The Missing Twin

Thanks to those who have followed, favored and reviewed.

So, I don't own Harry Potter...Damn.

Previously...

"I still would have gotten detention though."

There's a moment of silence before Bradley answers. "Don't make me throw you out of a window, Elio Roux."

Eli smirked. "I'd like to see you try, Bradley Holmes."

Bradley's eye lowered, and Eli took off running as he started to laugh.

"Stop laughing, that's what got you in trouble in the first place!"

"Yes, and talking is what got you in trouble, Holmes!"

September, 1992

Unfortunately for both Eli and Bradley, they were stuck in detention with Harry Potter, who had flown a flying car to Hogwarts with his friend, Ron Weasley as opposed to taking the Hogwarts Express.

"Isn't this fun, boys?" Lockhart said as he opened up some of his fan mail with the three students. "You could be out cleaning some old trophy with Filch, but instead you're in here with me."

"I'd prefer Filch over you, Lockhart," Bradley said, staring at the blond-haired man unwaveringly. "At least he has a reason to be here."

Lockhart's mouth twitched at this before attempting to cover his uneasiness up with a smile. "You are quite the jokester, Bradley. Just like your father."

To the horror of Lockhart, who was suddenly realizing what he had just said, Bradley actually grinned back. "Indeed, Lockhart. I've always wondered if I inherited any of my father's attributes. My mother once told me that if it weren't for the fact that my father's currently incarcerated in Azkaban for mass murder, we'd probably be out terrorizing the streets of Diagon Alley right about now." Bradley stared right into Lockhart's eyes. "Tell me, Gilderoy, does that sound like fun?"

Eli had to stifle his laughter, while Harry could only stare up in horror at Bradley. Lockhart looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

"Why it's getting late out," Lockhart said as he looked at his barren wrist. "Why don't we finish this up next time?" He let out a nervous laugh. Lockhart didn't wait for any of the boys to answer before he all but threw them out of his office and slammed the door shut.

Harry Potter couldn't wrap his head around the anomaly that was Bradley Holmes, or Elio Roux and Lyra Malfoy for that matter.

"How's your mum?" Roux was asking Holmes as the three boys walked out of Lockhart's classroom.

"Still angry at me for destroying my defense books," Holmes said with a shrug. "Said that it was disrespectful or something like that. She's grounded me for what I had told her when she said that."

"Oh no, what did you said?"

"I said it was only disrespectful for the paper used in Lockhart's books," Holmes said nonchalantly. "Such a waste of paper to be housing such garbage."

Roux sighed. He briefly glanced at Harry, unsure of what to say. "So...How was your summer?"

Harry frowned. "The same as it always is."

Roux frowned. "You speak as though I know your life, Potter. In a way, your words just now tell me everything though."

"How so?"

"You don't give the normal 'it was fine,' or 'it was fantastic.' You answered with a vague statement, which automatically gives away to the fact that you either had a terrible summer or an uneventful one," Roux said as he started playing with the loose string on his jumper.

"How was your summer, Roux?"

"It was uneventful," Roux tells Harry. "Besides my sister trying to steal my wand in order to make an army of talking flowers that is. I don't think she understands yet that she doesn't have magic."

"Oh, are you a muggle-born?"

"No, half-blood," Roux discloses to Harry. "My family are muggles though."

"Then how are-

"I was adopted when I was a baby."

"Oh."

There's a ping of awkwardness as the three boys continued to walk through the corridors of Hogwarts.

Harry looked at Holmes. "Why do you wear your tie on your head?"

"Why don't you?" Holmes retorted in irritation. "I doubt people would be looking at that damn scar on your head."

"No, they would be looking at the tie."

"Yes, but not the scar."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're weird?"

"At least five times a day, Potter."

"You're terrible at keeping secrets, Roux," Bradley tells Eli the moment they enter Ravenclaw Tower.

Eli turns to give his friend a look. "I am not."

"You are too," Bradley says as he all but throws himself on a nearby table. He lets his legs dangle off of the edge while using his hands as a pillow. "You almost told Potter about-

"I did not, Holmes," Eli protested as he sat down in a chair. They were the only two in the Ravenclaw common room at the moment. "I only told him that I was adopted."

"Yes, and what if Potter one day uses that if he ever tries to find his missing brother?"

"He doesn't even know that we share a birthday, or that I had been found by the orphanage on the same day his parents were murdered."

"They were your parents too, you know," Bradley points out.

Eli frowns at this. "Yes, but I don't know anything about them. I'm sure Harry knows a little more than I do."

"Like what?"

"Like what they look like for starters," Eli replies as he looks towards the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw.

Bradley doesn't say anything for a moment, which is a first for Eli. He was expecting for the boy to already have a comeback.

"I could ask my Mum for some photos of them, or my Uncle Remus." Eli then looks back at his friend, who's giving him a blank, but thoughtful expression. "They have a bunch stored up somewhere."

"That'd be nice. Thanks."

"Why are you thanking me for?" Bradley questioned, frowning at his friend as he raised his head. "It's not like I'm doing it to be nice."

"Than why are you doing it?"

"Figured I'd find some photos of my father," Bradley admits as he sits up. Eli can tell that he's uncomfortable talking about this. "Mum hid all of the photos of him. Doesn't like to talk about him much, neither does Uncle Remus."

31 October, 1992

The Hallowe'en Feast was just ending, Eli found it to be a much better event than last years. No professor had come running in, screaming about a troll before passing out right in the middle of the Great Hall this year.

Eli found himself walking with Bradley, Lyra, and unfortunately Draco and his two goons, Crabbe and Goyle. Draco had insisted on walking his sister up to Ravenclaw Tower but didn't give a reason as to why. Eli figured it must have had something to do with the fact that the Ministry had recently raided their family home.

"I don't need you to walk me back to the tower, Draco," Lyra argued with her twin brother.

"What kind of brother would I be if I didn't look out for my sister?" Draco demanded, glaring at Lyra.

"A sane one," Lyra retorted as she glared at her brother. She would have started walking faster, but the appearance of Mrs. Norris' deceased body hanging off next to a message written in what appeared to be blood had stopped everyone in their tracks.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened," Lyra read the first part, while her brother finished off the rest of the message, with his own comment at the end.

"Enemies of the heir beware," Draco said, his voice rising. He looked around at the students behind him. "You'll be next, mudbloods!" His eyes lingered on Eli for a moment, unaware that the boy wasn't a muggle-born.

Bradley saw the look Draco had given Eli and glared at the pale-haired boy, who quickly ran off with his two goons in suit. It was then he noticed the water all around the floor.

Eli then noticed Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger on the other side of the message and Mrs. Norris. Filch was yelling at Harry that he had supposedly killed his cat. He noticed the troubled looks on both Bradley and Lyra. They weren't looking at Harry and his friends though, but the message on the wall.

"Come on," Lyra said, pulling on Eli's arm. She sent a wavering look in Harry's direction as she started to pull Eli away from the scene. Bradley stared for a moment longer, before Lyra pulled him away by the back of his shirt collar.

"What's the Chamber of Secrets?" Eli questioned the moment he and his friends were in Ravenclaw Tower. They were hiding behind Rowena Ravenclaw's statue, which was commonplace for Bradley to hide out in. Some of the other Ravenclaws weren't too pleased with having Sirius Black's son in their house.

"Officially, it's a myth," Bradley said as he sat on the ground, resting up against the statue's backside. "There are stories about Salazar Slytherin creating a chamber that held a monster that could be used to purge Hogwarts of Muggle-borns. According to the story, only an heir of Slytherin can open the chamber, and possibly control the monster inside it."

"You didn't hear it from us though," Lyra told Eli with a frown. "Our family only knows about because our family's pretty deep with dark magic."

"That's nothing new though, no offense."

"None taken," Lyra coolly replies. She then crossed her arms. "If the Chamber is real, then this wouldn't be the first time that they've been opened."

"What?"

"Yeah, it was at least fifty years ago," Bradley said as he let his wand slide through his fingers. "A muggle-born girl had died, the school was almost closed down."

Eli couldn't believe what he was hearing. "And this heir, who could it be? Or should I be saying, heirs?"

"Hopefully not plural," Bradley said, frowning. "The last thing we need is a Slytherin who's an actual Slytherin."

"What do you guys know about the Slytherin family?" Eli questioned.

Lyra frowned. "Pure-bloods, obviously. The name Slytherin had died out a bunch of years ago. I know that there are two family names that eventually came out of Slytherin. Gaunt and Steward."

"Are there any students with that surname?" Eli questioned.

Lyra shrugged. "The last known Stewards were Rionach and Martha Steward, one was a squib and the other didn't marry or have any children. Besides, they were born in America, their parents were the founders of Ilvermorny."

"Was Steward anything like his ancestor?"

"No, considering James Steward wasn't an heir of Slytherin, in fact, he was a muggle," Bradley revealed. "His wife, Isolt Sayre, was an heir though. Isolt wasn't a dark witch though, in fact, she had even defeated her evil aunt after learning that she had killed her parents, tried to kill her two adoptive sons and husband, and tried to kidnap her daughters."

"It would have to be someone from the Gaunt bloodline," Lyra said, frowning. "And there's no one with that surname here."

"Who was the last one then?"

"We'd have to look up in the school's records," Lyra tells Eli.

"Which means we would have to get past Dumbledore," Bradley said bitterly.

"Which is next to impossible," Eli says as he runs a hand through his hair.

So, what do you think?

I know there might be some mistakes, so I apologize.

Please, review, like, and/or follow. That would great.

Until next time...

Review(s):

Guest (Chapter 6, Jul 18): Thanks for the review. To be honest about Bradley, I for some reason wrote him with a sort of flat personality.

Guest (Chapter 6, Aug 29): Thanks for the review.