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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money from this fan fiction.
Now, on with the Story!
King's Cross
I t was like resurfacing. Harry gasped and opened his eyes taking in his surroundings; he was startled to see that he was laying on the polished wooden platform at the train station. Sitting up Harry was struck with the horrifying realization that he was NAKED! With a yelp, Harry leapt to his feet, hands covering his important bits. His head spun, this way and that way, hoping the no one was around the normally busy train station.
But as soon as he had completed his monkey ninja leap to his feet, his body was covered in his normal attire of blue jeans, cotton pullover, and outer robes. Think Merlin, Harry thought with a shuddering sigh of relief. I didn't want to spend the rest of eternity in the buff. He lent down and tied his right sneakers laces tighter, a nervous habit that always makes him feel better. I think the Muggles call this sort of thing OCD, Harry thought with a snort. Oh well, this is to make him feel better, and boy did he need it. Harry still felt a little out of sorts, even after the shoe tying.
Straightening, Harry took in the eerie sight of the too bright, seemingly abandoned train station. This was like those late night zombie movies he watched on TV when his abusive uncle finally went to sleep. He could just imagine the horde of zombies appearing just around the corner, their dead skin and gaping mouths, moaning…
He nearly leapt from his skin when he heard a pain filled whimper.
"What was that!" Harry exclaimed clutching his chest.
Heart still racing, Harry walked towards the sound and was shocked to see that a toddler-sized child was the source of such a pain filled sound. The small nude boy was curled under one of the bolted down benches along the wall farthest from the platform. The poor kid looked just awful, bone- thin and bruised, battered and bloodied; he looked starved and badly beaten. Harry immediately knelt down and reached out to him.
"No, Harry," came an all too familiar voice to his right. "You can't save it. This is a piece of Riddles wretched soul, it must die." Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw a flash of familiar purple robes.
Harry stood, turning to his once mentor, Albus Dumbledore. The memory of how Dumbledore had used him burnt in Harry's brain. He had trusted this man with his life and the whole time Dumbledore was just being grooming Harry to die.
"I bet you are wondering where you are," Dumbledore said self-righteously. "We are currently in between life and death, and you have a choice ahead of you-"
But suddenly Harry didn't care, like lightening had struck him, he realized that Dumbledore was no longer the mastermind behind his life anymore. Harry had fulfilled the prophecy, and he just wanted to move on. There was no going back for Harry. The wizarding world could continue on just fine without him.
"I'm getting on the train," Harry decided, surprising Dumbledore who was in mid-rant. "I'm done."
Dumbledore looked shocked, like a chair had bitten him, a nice mindless chair that should obey his every command. "Harry you should return-"
"I don't want to." Harry said not paying any real attention to Dumbledore, his epiphany still ringing in his head. Instead, Harry looked down at the child, all that was left of Tom's innocence lying in a broken huddle at Harry's feet. The boy looked resigned, like the world had already given up on him. Harry knew that feeling; he had seen that same look in his own eyes. The child's eyes held only on question: What happens to me now?
"I'm moving on," Harry said to the boy. "And I'm taking you with me." Harry scooped up the frail boy's body in his arms, its weight unhealthy, almost nonexistent. The tiny boy looked up at Harry with such a painfully hopeful expression, that Harry felt a red-hot wave of anger towards the monsters that mistreated the boy in his arms. Well no more, Harry thought, He would take care of Tom now on.
Striding to the platform, leaving behind a bewildered Dumbledore, Harry boarded the train.
"Time for a new adventure," Harry announced cheerfully to Tom. He went to the very first compartment he ever rode in and sat by the window. Smiling at the happy memories, Harry wrapped Tom's frail form in his robe and snuggled the boy close to his chest.
The Train
Harry and Tom sat in comfortable silence and watched the rainbow of colors and swirls of light dance outside the widow. Tom was watching from within Harry's cloak, his pale thin, little hands clutching the robe up to his chin. Harry smiled at the boy and stroked his bald little head gently, careful to avoid the multitude of cuts and bruises on the little boy's head.
"You ready for an adventure, Tom," Harry asked the little boy, smiling down at him.
The boy is his arms leaned back against Harry's chest and looked up at him and babbled, pointing out the window. Harry was a little surprised by the baby babble, until the realization hit him that Tom must had been ignored to the point that he never learnt to speak. Tom also seems to have trouble sitting upright, but Harry was unsure if this was due to abuse or neglect, as the boy had obviously suffered both.
Tom and Harry both jumped, shocked when the door to their compartment jerked open with a screech. There stood a sour faced man holding a clipboard and dressed in a red and gold uniform. A brass name plate across his chest stated his name was Eric.
"Destination?" Eric growled whipping a quill out from under the clipboard.
"Destination," Harry parroted, confused. Glancing out the window at the bright lights and rainbow of colors confused. "Heaven, I hope."
"Heaven?" The angry man sneered. "What dimension do you want, kid!"
"Dimension?" Harry repeated surprised and more that a little confused. "I don't understand what you mean by dimension."
The man let out an aggravated sigh. Harry stiffened. He despised hate filled people, like this man in front of him. But being so far out of his element and holding Tom, Harry held in his fire.
"Where do you want to be let off at," The man said between clenched teeth.
"I don't know, "Harry exclaimed, fed up with the strange man's attitude. "It is not like I ride this train every day."
The man rolled his eyes, looked upwards and heaved a heavy sigh. He stayed like that for a long moment, making Harry wish he had his wand. Then Eric looked at Harry and exhaled.
"Okay, sir," Eric drawled sarcastically. "Let's try this. What would you like in an alternate reality?" He raised his bushy eyebrows expectantly.
"Really? Whatever I want in an alternate world?" Harry looked down at Tom who looked back at him with a don't ask me look on his small pointy face.
"Yes," Eric mocked. "Whatever you want."
"I would like a world at peace, where the whole world is magical." Harry decided to play along, not really sure if Eric was for real or not. "Where my parents, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin are alive and well." Harry answered, looking up at the sour faced man at the doorway.
"Do you want the same world for the boy?" Eric asked not looking up from his rapid note taking.
"Yes," Harry answered. Tom was coming with him. There was no way in hell Harry was leaving him behind.
"Relationship to you?" Eric muttered, scratching away.
"I think it would be ideal if he was my brother" Harry smiled down at Tom who was sucking his thumb sleepily. Harry could see himself and Tom as brothers.
Eric muttered under his breath and scribbled on the clipboard with a flourish. The clipboard disappeared with a pop and the train began to slow down.
"Follow me," Eric growled as he headed down the passage way, Harry hurrying behind him carrying the sleepy Tom, "how this works, as I'm sure you don't know, is that you and your companion will jump into the recently deceased bodies of people already in your desired dimension. Before you ask all injuries will be healed so you don't up and die as soon as you enter your dimension of choice."
The man flicked open the door and waved Harry over. Harry stood looking out at the swirl of rainbows and light. Confused, Harry looked over at the uniformed train station employee.
"Wait for it," the man cautioned, as the whirl of rainbows outside the train slowed and begun to clear.
Slowly Harry could make out the smoldering rubble of what was once a small cottage. The train station attendant waved his hand at the steaming rubble, shifting it away from the body of a young woman holding a small boy. Petite and fragile, she looked like a bloodied and broken angel, the chubby boy in her arms looked to be about a year old. The boy had fared no better as he was as bloody looking as his sister.
"I don't understand," Harry started, clutching Tom to his chest and leaning out the opening a bit, "Why are you showing me thi-"
Harry gasped as the man pushed him out the door.
Next Chapter: Harry and Tom are now in a brand new dimension. How will Harry cope with Harriet's girlie memories and, gulp, hormones. What's a (former) boy to do?
A/N: this chapter was inspired by enigma's fanfic Master of Death. That's pretty much where the similarities will end. There will be no slash, only hot sex between a dark and possessive Snape and a clueless and girly Harry.