This is one reason that some experts believe there may have been many other big bangs, perhaps trillions and trillions of them, spread through the mighty span of eternity, and that the reason we exist in this particular one is that this is one we could exist in. As Edward P. Tryton of Columbia Universithy once put it: "In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time."
— Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything
DISPLACED CHAPTER 1: Rise and Shine, Mr. Potter
"Harry!" a voice yelled "Harry! Wake up; you are going to miss breakfast again!" Harry felt someone nudging him and realized he was lying in a soft surface, he was comfortably warm. Then he remembered. He had gone to face Voldemort alone after finding out that he had a piece of Voldemort's soul and what 'neither can live while the other survives' meant.
The last thing he could recall was a green flash of light and a terrible pain in his chest, he was now probably dead and floating on some kind of limbo... but then dead people shouldn't need to eat breakfast. He woke up with a start and realized that he was in his four poster bed at Gryffindor's tower; he reached for his chest where he was sure the killing curse had hit and he didn't feel any wound. The room was dark but he could see someone watching him, a boy with black short sleek hair and grey eyes he was wearing the school robes.
"Hey mate, you ok?" the boy frowned at him "you look like you seen a grim" Harry was speechless he opened his mouth to say something but words didn't come out. "Anyway, I'll be going to get some food you better not fall sleep and miss it" the boy left muttering something under his breath.
Harry's mind had been shut down, he was in his dorm but he had never seen that boy before, maybe he was some transfer student he missed when they came back after what finding the last horcrux was. He wasn't even sure you could transfer to Hogwarts, he would need to ask Hermione that latter, and who in their right mind would do that just after Dumbledore's was murdered and with death eaters as the new administration.
He got out of bed and felt a little bit dazed; he shook his head and walked to the washroom to clean his face when he saw his reflection in the mirror he gasped at what he saw. He looked odd; it was his face but had slight differences. He had no bread and his hair was shorter "what the bloody hell is going on" he whispered.
It was gone
The lightning bolt scar was nowhere to be found he tilted his head and lifted the fringe that was supposed to cover it. It wasn't there, His heart pounded as if trying to rip itself free from his body. He needed to talk to someone; he knew that Dumbledore could explain this; but he was dead. The next best person was Hermione so he set out to find his bushy haired friend.
When he opened the door leading to the common room he couldn't do anything else than gap at what he saw. Parvati and Lavander where siting on a couch near the fireplace giggling at an issue of Witch Weekly, Dean and Seamus where engrossed in a conversation Laughing at what the other said, Neville was playing a game of chess with Ron both with deep concentration in their eyes, the atmosphere of the common room was that of relaxation, not of a castle under siege by Voldemort's forces.
He strode to where Ron was and patted him on the shoulder "Ron, what the bloody hell is going on?" Ron jumped and stared at him, a frown formed on his face
"What do you want Potter?" Potter? Was this some kind of joke? Harry didn't think that Wizards had a candid camera-like-thing. He noticed as Ron's hand slowly reached for the wand on his pocket and took a step back
"Calm down mate" Harry said lifting his hands so he could see he hasn't got his wand
"Sod off Potter, I'm not in the mod to deal with you" Harry blinked, realizing that the whole room was now looking at them
"Stop with the Joke already, what is going on? I went to face Voldemort so we could get rid of the Horcrux inside me and next thing I know is I'm sleeping in my bed and…" He trailed off as he saw Ron look at him like as if he had grown another head "… and look" he said lifting his fringe "It's gone!" For about what felt like five minutes there was total silence, Ron face had painted 'are you mad' allover it"Is this your idea of a joke? Because it's not funny Potter" his last name was said with scorn Harry thought Ron only reserved for the likes of Malfoy.
"You know what? Forget it, where is Hermione?" said Harry rather annoyed, Ron lifted an eyebrow at him
"Hermione…? Ah! Granger! Who cares where she is!" Ron shrugged and Harry just looked at him incredulous, threw his hands up in defeat and stormed out of the Common room he heard, what he thought was Ginny's voice "What's wrong with the git?"
There was something extremely wrong with everything, 'Who cares where Hermione is?' was something that never would have come out of Ron's mouth after their encounter with the troll on their first year. Harry strode through Hogwarts' corridors bumping into some students.
He quickly noticed that the castle was not damaged at all, there were no rubble lying around, not broken glass or collapsed walls. There was definitely not any trace of the battle that had just happened... yesterday? Harry wasn't really sure. He shook his head and continued his way to the Library. If there was something that he was sure of was that if whatever was happening Hermione would be hard at work on the library.
"Harry!" he heard an unfamiliar voice behind him, he looked back without stopping it was the boy that had woken him for breakfast "The great hall is that way, mate" he said pointing to the opposite way Harry was heading "...breakfast it's almost over" He finished, Harry looked at the boy and not knowing why he was being so familiar with him
"Err... sorry..." Do i know you? Harry wanted to say "I need to go to the library" the boy cocked his head with an expression of 'eww'
"I guess you need to study for your NEWTS?" he let out a sigh and before Harry could react the boy closed the distance slid his slender arms over his neck bent towards Harry and tried to kiss him... in the mouth, instinctively Harry pushed him, and he tumbled and fell on his bottoms.
"What the hell was that for!" he chided in a surprisingly high pitch
"That's what I was going to say! What the hell where you trying to do!" of course Harry knew what he was trying to do, he simply didn't swing that way. The boy big gray eyes started to fill with moisture and Harry felt a little bit guilty he tried to offer his hand to help the boy up but he swatted it
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" he yelled again in the same high pitch "If you think this is funny..." he trailed off while he stood up "...IT'S NOT" he empathized this by giving Harry a slap in the face turning around and running away… like a girl.
Saying that things where weird was the biggest understatement ever said, it was like saying that Voldemort just had a bad attitude. Ron almost cursing him common room, not caring about where Hermione was, Ginny calling him a git! The pristine condition the castle was and his missing scar and now some weird boy tried to kiss him.
Harry got to the library which was almost deserted this early in the morning, if Hermione was not here, he wasn't sure of where to go and find her maybe she was having a breakfast. He looked around from the library's entrance. For a moment he thought that Hermione wasn't there but quickly noticed a mane of bushy hair hiding behind small wall of stacked books, Harry quickly found his way to the table where she was alone, he pulled a chair and sat in front of her, she jumped a bit and stared at Harry with his mouth open.
"Hermione! What's going on? Last thing I remember was going to face Voldemort, he... he used the killing curse on me and then I woke up on my dorm bed..." he raised his fringe "My scar is gone... Ron almost curses me on the common room... The damage is gone..." he made motion so she knew he was referring to the castle itself "some weird boy tried to kiss me, cried and then slapped me!" Harry hadn't noticed his voice rising until madam Pince coughed and glared at Harry, Hermione was switching between looking at Harry and Madam Pince very quickly.
" ...ing to me" Hermione whispered with her head bowed down
"What?" Harry asked more brusquely than he had intended and he noticed Hermione shiver
"Why are you talking to me?" she said again in a whisper so low that he almost missed it. He just stared at her, his brows as high as his muscles allowed him. The beat lasted for a few seconds.
"Is this a joke?" said Harry and Hermione frowned at him
Then it hit it, a crazy idea found his way into Harry mind and idea so wild that he could hear the witch in front of him pointedly lecturing him on it impossibility of such thing. He needed to test his theory before babbling anything or he would find himself on St. Mungo's mental ward before he could say 'Alternate universe'
"What's my name?" he asked, Hermione just blinked at him, Harry could almost see the question marks in her eyes "What's my name" he repeated sharply
"H-Harry Potter" Hermione answered in her now usual whisper
"Am I your friend?" she shook his head in negative and Harry felt a pang in his heart
"Who is the headmaster?"
"Pro-Professor A-Albus Dumbledore" Harry stared at her blinking faster than ever
"Who is the potions professor?" Another cough from Madam Pince and Harry realized that he had shouted the last question, Hermione Jumped from her seat knocking a few of her books, she clumsily bend over to pick up one but knocked other two. This was rewarded with another glare from the old librarian as she started to move towards them. Harry recognized Hermione's I'm freaking out face Harry stood up to try to help up with the books but Hermione was already beside him grabbed him from the arm and pulled him out of the library.
Harry let himself be guided by Hermione; some of the student looked at them with curiosity and whispered between them when they passed. Hermione got him into an empty classroom, closed the door, drew her wand and pointed it at the door.
"Muffiato" she whispered, Harry just stared at her not exactly sure of what to make of this.
"What do you think you are doing Potter?!" Harry blinked and raised an eyebrow "You almost get me expelled from the library with your stupid joke!" Hermione sounded extremely angry, she was pointing her wand at Harry but it was trembling. Harry showed her his empty hands but she didn't lower his wand.
"I don't exactly know what's happening but you Ron and me are friends and—" Harry couldn't finish what he was going to say everything went black and the last thing he heard was a whispered Stupefy.
He woke up with a headache he was laying in the cold stone floor of an empty Hogwarts classroom and could only see the stone ceiling. He straightened himself up and saw that the door was slightly open, good thing, as he wasn't carrying his wand and he had no idea how to perform wandless magic. When he was out on the corridor his stomach rumbled, he was now sure he wasn't in Hell, at least not literally, as dead people shouldn't need to eat, but with the past events he wasn't really sure.
His feet brought him to the great hall where a few students where still eating, he looked at the ceiling and saw the sun, it was at least mid-day, how strong had been Hermione's Stunner? He took a corner in the Gryffindor table that was as far away from everyone as it was possible. He grabbed some sausages, fried eggs and bread with butter and started wolfing it. Now he was sure he wasn't dead as his hunger was steadily being satisfied by the food.
He started to wonder, how and why was everything so different, maybe it was some dark spell Voldemort had cast to make Harry forget about killing him, but the bastard didn't have a chance to cast anything else than the Killing Curse at Harry's chest, if everything here was real maybe this was an alternate universe, it was a very common concept on muggle stories, and considering what wizards could do… maybe he ended in one himself.
Harry was snapped out of his trance by someone sitting beside him. It was the boy that had tried to kiss him he looked upset, he wasn't wearing robes but a red and gold patterned button up shirt with its sleeves rolled up and a tight faded blue jeans, Harry noticed from the shape of his hips and chest, that the boy was actually a girl, Harry felt a little relief.
The girl grabbed a piece of bread and put an enormous amount of butter on it but she was just nibbling at it, her movements where brusque as if making the point that she was upset. Every now and then she threw Harry a side glance and the few times he caught her looking she quickly switched to look at her food.
"Where have you been all day?" she crossed her arms but didn't look at Harry, Harry couldn't answer her question because words refused to come out of his mouth, for a moment Harry felt as if he was being scolded by Molly Weasley. When she noted that Harry wasn't going to answer she continued "I heard a rumor that you went with Granger to an empty classroom" Hermione last name was said with tone of extreme contempt.
Harry ducked his head down not really sure what to say, with the little information he had gathered this girl probably was his girlfriend or someone really close and apparently he wasn't friends with either Hermione or Ron. When Harry looked up the girl's scowl had been replaced with an expression of concern.
"Is this because of what happened that time" she whispered, Harry looked at her and nodded slightly not sure if that was a good thing or bad thing, the girl looked at him with a raised eyebrow and her hands still crossed
"…err I'm sorry?" Harry added hesitantly and the girl eyes went wide open as she looked directly at Harry, she beamed at him and gave Harry a hug and a peck on the lips
"See you on practice… And don't be late Mr. Potter" she smiled, winked at him and went skipping away. Someone else sat beside him.
Platinum blond slick hair, pale grey eyes and a pointed face and nose, Draco Malfoy was looking at Harry with a grin on his face…
"Having problems with the mistress?" Harry opened his mouth to tell Malfoy to go away but stopped before he could say anything, maybe he could learn more of what was going on if he kept his mouth shut. "I told you she was going to be a handful, Harry. But you didn't hear me." Harry looked at him without saying a word, Malfoy looked at him like as if he was expecting a retort "She looked really upset, went up crying to her dorm, what did you do to her?" Harry shrugged "Women!" Malfoy finished by stabbing one of Harry Sausages with his fork.
"Father sent me the invitations for the graduation ball he is organizing" Malfoy procured two pieces of parchment from his robes and handed one to Harry, "This one is for your family plus one" Malfoy winked at Harry
"Well, better hurry up I Need to finish my potion essay, you'll do better not being late to practice or Stella will hex you back to first year" Malfoy of all things smiled at Harry, and he wasn't even sure Malfoy could even smile, and went away.
Harry's appetite was ruined after that and he couldn't finish his food, he was about to standup when a word echoed in his head
'Family'
He opened the rolled up parchment breaking the green wax seal with an M and two dragons at each side of a shield. It read.
Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter, Sons and Daughter plus one are cordially invited to Malfoy Manor this first of August to attend the Ball celebrating the graduation from Hogwarts of Draco Malfoy…
Harry couldn't continue reading; he passed his finger where it said Mr. and Mrs. Potter and all he could think was: They are alive! It didn't matter if this was hell or not his parents where alive! He didn't even try to hide the fact that tears where flowing in his checks, or even realize that a few people where looking at him oddly.
He didn't even realize when a white snowy owl dropped a red envelope that started heating up and letting out smoke.