"Mom has great taste in clothes. Try it on and see if it fits!" I pushed him into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

As Harry turned around, I saw a tear glisten on his cheek.

"Harry Potter living like a prince? Dumbledore is just a big liar!" Draco pulled me aside, sneering. "Is this how the greatest white wizard fools everyone?"

I shook my head gently. "Keep your voice down, Harry doesn't know yet."

"He deserves to know the truth!"

I covered his mouth. "The truth only counts if he discovers it himself. If we tell him, it might backfire."

"I'm done changing..."

Harry's voice broke our argument. The clothes fit well but made him look even more frail. His exposed arms were covered in scars.

It was midsummer, and Narcissa’s short sleeves weren't enough to hide those wounds.

"Hold on!" I grabbed some quick-healing potions, essential for family trials. Draco eagerly offered to help.

"Harry, those bullies are monsters!" Draco was fuming. "Why did they beat you?"

"Because I was slow with chores..." Harry was very sensitive to emotions, having lived under someone else’s roof for so long, he had learned to read people well.

"Didn't you ask the neighbors for help?" I kept talking to him to distract him.

The quick-healing potions worked fast, speeding up recovery, but the process was painful.

"Ugh..." he groaned, quickly swallowing his pain.

"Hang in there, it’ll be over soon." Draco sped up his work.

"I... uh... asking for help didn’t work, it just made things worse."

Yeah, that was the only possible outcome. Who would really take a five-year-old’s words seriously?

The Dursleys only had to bribe the police who came to check, deal with curious neighbors, and create rumors, painting Harry as a troublesome kid. Their punishment was, in their minds, well-intentioned.

All of this could have been avoided.

Dumbledore wanted a savior from a loveless home, someone who would be grateful for small favors and willing to risk everything.

Harry Potter, so innocent. His fate was never in his own hands.

Many of his old wounds couldn’t be healed in one go.

"Mrs. Malfoy already treated me once..." he explained. His maturity was heartbreaking.

I never liked the original Harry. That reckless, impulsive Gryffindor. It took a Hermione Granger to pull Harry and Ron through their adventures.

This Harry Potter wasn’t just the protagonist of a book anymore, he was a living, breathing person. sorrows aren’t shared.

We only empathize deeply when it involves someone close to us.

"Aurora?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Draco's fingers lightly touched my cheek.

"Why the tears?" he muttered softly.

"Sorry, I have overactive tear glands..."

The warmth of the Malfoy household made me soft, no longer needing to armor myself with a hard shell.

"You mustn’t..." Draco whispered in my ear, just loud enough for me to hear. "You mustn't cry for another man..."

"Draco, Harry's watching us..."

"You've never cried for me..." he persisted.

"And I never will! You better take care of yourself!" I raised my voice.

"Of course, I wouldn't get myself hurt just to gain sympathy from a girl," he whispered.

To stop him from saying anything more inappropriate, I quickly covered his mouth with my hand.

Draco's lips were soft and tickled my palm a little.

"You two have such a great relationship," Harry said with a hint of envy. He was probably thinking about his bully of a cousin, Dudley Dursley, Aunt Petunia's precious darling who would punch and kick Harry just because he could.

"We're twins!" Draco announced proudly.

"Fraternal twins? You don't look much alike."

"What's fraternal?" Draco asked, unfamiliar with this piece of Muggle medical knowledge that our Malfoy family education hadn't covered.

Though the Malfoy family held strong prejudices, they didn't completely shun the Muggle world. Lucius's business interests spanned the globe, covering diverse fields, and he certainly didn't ignore the lucrative Muggle society. Especially the Muggle upper class—every major change had the Malfoys participating and profiting.

Legend has it that Lucius Malfoy I even courted Queen Elizabeth I (though he didn't succeed). Each generation of Malfoy family heads seemed to have a natural talent for business, always expanding their influence. By Lucius's time, they were almost as rich as a country.

However, fortunes can change in an instant. Soon, the Dark Lord would return, choosing Malfoy Manor as his base, looting and destroying it nearly to ruins. It was like watching "Titanic," with old Rose piecing together memories of the ship's gleaming, pristine state from its battered remains.

This time, I would do my best to protect this land that had been my home.

"Aurora? Daydreaming again?" Draco waved his hand in front of my face.

"What were you guys talking about?"

The concept of fraternal twins wasn't new to me. My mind had just drifted off to other things.

"Harry said I look like Dad, and you look more like Mom," Draco said proudly. Being compared to Lucius made him happiest.

In the original story, the boy who was always ready to say, "I'll tell my father," saw resembling his father as the highest honor.

"I don't know who I take after..." Harry's eyes dimmed. The Dursleys had destroyed all traces of Lily J. Potter. Poor Harry didn't even have a single photo of his parents.

Draco and I exchanged a glance and made a silent decision. We would use the Malfoy family's privileges at Hogwarts.

The next day, an album appeared on Harry's bedside table. It was filled with photos of Lily and James Potter during their time at Hogwarts. Lucius had even used his connections to find pictures from their wedding.

Lily's red hair was styled into an elegant updo, and the wedding venue was adorned with lilies. Next to her stood a tall, handsome young man with glasses, looking dashing and refined.

Their happiness was forever captured in the summer of their twenties.

"Your eyes look a lot like hers..." he said.

In the photo, the woman had a charming smile, and her emerald green eyes sparkled brightly, full of life.

Severus Snape's true love.

There were countless wizards invited to celebrate. The head of the Potter family had old ties with Abraxas, so Lucius and Narcissa appeared in the photos, too.

But the youngest Potions professor in history was nowhere to be seen. They said he was perfecting a Felix Felicix that would never be given away.

Harry's features were almost identical to James's, but their expressions were completely different. James had a confidence and boldness in his eyes that Harry, weathered by life, lacked and could never truly achieve.

A tragic childhood takes a lifetime to heal.

Harry would even repeatedly ask if he could use the personal items prepared for him by the house-elf. Even though Lucius had already handed over the key to the Potter family's Gringotts vault to Harry.

The Potter family’s ability to amass wealth was astonishing. The piles of gold Galleons almost blinded Draco and me.

"Harry, this money could buy the Malfoy Manor!" I exaggeratedly remarked.

Harry’s troubled childhood left him with a bit of insecurity in front of us. I hoped the money would give him a sense of safety and confidence.

"Aurora, can I ask Uncle Lucius to help manage this for me? I'm too young and not good at it..." he asked shyly, scratching his head.

"Aren't you afraid the Malfoy family might just take over the Potter estate?" I asked cautiously.

"If Uncle Lucius really had that in mind, he wouldn’t have given me the key..." Harry looked back at me with sincere eyes.

I felt a bit guilty for doubting him.

Businessmen are driven by profit. This move by Lucius could very well be a test.

The Malfoy family head was pleased with the boy's trust.

"Thank you for your trust, Harry. This will be a win-win decision."

"Aurora, you need to have faith in your father's character," Lucius added, giving me a pointed look.

Narcissa couldn't help but laugh. "Luke, even your own daughter doubts your character."

"Yeah, so young and already siding with outsiders," Lucius said, tapping my forehead.

"I actually think Aurora's concern is valid," Draco said, rubbing my head and chiming in.

We all burst into laughter.

Lucius, true to his promise, helped revive the Potter family's business. He bought the rights to old Potter's invention—a hair smoothing serum—and after repackaging it, sold it worldwide.

"Aurora, you need to understand the principle that 1+1>2," Lucius said, raising an eyebrow with a mysterious look.

He was obviously just trying to prove himself!

"Thank you for thinking of me, Aurora," Harry said in private, his green eyes sparkling. They no longer darted around nervously like a frightened deer.

"It's nothing," I replied, looking away, not used to receiving thanks.

"It feels unreal..."

"Harry, what do you mean?"

"I mean... my current self, I'm too happy. I'm worried that everything at Malfoy Manor is just a dream. Once I wake up, it will all be over."