Summary: I was talking with my best friend and she wondered what it would have been like if Harry had grown up in an orphanage. Or if he'd been abandoned at the age of five or six. Since my friend isn't that good at writing, she said I could take either of the ideas and write a fic on it. Both ideas intrigued me, and so here is my second HP fic. The Dursleys don't want to have a 'freak' in their home, so Vernon leaves Harry at an orphanage, without bothering to leave a note. Things go on from there.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the fantastic author J.K. Rowling does. I'm just playing around with her world like the many other fanfic writers out there.

Mrs. Draper, director of Sunnybrook Orphanage, opened the door to take in the day's milk delivery. She couldn't help letting out a small shriek when she saw the bundled baby on the step, next to the bottles and jugs of milk. "What in the world?" she asked. Babies left on the orphanage's doorstep weren't that common an occurence, the last one having been four years ago. That baby had been left without a note, so she had given the baby the name of Janet Sarah Smith and the birthday of April 15th.

Mrs. Draper picked up the baby on the step, who had woken up and started crying. "Hush, little one," she said gently, noting that the child had lovely emerald green eyes, a curious lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, and black hair that showed signs of being messy, even though there wasn't a great deal of it. She glanced back at the step and then looked through the blankets wrapping up the toddler, but there was so sign of any note. It looked as if she would have to come up with a name for him and determine a birthdate.

The cook, Mrs. Kent, took the milk in, and asked about the baby. Mrs. Draper explained and then went to the nursery where all the babies and toddlers were kept. Miss Jones, who was in charge of looking after them, changed the new addition's nappy and fed him. Mrs. Draper regarded the child, who looked to be a couple of months past the age of one. That meant his birthday would have to be sometime in the summer, July or August. Finally she decided on July 25th for the birthday and went to her office to fill out a birth certificate.

After entering in July 25th, 1980 in the line for date of birth, she pondered over what name to give the boy. Finally she decided on James for the first name, since he looked like a James to her. After some further thought, she decided on Evan for middle name. However, she couldn't decide on a last name. She supposed she could use Smith, but she had given Janet that last name, and she didn't want to have to use a rather common last name. Finally she went to ask Miss Jones for a suggestion.

Several of the older children were in the nursery, meeting the new addition to the orphanage. Stuart Lydell, who had turned five a month ago and had been at the orphanage since June, turned to Mrs. Draper and asked, "What's his name, Mrs. Draper?"

"James Evan," responded Mrs. Draper. "But I don't know what his last name is going to be. He was left without a name and I'm making one up for him."

"He can have ours," said Stella, who was Stuart's twin sister. "James can be our little brother."

"All right," said Mrs. Draper, smiling. "His last name will be Lydell. James Evan Lydell." She went back to her office to finish filling out the birth certificate.

From that day, the toddler that had appeared at the orphanage was known as James Lydell. In the first few weeks, he kept crying for his parents and two other people he referred to as "Unca Pafoo" and "Unca Mooey". While "unca" was plainly baby-talk for "Uncle", nobody had any idea who 'Pafoo' or 'Mooey' were, or what names they were baby-talk for. It was quite obvious that James had been loved by his parents and uncles, though why he'd ended up abandoned at the orphanage was a mystery. The only explanation was thought up by Mrs. Kent, that maybe James's parents had died, his uncles had been unable to take him in, and so somebody had just left him with the orphanage.

Stella and Stuart were quite happy to claim James as their unoffical brother, and Stella, in fact, liked to act like a mother to him. When James was four and accidentally scraped a knee, it was Stella that he ran to. She hugged him, washed the scrape, took him to Mr. Kent, the cook's husband, who gave him a bandage, and then kissed James so that he felt better. Stuart was protective in a different way, making sure nobody ever teased or bullied James, and told the younger boy fascinating stories about evil wizards and brave knights that fought them.

When James was five, he made a best friend with another boy at the orphanage, named Kyle Melling. The two got into trouble with the pranks they played, but usually managed to avoid punishment by the puppy-dog eyes James made with his lovely green eyes and the sincerely apologetic look Kyle made.

A year later, there was a new child at the orphanage, a girl of six that was of Japanese descent. Her name was Mariko Kishi, Mari for short, and she cried constantly for her parents. James and Kyle befriended her, and after a few months, she got over her grief to join them in their pranks. She avoided punishment by crying for her parents when she got caught.

The trio broke up a few months after Kyle's seventh birthday, when he got adopted. Kyle wanted his adoptive parents to adopt James and Mari as well, but the Carters explained that they could only take in one child, and James didn't want to leave Stella and Stuart any more than he wanted to be separated from his friend.

James couldn't help crying off and on for a week after Kyle had left, even though both had promised to write and the Carters had said James and Mari could visit Kyle for two weeks every summer. He turned to Stella for comfort, who did her best to make him feel better.

James turned eight and another incident occurred that made his world change. A stern-looking lady appeared at the orphanage and explained that Stuart and Stella, who were now two months away from turning twelve, were going to a school called Hogwarts, for people with very special and wonderful abilities. When James and Mari had appeared unhappy that the twins were leaving ten months out of the year, the lady had cheered them up by saying that if they studied hard, they could perhaps go to Hogwarts also when they were older.

Stella took James and Mari aside after the lady had left and explained to them about the wizarding world and how Hogwarts was a school of magic. She swore them to secrecy about this, and added that since both of them had done strange things before that could only be magic, the lady was right when she had said they could attend Hogwarts too.

The lady came back two days later to take the twins to get their school things. A fund had been set up by Hogwarts for students that couldn't pay for their supplies, so there was no worry as to how they could buy them. Everything was second-hand, except for the wand, writing materials, potions supplies, and cauldron. Because of this, Stella, who liked to read, had some money left over, which she used to buy a few extra books for background reading (all second-hand). Stuart used his extra money to buy an owl, so he and Stella could write to James and Mari and not have to use a school owl. Mrs. Draper was surprised with the owl, but since there was no rule forbidding pets at the orphanage, she allowed it.

(Stella's POV)

Stella chatted with the two other first-year girls she'd just met and flipped through her battered copy of Modern Magical History, which she was in the process of reading, having finally finished with all her school books, Hogwarts, a History, and Quidditch Through the Ages. The girls, whom she thought would likely become her friends, had mentioned an evil wizard that everyone called You-Know-Who, since people were too scared to say his real name, and how he'd been defeated seven years ago by a one-year old baby. As Modern Magical History had a chapter devoted to it, Stella was reading that chapter to get some more details on it.

She froze when she read the description of Harry Potter. The paragraph said that he had black hair and green eyes, and due to the confrontation with Voldemort, also had a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. That fit James's description exactly. It went on to say that the incident had happened on Halloween night and that Harry Potter was supposedly left with his Muggle relatives the night after the attack, but it couldn't be confirmed.

Stella put two and two together. James had appeared at the orphanage on November third, two days after the attack. If he had been left at his relatives the way he'd been left at the orphanage, then he wouldn't have been found until the morning of the second. If his relatives didn't want him, they could have easily dropped him off at the orphanage steps that night, where Mrs. Draper wouldn't find him until the next morning, on the third. Also, his description fit Harry Potter's, and there was the fact that he had shown signs of being magical. It was rather obvious to her that James Evan Lydell was really Harry James Potter. The coincidence with the name struck Stella then. Mrs. Draper unknowingly had picked James's real middle name for a first name, and his new middle name was similar to his mother's maiden name of Evans.

Stella put the book away and decided not to say anything about it, except maybe to Stuart. As for James, she would tell him what she found out when the summer holidays were over, and he could decide if he wanted to remain James Lydell or become Harry Potter. Since he wasn't one to seek attention, despite the fact he played pranks (he really only played them for fun and not so people could notice him), it was likely he wouldn't reveal himself as the Boy-Who-Lived. However, there was the problem of his looks. Any witch or wizard who saw that scar would know right away who he was. But perhaps it could be hidden with magic. She wondered if there was some way that you could change your appearance, since she recalled that no matter how many haircuts James got, his hair stayed the same, and there was the time when she thought his eyes had gone from green to brown. Stella made a note to look it up in the Hogwarts library and resumed her conversation with her new friends.

That evening, Stella was sorted into Ravenclaw, which wasn't a surprise to her, considering her love of reading and the fact that she considered clever by most people. Stuart took longer, and it appeared that he was arguing with the Sorting Hat. Finally it declared him a Ravenclaw as well. He took a seat next to his twin and said, "The Hat wanted me to be in Gryffindor, but I didn't want to be in a different house from you, so there was a small argument before it gave in and put me in Ravenclaw."

The next day, Stuart mentioned Harry Potter and You-Know-Who, which his dormmates had told him about. Stella dragged him aside, took out Modern Magical History, flipped to the chapter on You-Know-Who's defeat, and thrust the book at her twin. "Read this, Stuart."

"What?" demanded Stuart, looking puzzled. "Why?"

"Just do it," answered Stella, pointing to the paragraph on Harry's description. He read it through twice to make sure he hadn't missed anything and then his eyes widened as he put two and two together and realized what it meant. He looked up from the book to stare at his sister.

"That means our younger 'brother' is really Harry Potter!" he exclaimed.

"Lower your voice!" hissed Stella, looking around to make sure nobody had overheard. "Yes, James is really Harry Potter. I found out yesterday when I was reading the chapter."

Stuart frowned. "Well, what do we do? Nobody else has any idea that Harry Potter's at an orphanage and goes by the name of James Lydell."

"We do nothing, Stuart," replied Stella. "It's not for us to decide as to whether James reveals himself or not."

Stuart nodded in agreement. "I guess it would be up to James to decide. We'll tell him everything when we go back to the orphanage for the summer. He'll probably decide not to reveal himself, so we'll have to figure out a way to hide his appearance and stuff."

"I've already thought of that," said Stella. "I'm going to the library now, in fact, to look up any magical ways of hiding people's appearances that we can do."

"I'll join you, Stella," said Stuart. The two then asked an older Ravenclaw for directions to the library and they set out.