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Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me! :(

'thoughts'

Chapter 2

Harry woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, the only sign of the beating they had gotten the night before from Uncle Vernon. He stared up at the ceiling as his arms wrapped protectively around Violet, pulling her small body to him. She snuggled closer to him and sighed in her sleep. He gently ran his fingers through her hair as his headache slowly subsided.

Harry loved these moments. The only time Violet was ever completely relaxed, the Dursleys weren't bothering them, and everything was peaceful. Violet slowly stirred as she woke up to Harry running his fingers through her hair and across her back.

She felt his arm wrap protectively around her, pulling her closer to him. She loved it when he did that. It made here feel as if nothing could hurt her while she was in his arms. She smiled at him sleepily, "G'morning Harry."

He smiled at her sleepy form and said, "Morning my lovely little sister. How do you feel? How did you sleep?"

Violet replied, "I feel good, like last night never happened. I had the dream again last night."

At least once a week, they would have nightmares about a flash of green light and high pitched laughter.

Suddenly, they heard a sharp rapping on the door to their cupboard "Up! Get up!" Aunt Petunia's voice cracked through the quiet cupboard.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia."

Harry and Violet looked at each other and sighed. "We have to get going," Harry prodded.

Violet nodded and they both got up and started getting dressed in hand-me-down cloths. They had slept in the same bed for 7 years, so they were completely comfortable around each other. They were also much more mature than other children there age, a byproduct of their upbringing.

Violet didn't look malnourished like Harry did because he always gave a portion of his meal to Violet. At first she had protested, but he simply didn't eat it and eventually she gave in. Secretly, she really appreciated it because it made her feel special, like he was her knight in shining armor, protecting her from anyone and anything. She wanted to pay him back somehow, but she had never figured out how she could. Whatever she tries to do simply wasn't enough to fully pay Harry back for all he had done.

They had finished getting dressed and had opened the cupboard when it was suddenly slammed in their face. "Oh, sorry didn't see you there," Dudley sneered, "Get going and make me breakfast."

Harry kept an impassive face but on the inside he was seething. He pushed that to the side to concentrate on cooking breakfast. Now Harry and Violet were really good at cooking, but Harry didn't want Violet to get a beating if she accidentally burnt the food. Harry always tried to take the beating for Violet and for the most part it worked.

Once they had finished making breakfast and setting the table, Harry and Violet grabbed their portion and fled to the cupboard. Once there they sat down on the bed and started nibbling on their food.

Harry chewed for a moment, swallowed, and asked Violet, "Alright, we need to get to the library and get some books on meditation. So how are we going to do it? We can't take it back with us, the Dursleys would take it if they found out. We don't have a library card in any case."

Violet shifted, getting more comfortable and thinking as she took a bite of toast. Finaly she spoke, "We can just stay there and read. As long as we don't stay too long the Dursleys won't find out. And Dudley hates the library anyway."

Harry acquiesced with a nod, "Very true. Alright, lets get these chores done and head to the library."

Violet swallowed her last bite and nodded. Harry and Violet stood up and left the cupboard, splitting up to do the chores for the day.

Harry and Violet walked through the doors to their favorite building, the library. Ever since the age of 4, they had been able to read, and read proficiently. Part of it was they naturally matured faster and were more intelligent, and part of it was because they were forced to do chores and cook and they ended to be able to read.

But aside from that, Violet absolutely loved learning and wanted to get her hands on every book and read it. Harry on the other hand took a more practical approach. He loved to learn, but he was more of a hands-on learner and not book a learner.

Harry and Violet walked past the librarians desk, exchanging pleasantries, then went to the non-fiction section and began to look for books on meditation. Scanning the shelves, they came to the psychology section. A few cursory glances over the shelves told them that there were quite a few books on meditation.

Violet looked at Harry, "What book should we pick? How do we know which meditation technique will work?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth to respond, when something flashed out of the corner of his eye, startling him and he spun around, loosing his balance as he did so. For a moment, from an observers standpoint it would have looked like reality itself was holding its breath, like all of time-space was balanced on a knife edge. For a moment, you could almost see the two different paths forming on this one nexus of a decision. Than Harry reached out his hand and caught himself on a bookshelf.

Harry straightened up, shook his head to clear his mind and said, "That was weird."

Then he looked at where his hand was grabbing. Between the ends of two bookshelves a book was wedged. Harry was quite sure that he hadn't seen it there a moment ago. A feeling that he couldn't really describe descended on Harry and he grabbed the book and looked at the title, A True Guide to the Arts Lost and Modern. It was a leather bound book, only about an inch thick, and seemed to exude an aura of age and wisdom. Harry turned to Violet and showed her the book, "What do you think about this book?"

Violet looked at the book and shrugged, "Sure we might as well start somewhere."

With that, Harry and Violet took the book to a table in the back of the library and opened up the introduction.

"You who are pursuing this book, you have the privilege of picking up the compendium of all of the Arts. Truly you are blessed, for this is no ordinary book. No, this book will be able to teach you any and everything about all of the Arts. For the Arts are truly wondrous and mysterious and without the proper guidance, you will fail miserably in your endeavors. So seek in these many pages for answers to questions you never knew you had.

"For you who seek within these pages, be warned, this book will only give you the knowledge of magic that you can handle. So do not go looking for things that you can not possibly understand or perform. You have been warned."

Harry and Violet looked at each other, having finished the introduction. Harry spoke, "This book proports to be a book to teach magic. What do you think the likelihood of this book being in this library just as we are looking for it?"

Violet thought for a moment, "Not very likely, but then again, if magic is involved and that magic works like in the books, its possible. Lets look and see if there is anything that we can do to prove that this book can help us."

They turned back to the book and opened up farther to the Table of Contents. There was a long list of chapters.

Astrology, the Art of the Stars

Alchemy, the Art of Transmutation

Animancy, the Art of Animals

Battlemagic, the Art of War

Bloodmagic, the Art of Blood

Bonds, the Art of Bindings and Bonds

Demonology, the Art of Demons

Divination, the Art of Seeing

Enchanting, the Art of Enchantments

Herbology, the Art of Plants

Magic, the Art of Spells and Pure Magic

Illusion Magic, the Art of Illusions

Medimagic, the Art of Healing

Mindmagic, the Art of the Mind

Naturology, the Art of the Elements

Necromancy, the Art of the Dead

Ritual Magic, the Art of Rituals

Soul Magic, the Art of the Soul

Symbology, the Art of Runes and Symbolism

As Harry was reading the chapter headings, he was a little skeptical but also a little impressed. If this was a joke, it was very elaborate. Then he got to the Necromancy chapter and thought, 'Does this mean that we can see mum? And dad? Find out what truly happened to them?'

He turned to Violet and waited for her to finish reading the chapters. Then she looked up at Harry, "Do you think this Necromancy could do what we think it can? I mean," here her eyes grew hopeful, "If this really works, could we see mom and dad again?"

Harry smiled at her, "That is exactly what I was thinking, if this book really can teach us magic, than I see no reason it would lie about what it can teach us.

Harry then turned back to the book and flipped the page to the chapter on Necromancy.

"The Art of Necromancy is a dangerous, but powerful art. It can summon the dead, give rest to the restless, bring life to the lifeless, and motion to the motionless to name a few. A Necromancer is the balance between life and death, making sure that there is not too much of either. If you choose this course, there is no going back. For those who journey down the path between death and life will undoubtedly find that it is a lonely road. You have been warned."

Violet gave a shuddering breath, "Harry, we need to try."

Harry looked at her concerned, "But if this doesn't work, it will be damn near impossible to cover it up. We need to do it somewhere no one will notice."

Violet snapped her fingers, "The forest. No one goes in there, and if it doesn't work, no one will know it was us."

Harry smiled, "That is an excellent idea Violet! Lets go now before it gets any later."

Quickly hiding the book under Harry's baggy shirt, they slipped out of the library and ran to the forest. The afternoon sun was beating down on the town of Little Winging, but it cooled as Harry and Violet slipped under the shade of the trees in the forest. They ran deeper into the forest until they could not hear anything but the chirping of birds and buzzing of insects.

Finding a clearing they sat down and opened up the Book to see what they had to do.

"You who wish to practice the exact art of Necromancy; you must draw the ritual circle down below in your blood on the ground. Then stand in the middle and proclaim 'Through my blood and magic, I accept the responsibility of mine chosen Art.' Warning: if there is blood magic or any detrimental magic affecting you it will be extremely painful as this ritual will purge the magic from you."

Harry groaned in frustration, they didn't have a knife and the circle looked pretty big. He would probably bleed out before it was finished. He turned to Violet, "So how are we going to do this? We don't have a knife and there is no way I can make the circle that big in blood."

Violet bit her lip in thought kneading the dirt beneath her hand, "Well we can use a rock to cut ourselves, but I am stumped on the circle as well."

Harry turned back to the book and was surprised to find another paragraph below the ritual that he was sure hadn't been there before.

"Do not worry about blood loss, the magic of the ritual will produce blood in your body until the circle is complete. Be warned, this ritual is exhausting so you will need to rest as soon as you can after."

Harry looked at Violet, "Well that answers our question. Lets find a sharp rock and I'll go first."

Violet looked at him ready to protest, but it died in her throat as she saw the look in Harry's eyes, he was protecting her again. "Alright Harry." They started looking over the clearing, trying to find a sharp rock.

A few minutes later Violet walked over to Harry, "I found one Harry."

Harry stood up and accepted the rock Violet handed. It was a small flat rock, with one side tapered into an edge the other side rounded. Harry walked into the middle of the field and held the rock over his wrist. He took a deep breath, and sliced his wrist.

Blood immediately poured out of the wound and down his hand to the tip of his extended index finger. Once it reached the tip, he bent down and started drawing the pentagram and runes on the ground. When he finished, he walked into the middle of the pentagram and sat down. Then he chanted, "Through my blood and magic, I accept the responsibility of mine chosen Art."

The runes started glowing red. They pulsed, almost like a heartbeat. Faster and faster it pulsed, until it became a solid black aura surrounding Harry. Then it seemed to be sucked into him. Harry screamed, and a pure red aura burst out of him, stopping at the edge of the pentagram. Harry screamed and screamed. He felt his bones being ground to dust, then solidifying in a cycle that never seemed to end. His muscles felt like they were being shredded, then healed back together. His nerves felt like they were being liquefied then solidified. His skin was being ripped off of his body and new skin growing back. His blood felt like acid had been poured into his veins, then it felt like the acid was replaced with liquid nitrogen. After all this happened, he felt the magic of the ritual reach down into his very soul and a dam broke from within. He felt his magic consuming him and everything went black.

Suddenly he saw a gigantic ball of light in the darkness, how he could see it he didn't know, because it was blacker than black, yet it glowed. On the surface were glowing crimson chains, well what used to be glowing chrimson chains. It looked like at one point the chains had restricted the ball, but now it was just a bunch of broken links that were being slowly absorbed into the growing ball of black. Suddenly Harry noticed that as the ball expanded, it engulfed another smaller ball. Harry heard the briefest of shrieks before the ball was consumed. Memories flashed before Harry's eyes, to quick to make out, then it stopped. The ball pulsed one final time, and Harry fainted.

Slowly, Harry swam into consciousness. Slowly his mental facilities started working and eventually he noticed that he was lying down on what felt like dirt. Forcing his eyes open he saw Violet kneeling beside him face over his, a concerned look on her face.

Harry was feeling better than he had ever felt before, he actually felt healthy! He wasn't wearing his glasses, yet he could see better than ever. Violets face showed in clear relief that he had never noticed before. She was very beautiful. Also he could see an aura surrounding some objects, Violet and The Book. It was a brief glimpse before it vanished. A beautiful smile streatched across Violets face and she flung herself on top of Harry, hugging him as tight as she could.

They were like that for a few moments before Harry muttered, "Can you help me up?"

Laughing, Violet stood up and extended a hand which Harry grabbed, and helped him stand up. As soon as he was up, Harry noticed that he was a few inches taller than Violet now, when before they were about the same height.

He hugged Violet for a moment, then pulled back and asked, "Are you ready for this Violet?"

She looked up at him and smiled, "Yes, I'm ready."

Violet walked over to the discarded rock, picked it up, took a deep breath, and sliced into her wrist. She then proceeded to place the same pentagram on the floor as Harry had. The pentagram Harry had drawn had burnt away. When she had finished, she stepped into the middle and chanted, "Through blood and magic, I accept the responsibility of mine chosen art."

The runes flashed and Violet collapsed on the ground in pain just like Harry had, a red aura bursting out of her and filling the entire pentagram. The aura seemed to go into Violet and her body started twitching, and it looked like something was writhing under her skin. A few minutes later, she stood up. She looked at Harry and bared her throat. Instinct came over Harry and he leapt forward and sank his newly discovered fangs into her neck. Blood poured out of the wound right into Harry's mouth. It tasted better than chocolate as it poured down Harry's throat into his stomach. He felt as if Violet was pouring more than blood out of that wound, it was as if she was pouring everything about herself into Harry. He stopped drinking and licked the wound closed.

Then he stood back and bared his own throat to Violet. She slowly, reverently moved her head next to his neck and bit him. Harry felt his magic link him to Violet through the blood now in her. She licked the wound closed and stepped back.

Harry, slightly concerned, slightly curious about what had happened, went over to the book and went to the section marked 'Twin Bonds'.

"Twin Bonds are a rare type of bond that only happens between twins, and only if their souls are compatible. It allows the bonded to communicate with their minds and be able to share magic. In some situations, it is more like two bodies with one mind."

"If twins perform the same ritual, especially if it is one to awaken or bring forth talent in an Art, the bond will deepen and the twins will be able to communicate thoughts over any distance. Whereas before, they could only feel emotions."

Harry focused on Violet for a moment, 'Can you hear me Violet?'

Violet jerked her head and Harry "heard" her voice in his head, 'Yes Harry, I can hear you.'

Harry smiled and spoke out loud, "This could be super useful. We should practice so we can talk to each other while having a conversation with someone else."

Violet nodded, "That would be super useful. We should get headed home, the Dursleys are probably going to be wondering where we are in a few minutes."

Harry nodded in agreement and picked up the Book, which shrunk till it was the size of a matchbox, and they started heading back to the Dursleys.

"So how do we deal with the Dursleys?" Harry said. "We know that what we can do is magic, and with The Book, we can learn how to use it."

Violet though for a moment, "We should probably not let them know we know, otherwise it could get ugly."

"At least until we can use it proficiently to protect ourselves." Here, Harry's face broke into an evil grin, "Then we can have some fun."

"Yes, indeed brother." Violet said with an evil grin of her own.

After a few more minutes of walking and enjoying the afternoon turning night, Harry and Violet reached Number 4 and walked in and made dinner. The Dursleys, not caring if they ate, sent them to the cupboard with scraps for a meal. Once in the cupboard, Harry pulled out the book and it expanded to regular size. He was surprised that he could see perfectly, even though he knew that his cupboard was suppose to be almost pitch black. The light having broken earlier that week. He opened the book and started to read, while Violet curled up at his side. Harry started stroking her hair. Soon after, Violet started making a noise that sounded like a cat purring. She soon fell asleep, feeling peaceful and protected at Harry's side.

Harry continued to read. An interesting fact about the book was that it was self-updating and had a safety feature. It only showed rituals and spells that wouldn't kill the reader because he couldn't focus enough, he didn't know the basics, or he didn't have enough power. Harry read, making notes of rituals he wanted Violet and himself to perform. Soon he put the book behind a lose panel at the back of the cupboard and lay down, curling around Violet and putting an arm around her waist. He fell asleep with his face in Violet's hair.

AN: Please review, and when you do, if you have suggestions for where you want the story to go, Chapters of The Book, grammar pointers or other things you would like to suggest, feel free. Thank you so much to HTTYD Guest (Guest), and other Anomymous (Guest) who wrote suggestions that helped me to edit my story.