New To Me
Chapter One
"Ron," Harry said. "I really don't think that we should be up here."
"We'll be fine," Ron said. "Don't worry." He slid himself out the open window and stepped out onto the roof of the burrow. "C'mon, hurry. We might miss it."
Harry turned to Hermione. "Ladies, first."
"If you insist," she said. She climbed out the window and joined Ron on the roof. "Oh, it's so beautiful up here! Harry, you've got to see this!"
Harry joined the other two on the rooftop. He looked up at the sky and could see the stars starting to come out. "Oh, wow."
Ron grinned. "Told you so."
They all sat down and watched the night sky light up. It was summer time and Harry and Hermione had been visiting with Ron, but tomorrow morning they would be heading back to school.
"Can't believe that we only have two years of school left," Hermione said. "Can you believe it?"
"I know," Ron said. "I can't believe we've survived this long."
Hermione pulled her knees into her chest. "What do you think will happen when school's all done?"
Harry shrugged. "Don't know. Guess we'll have to figure that out for ourselves."
Hermione turned to Harry and saw him gazing off into the night sky, his face with a distant look. "You all right there, Harry?"
Harry turned to look at her. "Yeah. Just thinking."
"About what?"
Harry sighed. "All the things that have gone on these last five years. I'm surprised I survived it all."
Hermione smiled. "You're a great wizard, Harry. You know that."
"I know. I just sometimes wish that…I could be…normal."
"What would you want to be normal for?" Ron asked.
Harry just shook his head. "You guys don't understand."
"It's not easy for you," Hermione said. "We get that."
"Oh, look!" Ron pointed to the sky. "A shooting star!"
"Quick," Hermione said. "Make a wish."
The three wizards closed their eyes tightly and silently made their wishes. After a moment or so, they opened their eyes and looked at each other.
"What did you guys wish for?" Harry asked.
Hermione laughed. "Don't you know the rules of wishing? If you tell what you wished for, the wish won't come true."
"Ron! Harry! Hermione!" called Mrs. Weasley from somewhere inside the house. "Where are you?"
"Be right there!" Ron called back. He turned to the others. "We'd better get back inside."
Harry and Hermione agreed. They all stood and made their way back to the window. As they did, suddenly, Harry's foot slipped. He screamed as he slid down the roof, catching onto the edge.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled. "Are you OK?"
Harry tried to pull himself back up onto the roof. He used all the upper body strength he had, but was still left dangling. "I'm stuck!"
"Just hang on!" Ron yelled.
Harry's hands were slowly starting to slip from edge. "I'm slipping! I can't hold on!"
"Grab my hand!" Ron extended a hand to Harry.
Harry freed one hand and tried to grab Ron's. As he did, he lost his grip and started to fall.
"Harry!" he heard both Hermione and Ron yell.
Harry hit the ground and was knocked out cold.
HPBeep…beep…beep…beep…
Harry slowly started to come around. He opened his eyes and looked around the room.He sat up slowly, still a bit weak. He recognized that he was in a hospital room. A muggle one.
But Harry sensed that something wasn't quite right. He touched a hand to his face and realized he wasn't wearing his glasses. Yet, he could see perfectly.
Just then, a nurse came into the room. She looked at Harry and smiled.
"Hey," she said. "You're awake. How do you feel?" Harry shrugged. "Well, nothing's broken, you can be glad for that. You do have quite a bump on the head, though. I'm going to go get your doctor and I'll send your parents in."
"My parents?" Harry asked.
"Yeah. You're mum and dad?"
"I don't have a mum and dad. My parents are dead. They died when I was a year old."
The nurse just stared at him with a blank look. "Oh. Um, OK. Well, I'm going to go get the people that brought you here. You just sit tight for now."
Harry nodded. The nurse turned and left the room. The last thing he could remember was falling off of the roof. He was pretty sure that the Weasleys had brought him here and that was whom the nurse was going to be sending in. When the door opened a few minutes later, it wasn't the Weasleys who came in. It was a tall dark haired man accompanied by a shorter, dark haired woman. They both smiled at Harry and came over to his bedside.
"My baby," the woman said and she kissed him on the forehead.
"What the fuck?" Harry asked.
"Hey," the man said. "You had better watch your mouth, young man."
"Who the bloody hell are you?"
The woman laughed. "I'm Martha. Your mother? You know, the woman who spent thirteen hours in labor with you?"
"And I'm Albert," the man said. "Your father? You know, the man who taught you how to shave?"
Harry eyes widened. He threw the covers off of the bed and stood up. He looked back and forth between the two of them, backing away from them as a panic started to build. "Is this some kind of a sick joke?" he asked.
Martha and Albert looked at each other.
"No," Martha said. "You're our son. Donald Jefferson Bradley."
"My name is Harry James Potter."
"Darling, we've had this conversation when you were younger. You are not Harry Potter. That's just a character you play in a movie."
Harry gave her a curious look. "What?"
"Harry Potter is a series of children's books that have been turned into movies. You are the actor that plays Harry Potter."
Harry suddenly felt dizzy. He fainted, and Martha caught him before he hit the floor.