The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 1 - Year 5 Begins

The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. Cars that were usually gleaming stood dusty in their drives and lawns that were once emerald green lay parched and yellowing; the use of hosepipes had been banned due to drought. Deprived of their usual car-washing and lawn-mowing pursuits, the inhabitants of Privet Drive had retreated into the shade of their cool houses, windows thrown wide in the hope of tempting in a nonexistent breeze. Delilah was not an exception.

She was in the Little Wingey Library, reading a book. She couldn't check anything out, but the librarians had a soft spot for her. So there she was, in a small, quiet corner reading. But she wasn't focusing much on the book.

This summer had been horrible. Delilah's friends barely could write, they all were too busy, and Harry had been... interesting. Every night he had nightmares about Cedric, so neither of them got much sleep. Every day he wandered about Little Winging after trying to listen to the Muggle news, but Voldemort wouldn't be doing anything to attract attention to himself, he wasn't that stupid. Harry wouldn't listen to her though, he seemed desperate for any news about the wizarding world, however faint. Yet he wouldn't read the full Daily Prophet, it was ridiculous.

The only good thing was Midnight, who wasn't really complaining, as she got to eat all of the dead mice Hedwig brought back from her hunts, and had been accompanying Delilah everywhere. She had even found a way to sneak into the library undetected and was resting on Delilah's shoulders.

Groaning, Delilah abandoned trying to read and put the book back on the shelf, smiling and waving to the librarian. She slowly started walking towards Number 4 Privet Drive as the sky started darkening. On the way she passed Dudley and his gang who were smoking around a corner. He was supposed to be at the Polkisses', but he never went. He actually went to smoke, deface the park, or beat up kids with his gang on the pretext of being at one of his friend's houses for tea. The Dursleys really were dull about that.

She hesitated as she made it to the front door.

"Get it over with," Midnight suggested.

Sighing, Delilah opened the door.

"Diddykins, is that you?" Aunt Petunia asked.

"No," Delilah replied before hurrying up the stairs two at a time.

Aunt Petunia went back to whatever she was doing. Delilah opened the door to her and Harry's room and sat down on her bed, rereading her advanced potions book, and adding notes on what she still wanted to try in her notebook for the hundredth time.

A while later Delilah heard the door open, but ignored it. If it was Harry he'd come up soon enough.

"BOY! COME HERE!" Uncle Vernon shrieked.

Delilah groaned, what had Harry done this time? She set the book down and headed downstairs.

Everyone was in the kitchen, so she headed there and stood in the shadows, watching as Uncle Vernon stood angrily over Harry and Aunt Petunia helped Dudley onto a chair.

"What did he do to you, Diddy?" Aunt Petunia said in a quavering voice, sponging sick from the front of Dudley's leather jacket. "Was it — was it you-know-what, darling? Did he use — his thing?"

Slowly, Dudley nodded.

"I didn't!" Harry protested sharply, as Aunt Petunia let out a wail and Uncle Vernon raised his fists. "I didn't do anything to him, it wasn't be, it was —"

But at that moment a screech owl swooped in through the kitchen window. Narrowly missing the top of Uncle Vernon's head, it soared across the kitchen, dropped its large parchment envelope at Harry's feet, and turned gracefully, the tips of its wings just brushing the top of the fridge, then zoomed outside again and off across the garden.