Privet number 4, cupboard under the stairs. A small bloodied boy silently cries himself to sleep.
'Uncle Vernon hit me harder than ever. I think he broke some of my ribs' a sob escapes the boy's mouth, and he quickly tries to hide it. 'If he hears me cry, he might come back for more.' After a few tense moments, the boy let himself relax 'Why is it me that has to suffer like this? It's not my fault my parents died when I was a baby. I wish I had a family like Ron's. I wish my parents didn't choose Sirius Black as their secret keeper. I wish they were here. Why me? Why me?'
The boy kept on silently cursing himself until he blacked out. From that day on, the Boy-who-lived became unaccounted for, and wizards and witches from the whole world haven't heard about him since.
Godric's hollow, second floor, Harry Potter's room. A blinding light shone through the middle of the room, so bright and warm one might think a sun was in there. The light shone for a fraction of a second, and where it once shone lay a slumbering boy.
Harry felt the movement as though he was being levitated. That brief, soft moment was enough to wake the boy's mind. He started to feel his bruises, and felt around his soft mattress for his glasses... 'Wait a minute... soft?!' The realization that he wasn't on his cupboard, but rather in an unknown place was enough to clear the 11 years old's fuzzy mind. With his wand at hand, the boy started searching the room for a clue as to where he was. The room was obviously a wizard boy's room with all those moving quidditch posters 'The Griffin Cannons, huh... That's Ron's favorite quidditch team if I remember it right.' Harry didn't find any clue of where he is in the room, so he set to exploring the other rooms of the house. The door next to the room he was previously in led into a study, and from the end of the hallway Harry could hear snores. When he realised he was not alone (a kid can dream, right? ) Harry sped up on his search, and went downstairs. What he didn't know was that the fourth step creacked -loudly. The snores from the room at the end of the hallway stopped, and Harry could hear a door opening and footsteps coming his way, so once he located what he was hoping was the front door he made a run for it, even though his ribs were protesting by now, but his captor appeared at the top of the stairs, wand at the ready. Once he recognized Harry, he let up on his fighting stance.
"Harry? What are you doing up at this hour? " the stranger asked, and then realization dawned on him, and his face got a stern tone to it "Young man, don't tell me you were planning on sneaking out! " the man said as he made his way to Harry.
Harry was dumbfounded by the man's act, almost as if he was my father. But Harry knew that wasn't the case, and with a quick flick of his wand, Harry shouted "Stupefy!" and the impact of the spell sent the man flying across the room, with a loud bang that echoed throughout the house.
A woman upstairs heard the noise and came running downstairs, worried about her husband.
"James! For Merlin's sake, James! Are you alright? What happened?! " asked the frantic woman as she cast healing spells here and there on the older man, even though the most serious injury he had was a minor concussion "Harry James Potter! How dare you raise your wand at your father! " said the irate woman once she noticed the boy in the room.
"That man is not my father! My father died when I was a baby along with my mother! " yelled the boy with tears welling up in the corners of his eyes "You people selfishly talk about them, and don't even think about how me and the people who miss them feel! So shut up! " the boy screamed as tears flowed freely across his face.
"What? Harry, baby, what are you talking about? We're right here in front of you." stated the confused woman as she approached Harry
"Don't move! Stay away from me!" said the boy pointing his wand to her.
"Baby, I just want to help you. Please." Tears started making their way across the woman's face
"Prongslet, would you feel better if we called Sirius here so you can talk to him? " the man, James, asked Harry as he stood up beside his wife
"Don't say that man's name in front of me! "
"Ok, so you don't want Sirius. How about Dumbledore then? " the man tried again
"Professor Dumbledore?" James nodded "Can you call him?" another nod "Ok. Please call Dumbledore."
The man made his way to the fireplace, and grabbed a powder from a pot on it. Harry stiffened. "What are you doing?" Asked the boy
"Relax, I'm just grabbing the floo powder" 'Floo powder? What is it?'
James threw the floo powder in the fireplace, and said "Dumbledore's quarters", and the fire turned green. James stuck his head in the fireplace, and Harry jumped of surprise. 'Is that man crazy?!' But as he seemed fine, Harry relaxed. James seemed to be having a conversation with someone in the fireplace, and when his head popped out from the fireplace, Dumbledore followed right after.
"Harry, my boy. Your father has informed me of your state. " said the older man with a twinkle in his eyes. "Would you like to-"
"No! Not you too, professor! Is this some kind of plot from Voldemort? "
Seeing the certain in the child's eyes, Dumbledore started to see the situation in a whole new light.
"Calm down, child. I can see it in you that you are sure these people are not your parents, and I have a hunch as to the reason. With your permission, may I take a look at your memories? "
The boy nodded, and let Dumbledore inside of his mind. The older man saw everything. Years of abuse from the Dursleys, the happiness that came when he first saw Hogwarts, the fight against the troll, the adventure in going after the philosopher's stone, the feeling of loneliness he felt while in the cupboard under the stairs, and the most shocking of all: the murder of the very two people that were standing right behind Dumbledore.
"I understand it now, child." he said to Harry "Harry, are you familiar with the theory of alternate universes?" the boy shook his head "Long story short, it is a theory that explains that there are multiple realities happening at the same time. You come from a reality where both your parents died when you were an infant, and this is a reality where no such thing happened. Are you still with me? " a nod "What I'm trying to say, my boy, is that these people are your parents, and you are their son." Dumbledore said gesturing to James and Lily Potter
As he said that, new tears welled up in Harry's eyes, and James and Lily moved to hug him, but when they touched the boy, Harry winced of pain.
"Harry, what's wrong? Do you feel pain anywhere? " James asked concerned and Harry's face blanched
"N-no, sir. I-i'm fine." The child said while trembling
"I'm afraid that's not the case." Dumbledore sighed "Apparently, the me from Harry's reality did the horrible mistake of giving Harry to your sister and her husband, Lily." The older man said with an apologetic expression on his face "Harry was heavily abused by them."
"What! How could you! "Lily roared as she made her way to heal Harry "Why are the healing spells not working? " she asked confused
"No! Don't heal. Healing is bad. If it heals fast, uncle Vernon will come back and hit me more! " Harry said while inching away from the others with a terrified expression on his face
"Harry, bud, healing is not wrong. We don't want to see you hurt. "James calmed the child as Lily broke into a crying fit
"I am going to call madam Pomfrey and see if she can do something about this situation. " said Albus as he made his way to the fireplace
"It's okay, Lils. I'm going to make it all okay. " James whispered comforting words in his wife's ear, but the words sounded more like they were said to reassure himself
A few moments later, Madame Pomfrey stood in the living room performing diagnosis spells on Harry. She tsked as she read the diagnosis, and shook her head.
"I'm afraid Harry's injuries cannot be healed by spells, as his magic core adamantly refuses to let the spells take effect" Madame Pomfrey said with a concerned tone in her voice "However, we can speed up the healing process with potions, " she quickly stated once she saw both parents' expressions " and I'm also going to prescribe some nutritional and some antidepressant potions for Harry."
'Antidepressants?'
"I am going to start the treatment now." Madame Pomfrey said as she handed Harry a vial with a brownish thick substance on it "This potion is a pain inhibitor" she explained once she saw the look of utter disgust on the child's face. Harry took a tentative sip, but spat out the gross tasted substance, and tried to put back the vial. "None of that, drink it all up, please. It's for your own good." She said handing back the vial, but Harry just shook his head
"Harry, please, take the potion." James pleaded with his son, but Harry was very intent on not taking the gross thing. "What is it wrong with the potion? "
"It's gross" Harry opened his mouth to say, but his father cast a paralyzing spell on him and forced him to swallow the thick gross stuff
"Sorry, cub, drink it all up, you'll feel better afterwards." James clamped his hand on Harry's mouth until he was sure the boy had swallowed the potion
"Good lad, now you only have five more potions to drink and you'll be done for this round. " Poppy said as she handed Harry the next vial
After much begging, pleading, bribing and deceiving, James and Lily managed to make Harry take all his potions.
"Very well then, with this we are finished with this round of potions. Lily, I am going to leave some potion vials along with the instructions. The pain inhibitor potion is to be taken once every twelve hours, the bone mending potion is to be taken once every six hours, the skin mending potion is to be taken once every four hours, the antidepressant potion is to be taken once a day, the bruises healing potion is to be taken once every six hours, the concussion healing potion is to be taken once every twelve hours, the infection healing potion is to be taken once every eight hours, the nutritional potion is to be taken before every meal, and the dreamless potion is to be taken before you go to bed." Madame Pomfrey listed as Lily and James nodded making sure to remember every detail "Well, with this I am going to excuse myself, once the potions run out, come to the school's medical wing and I will give you some more. Good night." Said Poppy as she made her way to the fireplace
"Thank you, Poppy." Both James and Lily said to the mediwitch
"Don't mind it, dears. Healing children is my job after all. " said Madame Pomfrey with a smile
"Albus, if this Harry is not the Harry we raised, then where is our Harry? " Lily asked concerned as James carded his hand through Harry's hair
Just as Lily finished her question, the floo roared to life and none other than Harry James Potter stepped in the living room. Once he saw both his parents, he had such a deer in the headlights expression which would be funny if it were not four in the morning and both his parents didn't know where he were.
"Uh oh. " said the Harry from this reality
"Uh oh indeed mister. Just where were you? " Lily demanded with a stern look and crossed arms
"... manor... " the Harry from this reality mumbled
"Excuse me, but we don't speak mumble. Care to repeat?"
"Black manor. " repeated 'Harry' with a guilty expression
"You went to Black manor?! And what do we say about going there? " demanded James careful not to scream as to not wake up the other Harry
"Not to-" 'Harry' started, but then he noticed himself beside his father "Dad, who is that? " he asked shell shocked
"He's you from another reality." James explained, but 'Harry' didn't seem to understand "Look, I don't know the details myself, but he's been through a lot, and he'll be living with us from now on. Think of him as a brother of sorts. "
"So I just got a younger brother? Wicked! " 'Harry' exclaimed excited "So now we are just like Fred and George! That gives us a whole lot new pranking possibilities!" 'Harry' ranted on with a smile on his face, and Lily and James stood proud of the son they raised.
"Don't get too excited about pranking, mister. You become anything like Fred and George and I assure you there'll be trouble. " Lily rained on his parade
"Well, seeing as you have already made up your mind on the matter, I am going to start with the papers so that Harry officially becomes part of this family. " Dumbledore said as he went to the fireplace, ruffling 'Harry's hair on the way
"Wait a sec, wouldn't it be weird to have two Harry James Potter? " 'Harry' asked
"Now that you say it... " Lily said
"But we shouldn't change Harry's name without him being present, so we should wait for tomorrow. " James stated
"There's no need for that. We just change the order. I become James Harry Potter, and Harry here stays Harry James Potter. Since I'm older it just makes sense for me to have dad's name first. "
"Are you sure of that, son? " asked James with a smile on his face
"Yeah, so call me Jim from now on, alright. " Jim answered with a smile of his own
"Ok then, Jim. "
"Now that all's settled, I shall retire myself for the night. Please do try to get any sleep. " said Dumbledore as he exited through the floo
"Well, I'm going to take Harry to his room then. " said James as he carried Harry to the guest bedroom on the second floor. "And don't think you're out of the hook about you little adventure, young man. We'll have much to talk about in the morning. " he said turning to Jim who at least had the decency of looking sheepish
As Jim laid in bed starting at his bedroom's roof wich was bewitched to look like the night sky, he couldn't stop thinking about how much his life changed in just a few hours. From what he heard from Ron, siblings are supposed to be annoying, but he didn't think it would be like that with his.
"A brother, huh? This will be awesome. "