeling from her find, Miss Rose stumbled back to her room thinking about how she would confront the boy's parents. The boy had performed wand less magic consciously over a bird that could may have very well been a mythical creature! Now thinking about it maybe all those times she had seen strange things happening around him were true!

So in the evening when Lily had come to pick up the boys, she spoke to her about what she had seen finally calling Harry himself to join in the conversation.

The boy had listened quietly to his teacher talk never offering any input. He hated adulation of any kind and he felt that what he had done was what any decent child would have done in his place.

His mother had stood in front of Miss Rose not really paying much attention to her as she had been otherwise preoccupied. Today the Longbottom's had been found at last after three days of rigorous searching.

They had been found in a state of madness, screaming at demons that only they could see. They had been tortured by the Lestranges whom the Aurors had been trying to catch these past years, with the 'Cruciatus' curse. Now finally their time had come but they had been caught at a great price.

Using the trail of magic they had left behind them, the Aurors had hunted down the Lestranges and had them now securely locked away in Azkaban. No trial had been held for them there atrocities speaking for them. The Longbottom's had been shifted to St. Mungos, but they had lost hope of them ever recovering.

Lily had been to the hospital today and had almost fainted when she saw the horror. Alice had been a dear friend of hers and now she looked like an empty shell of a person.

No, today Lily was otherwise occupied with thoughts of them but politely nodded at Miss Rose anyway and left her feeling inadequate.

Today their world would mourn.

She failed to notice when Harry had pulled out an ice blue feather with a silver lining from his pocket while walking next to her fingering it carefully with a small smile on his face.

Miss Rose continued to keep an eye on Harry, but never got see anything strange again. Maybe it had been her imagination she thought, no way had a Phoenix landed up in her school, especially not an ice phoenix! So slowly she stopped scrutinizing the boy to his relief, and focused all her attention on Darren instead.

Darren had started to give off bursts of power in the classroom, accidently setting things on fire, and starting unplanned food fights, when he sent a pudding sailing in the air to land neatly on Michael Connor's head!

'Both Potter boys are so difficult' she thought wryly.