I don't own Harry Potter, sadly.

Cracking open one eye Harry tried to get a bearing on his surroundings; he couldn't see much except for the long flowing locks of his wife's hair across the tiled floor next to him, so clearly she was unconscious too. Worry for her made him focus more on getting his body to respond to his commands and slowly he managed to sit up despite his stiff and painful muscles protesting against the movement. He idly noted that they were both still in the same room of Buckingham Palace that he last remembered being in but right now that wasn't important. With a short gasp of pain, he dragged himself over to his wife and moved her dark curls off her face, "Mara, wake up sweetheart."

Mara groaned quietly and her silvery eyes opened slightly to frown at her husband of seven years, "What happened?"

He shrugged and started lightly massaging her arms to help with the pain she was likely feeling, "Last thing I remember is an explosion but seeing as nothing has changed about our surroundings I think I might be misremembering that."

She snorted and waved him off, "Look after yourself husband, if you're feeling anything like I am then you need to help your own muscles recover. I can look after mine for now."

With a defeated sigh he relented and started trying to massage out the numerous knots in the muscles in his legs while Mara watched him carefully. She sighed internally at the evidence that was before her, Hermione had warned her years ago about her other half's tendency towards self-sacrifice, his "saving people thing" she had called it back then. Mara had spent nine years trying to break Harry of that worrying habit, and for the most part had succeeded but every now and then he did revert without thinking.

As she worked a particularly bad knot out of her calf Mara winced, "I don't think you're misremembering though love. The last thing I saw before blacking out was that wall exploding towards us."

Harry looked at the wall she'd nodded towards and frowned in thought. Looking at his wife who was far more familiar with the layout of the royal abodes than he was he voiced a hesitant question, "Isn't Her Majesty's public study on the other side of that wall?"

Climbing to her feet painfully Mara nodded with a frown on her face, "Yes. Which begs the question love of what exactly happened and how are we still alive?"

As he slowly got to his feet beside her Harry couldn't help but admire the woman he'd married; her black hair fell in curls to midway down her back and loose curls often fell to brush her long black lashes that framed her molten silver eyes. He idly remembered the first time he'd met her and asked if she was related to Madam Hooch, his old flying instructor from Hogwarts who had bronze coloured eyes. Thankfully Mara hadn't taken offence at his blunt question and instead had laughed while telling him that her eyes were a family trait of sorts.

Dragging himself back to reality he glanced around the small reception room again and frowned at the couple of minor changes that had occurred between earlier and now, "Sweetheart if one of the caretakers were in here while we were unconscious how likely is it that they'd just go about their business without raising a fuss?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him and answered in a deadpan voice, "Non-existent. Why?"

Pointing at the vases by the windows Harry coughed, "Because earlier there were tiger lilies in those vases but now there are white roses."

Mara blinked in surprise and realised he was correct; it always surprised her just how observant her husband was, she usually noticed things like that but it had been part of her training growing up to take in every detail of her surroundings but she had missed the flowers and Harry had never been trained like she had. Though he had survived the last Voldemort war and was known as an incredible seeker so she supposed that helped. Shaking off those thoughts she headed for the door leading towards an adjoining parlour where they might find someone to get questions off of, "Come on, let's see if there's anyone around who can give us a better idea of what happened."

The pair of them moved slowly due to their still aching muscles and Harry frowned, "Do you think someone might have set off a magical explosion?"

Looking over her shoulder in surprise Mara slowed to a stop, "I don't see how it could be. Everyone who would be willing to set one of those off in Buckingham Palace doesn't have the first clue about mundane explosives."

He shrugged, "Maybe but if you're determined enough anything is capable with magic and someone from the wizarding government might have witnessed one of our retaliatory strikes against them and tried to come up with their version."

Biting her lip in thought Mara mulled over what he'd said and then shrugged, "It still doesn't explain how the room is intact and we're alive though."

"Fair point. Let's go and see if we can find your uncle, he should have a better idea of what's going on."

Both couldn't get the worrying thought of a magical explosion out of their heads so when they opened the door to the next room and were confronted with not only Her Majesty and her Court Sorcerer, James Butler, but also Prince Philip and Mara's uncle, Sir Camden Greenbanks they stopped in shock. No one spoke for a moment but after a second James and Camden both pulled their wands and fired at Harry and Mara who dived out of the way of the incoming spells in opposite directions. Harry rolled behind a chintz for cover and stuck to shields as he had no wish to hurt his uncle-in-law and a friend who'd he thought was dead, "Camden what are you doing?!"

Meanwhile Mara was spinning and swaying out of the way of every incoming spell while retaliating with a series of low-level jinxes that effectively had James hanging from the light fixture, silenced, giggling and with his wand in her hand. Seeing the royal couple reaching for places she knew contained hidden pistols and not feeling capable of casting spells on two people she was sworn to serve she tossed James' wand at her uncle, who was still firing surprisingly dangerous spells at her husband. Taking a deep breath, she yelled, "Uncle what the hell is wrong with you?!"

The shouted question gave everyone pause, enough for Harry's next words to be heard by everyone in the room, "Who is wearing James' face? Did you let one of those bastards harvest him for parts to maintain the status quo?!"

Camden looked towards the woman who had called him uncle and motioned frowned, "Who are you two? And how do you know us?"

Before Mara could say anything two clicks of pistols cocking got everyone's attention and all eyes were drawn to the royal couple. While Prince Philip had an intense and unhappy frown on his face, Her Majesty's face was as impassive as she usually was, but neither gun wavered from their steady aim on the two newcomers. Queen Elizabeth's voice had a very distinct steel edge to it when she spoke though, belying her calm exterior, "Who are you two, who come unannounced into our presence and then attack our advisors."

While it might have been phrased like a question the words were definitely a command and the black haired couple shared a look before both lay their wands on the ground and stood to face their monarch. The young man spoke first, "My name is Sir Harry James Potter, if it pleases your Majesty. I am a member of the SAS, a commander in your Royal Sorcerers division and a Knight of the Victorian Order, by your own hand. This is my wife Mara Leanne Potter nee Greenbanks, a member, like most of her family before her, of your Shadow Hands Guards."

Dead silence reigned for a moment before Camden couldn't take it anymore, "What are you two trying to pull?! Harry James Potter is a nine-year-old boy and most certainly not a knight of anything."

Before Harry could wrap his head around that statement the Greenbanks patriarch rounded on Mara, "And as for you! How dare you claim you are my dead niece?! Mara died with her parents at the hands of those cowardly Death Eaters in the last war, two months before Voldemort fell so I don't know who you really are but you are no fam–"

"Enough. Sir Camden control yourself in our presence and wait until we know all the facts before rashly making any decisions."

Harry could feel Mara sag against him in shock at the realisation of what had nearly happened before Her Majesty had interrupted. Camden had nearly tossed his beloved niece out of his family! Everyone in the room must have felt the magic starting to rise as he spoke and if he had uttered those words then the fallout might very well have broken his wife. A lot of Mara's personal identity was wrapped up in her family and their personal services to the royal family over the years, to have that almost taken away from her so abruptly left an obvious effect on her for all to see. So much so that Her Majesty placed her pistol on the desk next to her and motioned for them to sit, "Be seated. We have a feeling that this will be quiet the tale you two have for us."

With a mumbled thank you Harry guided Mara to a seat on the chintz he'd been hiding behind minutes ago and held her in his arms, the closeness let him feel the minute tremors that were shaking her frame so slightly. He doubted that anyone else could see them but when he looked up at the person standing next to them, he saw the quiet understanding in Prince Philip's eyes. The prince had always been a surprisingly perspective man so it didn't surprise Harry too much to learn that his wife's near breakdown wasn't as secret as she might like it to be.

It was only after the prince moved away that Harry noticed the James look-a-like was once more sitting in his previous chair which was across from them. Feeling him stiffen had Mara raising her head and pulling herself together in a way that he admired and dreaded; her Shadow persona fell easily onto her shoulders and she shifted slightly away from him to be sitting upright by herself with a calm and relaxed exterior shown to the room. It was a small comfort to Harry that she still stayed close enough to touch him if either of them needed it because he had a feeling that whatever had happened to them was far worse than what they'd first thought.

Once everyone was seated the queen looked between them and focused briefly on Mara before shifted her attention to Harry, "Mister Potter, as I have no memory of appointing you to anything I will not be referring to you by any title at this time. If we can be shown that you are indeed who you say you are then we may once more bestow that honour upon you. For now, I would like to hear your story as to how you managed to gate-crash a private meeting of ours."

Harry nodded and hid a wince, he was surprised at how much this cold reception from his queen hurt him, he hadn't realised how much he'd enjoyed the easy bantering relationship he'd shared with Her Majesty in private until just now. Clearing his throat, he glanced at Mara out of the corner of his eye and started to talk once he saw her tiny nod of encouragement, "After I defeated Voldemort for the second time I thought the wizarding world would finally be a place I could live in peace. That wasn't the case as the Death Eaters that had survived the second war managed to wriggle, threaten and bribe their way out of just sentences and once more took up positions of power within the government. Despite all the death and loss nothing had really changed from when I'd first re-entered the magical world at the age of 11. My best friend was widely hailed as the brightest witch of her age but because she was a mundane born witch she was treated like a second class citizen and expected to be nothing but a broodmare for some pureblood, entitled, egotistical, untrustworthy…"

The soft fingers of his wife pressed lightly against the back of his hand brought Harry up short and he flushed in embarrassment at the barely hidden amusement he could see on faces in front of him; Prince Philip in particular seemed to find his lack of decorum entertaining. Clearing his throat Harry continued to speak, "Long story short after some rather pointed arguments she left the wizarding world and returned to life as a mundane person. She took a make-up course in the exams and classes she'd missed while at Hogwarts and managed to get accepted to Oxford despite her lack of records between the ages of 11 and 18. There she met Mara."

Here he looked at his wife and all but begged her to speak, she nodded resignedly and fixed her gaze firmly on Her Majesty, determinedly not looking at the uncle who'd nearly disowned her minutes ago, "Hermione and I became friends, to the point where she even spent Christmas with us here after I found out that her parents had died in a car crash in Australia. It was during that holiday that my uncle let the cat out of the bag about us being magical, I was shocked until I realised that he knew exactly who my friend was, a hero from the second Voldemort war. After that we were inseparable, she wanted to know everything about my schooling as I'd never set foot in Hogwarts and I was naturally curious about the castle. Three months later she introduced me to Harry."

Harry took over the story here, "Mara and I quickly hit it off and I started spending more and more time in the mundane world, the wizarding world had been slowly getting more unbearable for me. When Mara mentioned that the SAS had a magical division I decided that was what I wanted to do with my life. I'd attempted to become an auror in the rebuilt magical government but between the corrupt officials in charge, the red tape and the general disregard for anything that the wizarding world didn't see as worthwhile, meaning anything not invented by or useful to a pureblood I quit fairly quickly. Once I joined the SAS however I knew I'd made the right decision, it was also there that I found out about your Shadow Hands and how Mara's family had served yours faithfully for generations in a number of different roles."

Before he could say anything to get into trouble Mara took over again, "Once he'd proved himself a faithful subject to your Majesty my uncle decided to teach him how to better serve you and that is how he came to your attention and received a knighthood from you Your Majesty. Over the years he has served as a go between for your public and more secret forces, even getting some training in espionage along the way, though he sucks at it."

"Only according to you sweetheart and only because your standards are so high."

The snort of amusement from James brought Harry's attention back to the matter at hand before he and Mara could get carried away, "Everything was going fine until two years ago. After I had left the wizarding world I hadn't bothered to keep up with what was happening there, I figured it would only annoy me so I cut all but a couple of ties. It reared its ugly head though in a way I couldn't ignore."

When he paused and squeezed his eyes shut in pain Mara put her hand on his and turned to the room to continue the story, "On September 1st Harry's godson was due to start at Hogwarts, he'd been raised by his grandmother and she'd elected to stay in the wizarding world for the most part. We got word from her the next morning that the Hogwarts Express that had been carrying Teddy to school for the first time was attacked. Four hundred and sixty-eight children of various ages were killed that day, the only ones spared where pureblood children whose parents were supporters of the magical government. The public backlash for the government was shocking but their response was even worse in my eyes; they released a statement saying that the attack was by a terrorist organisation that they had been hunting quietly for a time. The Cult of Voldemort is nothing but a smokescreen to mask the government approved actions, both inside and outside of the wizarding world."

Harry had managed to pull himself together but the shine in his eyes wasn't fooling anyone in the room, "That's how I ended up a commander of the Royal Sorcerers. I was tasked with bringing down the wizarding government with as little damage as possible to ordinary citizens. It's been a blood bath, there have been several attempts against the royal family and huge numbers of people have fled to other countries to try and escape the fallout, London's population alone has nearly halved in the last two years. Six months ago we lost James and three others to a particularly vicious group of cultists and Mara had taken over the role of Court Sorcerer in order to keep a trained bodyguard next to your Majesty at all times."

The queen interrupted before he could continue, "We take it having the Court Sorcerer with us at all times had become a necessity?"

Mara answered with a nod, "Yes your Majesty, twice in the six months since I've held the position have I had to apparate you out of dangerous situations and a number of assassination attempts have been thwarted only because you are accompanied everywhere."

The silence after that statement gave everyone time to come to terms with what the two newcomers were saying; Queen Elizabeth was inclined to believe them, she'd learned long ago how to tell when a person was lying and both of the people before her clearly believed everything they had just said. Prince Philip thought they were probably telling the truth simply because their story was so fanciful there's no way someone trying to con them would have come up with it. Camden Greenbanks was trying to wrap his head around the fact that the longer he looked at the young woman before him the more she looked like his late brother's wife, if this truly was his niece returned somehow then he was very relieved that his queen had stopped him for making such a rash decision earlier. And the resident Court Sorcerer was attempting to come to terms with the fact that according to these two he was dead and his replacement was sitting before him, it was so surreal that he was a little surprised he hadn't passed out yet.

Gathering his courage James asked them a question, "What is the last thing you two remember before you got here?"

Swallowing his immediate reaction to jump down the imposters throat Harry fought hard to maintain a calm tone, "An explosion. We were just in the next room and everything around us exploded."

James sat back in thought, "Huh."

When he didn't say anything else Harry had to fight to not growl at him, "And that means what exactly?"

"I don't know yet but I have a theory, it's pretty far-fetched though."

Before Harry could snap at him the queen spoke, "Please share your theory Mister Butler, we are most curious."

Blushing at the gentle reprimand James leaned forward eagerly, "There are some very powerful wards laid over Buckingham Palace, it's why all those bombs dropped on it during World War 2 didn't manage to level it. For something to literally explode everything around you it would need to be inside the wards and very powerful. Theoretically an internal magical explosion could…mesh, for lack of a better word, with some of the protection wards of the palace; it's possible that the wards moved you two somewhere safe. That just happened to be an intact version of the palace."

The obvious scholarly enjoyment that surrounded James finally convinced Harry that this was indeed the friend that they had lost and not just an imposter, but that led to an even more worrying conclusion, "Are you suggesting that we've travelled back in time?"

Shrugging James nearly bounced in his seat, "It does seem to be the most obvious answer, after all Harry Potter is only nine now but you say you are him and I'm inclined to believe you."

"You are?!"

"Well you obviously believe it and you do have the Potter hair along with the green eyes so it's not inconceivable that is who you are."

Mara interrupted before the two could get carried away, "Time travel only explains how the palace is intact and you're alive, it does nothing to explain how I apparently died with my parents instead. The night my parents were killed I had been staying with my uncle but clearly that didn't happen as far as he is concerned."

For the first time since Camden denied her as his niece Mara looked at him with a cold expression, "There seem to be a number of small variations from what we know to be true so please James, tell me what your theory is for that."

"Alternate reality."

All eyes snapped to Harry and he ducked his head a little in embarrassment, "It was one of the theories Hermione liked to talk about, how every decision can change the outcome of what happens next and even minor changes can cause alternate timelines where things are similar but different. Like one of those spot the difference puzzles you get in newspapers or magazines."

"So you're saying that in this reality my counterpart never stayed with my uncle the night her parents were killed and was killed with them."

Instead of blowing up in anger like Harry had thought she might Mara furrowed her brow in thought, mentally she ran through the wards that she knew were layered on the palace and an idea occurred to her, "Your Majesty, have you ever granted asylum as a whole to the Greenbanks family as long as the member needing it serves you faithfully?"

A slow blink was the only outward sign of surprise that the queen showed but everyone in the room knew her well enough to be able to spot it and the exact moment where she began to relax minutely, "We recall granting such conditional asylum a number of years ago to the members of Sir Camden's family who serve us. Are we to understand that you believe this played a part in how you came to be here?"

"I think so your Majesty. The wards are designed to do everything in their power to protect not only the royal family but also those loyal to it. It's possible that the power behind the explosion we experienced intermingled with the wards and that invitation to bring us here, to a version of itself that matched nearly exactly the one we had been in."

A tiny smirk played across Prince Philip's face and his eyes twinkled slightly as they very carefully didn't look at the other two wizards in the room, "So magic itself has vouched for your loyalty it would seem."

Shrugging helplessly Mara met his gaze frankly, "That's the best explanation we can come up with your Highness. I can't find out without access to the wards and they currently reside with James as his role of Court Sorcerer."

Before anyone else could speak a knock at the door brought everyone's attention back to their present situation. Everyone stood when the queen did and she looked around the room slowly, "No one else is to know of this conversation for now. Mister Butler please show our two guests to a private suite for the moment so that they might rest, afterwards you are to research the conclusions that have been reached here. Mister and Mrs Potter we shall speak with you tomorrow. Sir Camden I wish you to accompany us for now."

With that the queen left the room with Prince Philip and Sir Camden, who was casting curious looks back at Mara over his shoulder. Once they were along James turned to them and gave a nervous laugh, "This is going to be weird isn't it."

Harry snorted, "A bit, but if I think of you as my friend's twin or something it should be okay."

"I was actually talking about me. It's not every day I get to meet people who apparently know me, saw me die and then got my old job. It is unnerving."

The rest of the walk to their room was filled with awkward silence and the odd question. For the most part the questions were about their theory that James had to research but every now and then there would be one like, "How did we meet?" or "I was best man at your wedding?!"

By the time they got to their room is was all too obvious that James was dying to escape to study something less confusing like alternate realities so they quietly shut their door as he left. Harry slumped against the closed door and stared unhappily at his wife, no matter what he was feeling about having a good friend not recognise him he couldn't imagine how hard this must be for her. The Camden that he knew doted on his niece, whom he had raised after her parents' death, and to have a man with his face reject her must be hurting badly. Reaching out he pulled Mara into his arms and tucked her head under his chin, "Camden seemed to be less hostile the more we talked. I'll bet once he has a chance to think about it he'll jump at the opportunity to get his niece back."

"Maybe."

They stayed like that for a few minutes, trying to come to terms with the events of the last hour. Eventually Mara pulled back to look up at her husband, "Do you think your counterpart has been placed with the Dursleys here?"

Harry frowned with determination, "If he has been then that's our first order of business."