(1) The Other Potter (D. Malfoy)

Chapter Eleven

The car is silent as it travels towards London with the Gilbert family, as well as Harry, all sitting inside, comfortable but quiet. Harry and Daisy both wear straight, emotionless faces as they stare at one another, but there is no hostility here. It's a game. Elena attempted to help break the ice with them all by offering a game of face-off. She and Daisy used to do it all the time when they needed something decided, movies, food, days out etc. It's a good way to break the tension. Daisy suddenly pulls a face at Harry whose lip twitches but he doesn't break. Her face goes back to being straight. It is then Harry's turn to pull a face, trying to get Daisy to break. Twisting his features into a somewhat funny face, but she doesn't break. His face returns to being neutral. It turns out that Harry is very good at this, after years of having to keep a straight face with their aunt and uncle and cousin. Magnolia holds her hand back towards Daisy who reaches over and takes it. Their hands glow red as Daisy siphons some magic from her. Daisy has a wild card of sorts, a way to really get Harry to break. She drops Magnolia's hand and then takes a breath. She changes her nose and mouth into a dog's muzzle and Harry rears back surprised, his face breaking. Daisy laughs and morphs her face back to normal.

"How did you do that?" Harry asks.

"Daisy is a metamorphmagus" Magnolia answers. "She can change her appearance at will"

"So you must be really good at magic already" Harry whispers, Daisy tilts her head, studying him. He seems to have some self-doubt and maybe jealousy about the whole magic thing. She doesn't think he means to feel those things and that it likely comes down to being kept away from all of this when he knows he should have been raised in it. Daisy shifts closer to him.

"Being a metamorphmagus isn't really a magical skill I had to learn" She admits, he looks at her. "I was born being able to do it...."

"Oh" He whispers and that does make him feel slightly better. He's already freaking out about everyone else being ahead of him, that everyone else will have some level of magical skill from a childhood surrounded by magic. He does also feel a little left out, if Daisy was born with this ability and he wasn't, it does seem a little unfair, but that's not her fault and he knows life would have been harder for him if he could do that. "Do you know any spells?" He asks, she shrugs.

"Not loads" She assures him. "Just what I've read in the books for this year..." He nods a little but doesn't exactly look comforted by the concept that she's already done the year's reading and learnt stuff. She assumes he wasn't allowed to do anything like that with their relatives. They've kept him so sheltered and locked away from the truth that he must be feeling terrible about it all. "I can teach you some" She offers. He smiles and nods.

"Just remember" Magnolia starts. Daisy rolls her eyes and gives Harry a look.

"No magic under 18 is to be performed outside of the school grounds" Daisy mocks, she's been warned, a number of times since she was little and then it has just been pushed harder since she got her Hogwarts letters. "We can do magic on the train though, right?" Magnolia lets out a breath knowing that she's going to have a troublesome little witch on her hands and she is probably about to drag her poor twin brother along for the whole thing. Magnolia actually thinks that might be good for Harry. He's been so stunted and held back and locked away that he needs a bold personality at his side to pull him along or he might fade himself into the background, as much as a boy of his infamy will allow. Daisy is also a deeply protective person, and she has defended her siblings a number of times over the years from bullies, especially Jeremy, she'll look after Harry too. Daisy reaches up and touches his forehead, causing him to jerk back slightly before he realises that she is just brushing his hair aside to look at his scar, not so much that she is trying to touch the scar. Her eyes linger on the jagged lightning carved into his skin.

"Do you...?" Harry stops himself, he can see that she doesn't have a scar like his. Her forehead is clear of any marks. She lowers her hand from his head and gives him a sad smile.

"I do actually" She whispers and pulls her sleeve up to reveal the lightning scar on her wrist. "It just...it's somewhere else" She adds. Harry looks down at the scar sadly. Neither of them has been left unmarked by the events of their very early childhood. They are both left with more than external scars but they have each other now. And that's more than Harry has had in a long time. Someone that has his back. Someone that is on his side. Someone that loves him, truly loves him. A true bond of family. Magnolia hopes that nothing gets in the way of that. Daisy can give off a certain air about her, an air that she just doesn't care, but deep down she is one of the most caring individuals around. She can also be stubborn, which can get in the way of relationships sometimes, if she falls out with anyone, then it can take her some time before she comes around, especially if she was the one in the wrong. Magnolia has seen it over the years with Jeremy and Elena. Simple sibling arguments have become week-long, month-long, arguments that get out of hand because Daisy is too stubborn to relent. It might just get in the way of her relationship with Harry if anything were to come between them. Grayson and Magnolia share a soft look, there is a weight lifted from Magnolia with Harry being with them. She's worried about him almost every single day since Daisy was given to them. She just couldn't believe that he was given to Petunia when Magnolia was more than willing and capable of taking in both the children together. To her, separating them was a mistake. Leaving Harry with those people was a mistake. He should have been raised by her, well it should have been Lily, but in this situation, Magnolia would have been the more logical choice. She has magic, she would have nurtured him and made sure that he was ready for the world that he is now being shoved into without preparation. He should have had Daisy at his side and she should have had him too. Twins are meant to be side by side, they come into the world together. They should have had these years together. And they didn't, because someone else made a choice for them, someone else decided their fate. It's unfair on them. Children. They should never have had to deal with this separation. And Magnolia is going to fight for Harry, she is going to make sure that at the end of the school year, he's coming home with Daisy. She is determined that Dumbledore is not going to say no to her this time.