Siblings’ Rivalry

7 Advanced chapters on Patreon: Fiction Haven

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Charlus Potter sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror. He was far from ugly, but the most honest appraisal people had given of his appearance was You look so much like James. He liked to consider his father handsome, but he doubted he would be as popular among the ladies without his fame.

On the other hand, Harry was blessed with good looks. His mother had once said Harry was James if he was a heartthrob. On top of that, Harry also had his mother's eyes, the most mesmerizing pair of emeralds the world had to offer. Charlus was not ashamed to admit he was jealous of his more handsome brother.

Yeah, I can't rid of him either.

Charlus had long squashed his stupid idea to rid of Harry. He was ashamed to even consider killing the one family member that his mother had been trying hard to take back. He was glad he had overcome his moment of darkness quickly. He didn't want to cast eternal sorrow on his mother. She would never recover if she lost Harry.

"Is it ready?"

"Of course it is—"

"Our young friend!"

"Diluted and harmless?"

"Diluted and harmless it is."

"At most, it would make him sleep occasionally."

With that said, it didn't mean Charlus would stay silent. He was quite begrudged that Harry hogged all of his mother's attention. A harmless prank should suffice to soothe his jealous heart. He was aware that he was being petty. Of course, he also knew his mother would spend time with him if he asked her. But how could he ask his mother to spend the Hogsmeade weekend with him? He didn't want to be called a Mommy boy, thank you very much.

With a smile, Charlus hid the bottle of potion that Fred and George had made inside his robe. He was thinking about what he could do to make Harry drink the potion when he bumped into Moody. The crippled man was so formidable that he knocked Charlus off his butt. Groaning lightly, he stood up and muttered an apology.

"Is that a potion, Mr Potter?" Moody growled.

Widening his eyes, Charlus hid the bottle. "Ah, yes—no. It's about to be. In other words, it's an empty phial."

Moody looked at Charlus blandly, unimpressed. "I shall take a look at that, lad." He extended his hand, prompting Charlus to reluctantly hand over the phial. Taking a whiff of the potion, he said, "It has the smell of a tickle-me and a sleeping potion. I wager anyone who drinks this will laugh themselves to sleep."

Charlus pursed his lips when Moody successfully deduced the effect of the potion. He smiled sheepishly when Moody looked at him suspiciously.

"I sense great mischief from you, lad. You know what? I will confiscate it. You may take it from me as long as I don't catch you."

Pocketing the potion, Moody left Charles in the hallway. Charlus was disappointed that he had to postpone his prank but still smiled. Moody was underestimating the Marauder's blood in his veins. With his Invisibility Cloak, sneaking into Moody's office would be an easy job. On top of that, he had found a way to make Harry drink the potion. He would join Harry and his mother in one of their tea sessions and slip the potion into Harry's.

The next day, Charlus saw an interesting scene in the hallway. Hermione was having a standoff with Harry. The bushy-haired witch was livid but his brother was as apathetic as ever. Not wanting to ruin the fun, Charlus hid in the corner and watched the event unfold.

"What are you doing, mate?" Ron asked, suddenly appearing behind Charlus.

"Shush! Just watch!" Charlus scolded, secretly calming his heart down.

Ron shrugged and hid behind Charlus, peeking over the wall. The hallway was quite empty as most students were already in the Great Hall, so they could hear what Hermione and Harry were talking about.

"I thought having lived with muggles gives you insight into slavery. It seems my expectations are too high," Hermione scoffed.

"Listen, Emma Watson," Harry drawled, earning a protest from Hermione. "I hate slavery as much as you do. I don't like the way House-elves are being treated either. However, what you are doing is wrong. Freeing them is not the correct way to give them a better life. Do you know what happens when you free them?"

"They will have a good life, free from abuses, that is."

"They will die out of stress, most of the time," Harry informed.

"Nonsense," Hermione scoffed.

Harry looked unamused. Charlus and Ron were contemplating stepping up when silence reigned in the hallway.

"What you are doing, Emma Watson is forcing your ideals into the abused but otherwise happy House-elves. House-elves magically bind themselves to their masters and gain satisfaction from it. Like us, they need purposes to live. Serving their masters is their life purpose. Of course, some could survive without serving any, but most of them need it."

"What you are doing, Harry Potter is justifying the unjust act of slavery. Their mindset is tampered with centuries of slavery. As such, it becomes even more necessary to liberate them from that mindset. Don't you think so, Harry Potter?"

"Wearing clothes is also a custom tampered by human history of morals. By that logic, shouldn't we better be naked? The animals are naked and they are better that way. If they could talk, I wonder if they would tell us to get naked."

Hermione looked at Harry weirdly as he looked her up and down. Her face flushed and her hands instinctively covered her chest when his emerald eyes gleamed.

"That is how your idea sounds to the House-elves, you know. While I admire you for your righteous advocacy, you also need to consider it from the House-elf's perspective. First of all, they are not humans, so you can't expect them to adhere to our moral codes. Second of all, this is the magical world. You can't treat it like a muggle world."

"I…"

Harry waved his hand, showcasing the House-elf Liberation parchment as he walked away. "Until you can comfortably walk around me naked, don't shove your ideals down the House-elf's throat. I encourage you to advocate wages for them, though. Good luck on your endeavour, Emma Watson."

Charlus and Ron watched as their friend sputtered in silence. Hermione shocked them by cursing under their breath and holding her flushed cheeks. They just watched a maiden fall in love and didn't know how to react. Regardless, they mutually hated Harry for his luck with girls.

Charlus managed to snatch his potion back from Moody after three days. The old coot was very hard to find. It had left Charlus disgruntled, but the thought of pranking Harry soothed his mood quickly. At the end of his charms class, Charlus told Lily he would join her and Harry in their tea session. Lily was so elated that she forewent attending her last class.

"I thought you preferred coffee like your father," Lily remarked as she brewed the tea in her quarter.

"I do. It doesn't mean I am averse to tea, though," Charlus clarified, helping Lily prepare the tea. He sneakily dropped the potion into Harry's tea. "Besides, I am curious about what you guys talk about."

Lily's cheeks reddened slightly, but Charlus didn't notice it as he was too busy thinking about Harry's hilarious reaction to the potion. Lily was glad that was the case since she didn't want to tell Charlus she often spent her time snogging with Harry.

"We talk about Charms and a lot of mundane things," Lily intoned.

"Ugh, please, don't talk about boring lessons while I am here," Charlus scrunched up his nose.

"Charms are fun," Lily defended, earning a snort from her son.

When Harry came, Lily greeted him with a hug. Charlus noted she didn't do that to him but was fine with it. He had been crushed by her hugs enough that he could live without it. Harry sat down beside Lily and Charlus sat across from them. The youngest Potter wanted to have the front seat to Harry's hilarious reaction.

Harry took a whiff of the tea and stopped. Charlus gulped unknowingly, wondering if Harry had figured out his mischief. To his relief, Harry cast aside whatever thought he had and gulped the tea. Holding back a laugh, Charlus watched as Harry coughed and held his mouth. He expected a laugh to come out soon but was shocked when black veins appeared on Harry's body.

"My heart…"

"Harry!"

Lily panicked and immediately checked on Harry. Her diagnosis charm told her Harry was poisoned. Charlus sat rooted to his spot as he watched his brother's life flicker away in front of him. Harry's eyes found his, telling him Harry knew he was the culprit. Despite so, there was no hatred, only disappointment.

"This… how could this happen?" Lily muttered in horror as she smelled Harry's tea. "C- Charlus, please tell me…"

Charlus' horrified gaze gave her the answer. "T- This is not how it is supposed to be. I… I only wanted to prank him!"

That should have been the beginning of their siblings' rivalry. Harry would fall to his prank and return it in kind. That was the development Charlus had envisioned. Even if that didn't happen, he was expecting the harmless prank to only annoy Harry and not kill him. Alas, how could he know Barty Jr was impersonating Alastor Moody?