"Well it's like this, I don't know the whole story, no one does... Well, maybe Albus Dumbledore knows. Great man, Dumbledore is, a real great man.

Anyway. About ten years back, there was a truly evil wizard. By the name of V-V... Well, I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does. See, this wizard went bad, real bad. Bad as you can go. Worse even. So everyone jus' calls him You-Know-Who. Well, his supporters called him the Dark Lord.

But like I was sayin'. You-Know-Who was at the height of his power. He was takin' over. 'Course some stood up to him, an' he killed 'em. He was only afraid of Dumbledore, I reckon.

Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... Or tried to kill 'em before. See, they were smart an' brilliant an' completely on the side of Dumbledore.

They had denied You-Know-Who before that night. That Hallowe'en night they were killed. He went to their house, your house.

'Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em.... Maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, ten year ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an'  . . .an'-"

Hagrid suddenly stopped his tale to bring out a huge disgusting looking handkerchief from his pocket and give a huge blow into it. The whole bed shook with a sob that escaped him.

"Sorry," he said. "But it's sad, yer never knew yer mum an' dad... Well, at least you got each other, so ter speak . . . anyway -

You-Know-Who killed 'em, an they wern' push-overs either. An' then, an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing. He tried to kill you, Harry, too. An then somethin' happened.

People have been puzzlin' all over this. He musta hit Harry with the killin' curse. But instead of him dyin', like his mum an' dad. He just sorta... Well, split."

"SPLIT?" Harry interrupted, shouting slightly. "I mean, I'm whole. Not split at all."

"Nah, Harry, I don' mean physically, like. But, well it's hard to explain... The Killin' Curse is supposed to kill you, and by doin' that, it's gotta kill your soul. Well, with you, it just split your soul in half. An' a soul needs somewhere to live. So the magic of the night made a body for it, an' brought to life your twin. Hayden."

Both boys looked at Hagrid in disbelief. Hagrid cleared his throat and plowed on with his story.

"An, people reckon that it was the joint force of the spell then rebounding off your now two separate souls that killed You-Know-Who. Some others reckon that Hayden's half complete soul sucked in You-Know-Who's energy. Adding to his destruction.

But there was another person there that night... Severus Snape. Now, I dunno what part he played in all this, but Dumbledore reckon's it's a big one. Dumbledore thinks that Snape went there to warn your mum of You-Know-Who's attack. Says Snape was desperately in love with her, an' when she chose James over him he joined You-Know-Who.

But when Snape heard that You-Know-Who was gonna kill her, he went to her house to save her, and no longer be You-Know-Who's slave. But he was too late, he only got there in time to see You-Know-Who about to kill little Harry. An' even though he hated James, he loved Lily so much he tried to kill his master.

Dumbledore reckons he called to You-Know-Who when he was half way through the spell. Breaking off a spell halfway is always dangerous, more so when that spell was made just with the purpose of pain and killing.

The spell was weak then, and so could only divide your soul, not destroy it. An' Snape then saw what had happened to his love's only child. An’ took you an' Hayden straight to Dumbledore. Snape asked him for custody of the two boys, but Dumbledore denied him that. Said you two had to go to the Dursleys as they were your last living relatives, and only by using a powerful warding charm based on family would you be safe from the dangers of the dark that now hunted you.

Well Snape was obviously maddened with grief over Lily, and now that he could not look after the boy she gave birth to, and his other half, he lost it. Apparently he calmly told Dumbledore he understood, and before anyone could do anything about it, he threw himself off the top of the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts.

Well, I hear there’s a romance book or two based on his life. He was always a bit shifty at school but it was through his love of Lily that he became a hero in the end."

Hagrid blew his nose once more, before he finally went on and finished his story.

"Well, Dumbledore had you bundled off to the Dursleys. Where you wouldn't even know your true identities. And grow up unspoilt. Well that was the plan, but I don't reckon the Dursleys treated you to well.

Every child in the wizarding world knows you. Harry as The-Boy-Who-Lived and Hayden as his other half, the Shadow Child. The world loves you Harry, but Hayden I've got to warn you, now while there’s some like me who think there’s nothing wrong with you, that’s not the same all round. You’re considered tainted by the dark, by some. And some don't even think you a real human.

There are some groups out there that either want to help The-Boy-Who-Lived by merging him and his Shadow together once more. Others just want to kill you, Hayden, and they will stop at nothing to end all so called 'Evil'. Be careful."

Hayden mouth opened and he made a gasping sound like a fish, tears welled in his eyes and he vehemently shook his head at the end of Hagrid's tale.

“N-no, no its not true!” He shouted and fled the room. With nowhere to run to he collapsed against a wall in the corridor outside their room, he sat there with his head in his hands for a long time.

Harry made to go to him, but Hagrid held him back.

“Leave him be, Harry, he needs to think. No doubt you do too. Come with me, and I'll buy yer a lemonade.” Hagrid told Harry, and led him out of the room and past his brother. Hurrying him along so that Harry could not see Hayden staring at him with envy, betrayal and disbelief.