Disclaimer: I don't own. If you sue, you'll only get dust bunnies as payment.
Summary: What if Harry had fallen through the veil after Sirius in the DoM? Where would the veil take him and how would Harry cope? Does he end up where Sirius is or somewhere else? Will he want to even go back if/when he can?
The Start of a MARVELous Journey
Multicolored spells, curses, and hexes were flying around faster than the eye could see. It was all the duelists could do to dodge and fire off one of their own spells to try and hit their opponents. He had been battling Bellatrix Lestrange until his godfather had gotten in between them. The man was just as cocky as a dour Potions Professor stated, while Harry just believed that Sirius was enthusiastic about being out of the house and being protective of his godson. Whomever was right didn't matter when the spell hit Sirius and sent him through the veil. Everything seemed to halt and slow down as Harry stared as the person who he'd thought would be able to take him away from the Dursley's fell backwards. Without thinking, he'd reached out, barely registering as he was hit in the back. The force of it propelled him into the veil after Sirius.
Time seemed to speed up as people were running, screaming and panicking. Harry was confused and off kilter as he tried to keep from being ran into. Disorientated, he looked around trying to piece together his foggy memories and why he was standing outside in the middle of the street when he'd been inside? He thought he'd been inside. Staring around, he could only gape as he looked to where everyone was running from. There was a man of fire in the sky! Running toward the man and against the crowd, he'd gotten quite a few knocks to the ground. It had been all he could do to not get trampled! When he could safely get up and make his way to where the crowd had been something else took his attention. The Tames was gone! Just muck and earth could be seen. And a giant hole like you would see in the cartoons. How? What could have caused that?
Sinking to the ground, Harry pressed the heels of his hands to his forehead he tried to think. What was going on? Where was he and why couldn't he remember? All he was sure of was his name, age, he was in London, and that something was very very wrong. Breathing, he watched as what looked like military people left in a helicopter. Getting up, he hurried to the other side of the Tames where the London Eye was. How did he know things like that but not why he was here? First thing was first, he needed to find out. Going to the first person he saw he pointed toward the eye asking, "Excuse me."
The man ignored Harry, in fact most people did just wanted to be away from what had happened. Or to gawk at the now empty Tames. Frustrated, Harry grabbed hold of a man who immediately jerked his arm out of the teen's grip. "Excuse me, but what just happened?"
"Heck if I know. Great big hole opened up in the Tames didn't it?" The man kept going and Harry sighed with frustration. After a bit and quite a few people, Harry learned what had happened. Something had caused the hole in the Tames but it had also broke the London Eye and that the Fantastic Four (some American group) had saved the people on the Eye. The man on fire was apparently the one on fire was Johnny Storm or The Human Torch as he liked to go by when suited up. He was a super hero or costumed vigilante depending on who was telling the stories. Some of the people were blaming the American group for what had happened thinking they had something to do with the hole.
Even more confused than he had been, Harry wandered around London trying to get his bearings and to figure out what exactly was going on. Why couldn't he remember? Something finally clicked in his brain though as he went to the library. That was what Hermione did whenever she didn't know something. Her first answer was to go to the library. He didn't even bother halting in his tracks to try and figure out how he knew that or who Hermione was. All it did was give him an even bigger headache and frustrate him more when he came up blank.
In the library he did a bit of research finding out that it was 2007 and spent awhile just staring at the date. It seemed wrong to him. Very very very wrong, but he didn't know why. Going through the newspapers he learned all about the very strange world that he found himself in. There were super hero's and super villains and mutants. There was a lot about the mutants and went back really far. The government was afraid of them as were the general people yet they existed. They could pop up anywhere. It was ratcheted up a notch when Ellis Island had been targeted by the mutant known as Magneto during the Peace Summit. There had been a school for them but that had been attacked four years ago. Last year there had been a big commotion about something they called the 'Cure'. It was to cure someone of the mutant disease. The facility that made it had been attacked by mutant terrorists last year. Again, it was led by Magneto. Some group called the X-Men had stood with the American government to fight the man.
The more he read the more Harry became confused. The Magneto bloke sounded a bit like Voldemort with his spiel about a war and that those not mutants were pathetic beings that were beneath him. Why was Voldemort important? Placing a hand up against the lightning bolt shaped scar, Harry took his glasses off and closed his eyes. Flashes of memory would come and go. A snake faced man, flashes of color, a veil, people with sticks, a castle, a HUGE snake, a man looking at him with pride and love, a dark room with rows upon rows of glass balls, the same man again except he was gaunt and a pale reflection of the last time he saw him, a giant three headed dog. Green light, people flying on brooms, the man falling through the arch and the wispy veil, a mad woman, that snake faced man and his burning red eyes. Magic, a voice whispered in his mind.
"-cuse me." Distantly he became aware as if through a tunnel a voice was talking to him. It seemed partially concerned and partially annoyed. Groggily he became aware that he was trying to breathe and that there was a lady standing next to him. Blinking, he gave a shaky, "Wha?"
"Are you okay? I thought you were asleep but when I came over you were gasping..."
"M'fine. Bad dream," Harry muttered as clumsily put his glasses on and tried to stand on shaky legs. The woman whom he could see in better detail now that he had his glasses on stared at him unsure but gave him a nod and before walking off stated, "We'll be closing in fifteen minutes."
"Thanks," he croaked out as he gathered the newspapers. Looking at the front page of one of the papers he tried to hold on to what he'd been dreaming about but it was slipping away from him. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Harry left the library and was surprised by how much time seemed to have passed while he was in the library. Walking along the streets he tried to figure out what to do now. He had nowhere to go that he knew of. He'd googled his name while inside after one of the librarians had showed him how to use the computer. He had gotten an odd look which he'd replied that he had technophobe guardians. According to every way he searched he did not exist here. The closest he came to his name was a James Potter who had been a Detective Inspector but had died years back from a bomb blast.
Harry could always go to the police station and tell them what happened. They could try and find his family since they had better computers and knew what to do when it came to looking for someone. Part of him was saying it was a bad idea though. He didn't trust the police. It would give him a place to stay the night and maybe even something to eat. His stomach growled wanting to agree to it, but something in him was saying no. Sighing, Harry listened to it. Turning away from the direction that would take him to a police station. Going in the opposite direction until he found a dry secluded spot he could spend the night in but wouldn't trap him if he had to run.
-TSOAMJ-
He'd been moving around for a week. Scrounging through bins for newspapers and was thankful that he hadn't had to do so for food after finding a soup kitchen. Those first few days weren't his best. Not used to sleeping outside, every little noise woke him up along with being tense and unused to his current status. In the morning still very tired but not wanting to stay in the same spot now that it was day and plainly in view, Harry had wondered what to do about breakfast. His pride went out the window when he was hungry and saw someone toss half a sandwich away. After being chased away by the owner of the store for 'scaring away his customers', Harry learned to time his dumpster dives. The bakery was a good place to hit after the work day because that was when they closed and dumped their day olds. The morning time wasn't a good time because they came in early. Stores were better to hit early in the morning because they stayed open late and didn't usually come out back straight away.
Harry had used restrooms to wash up as best as he could. Petrol stations were best since stores and libraries were on the look out for people like Harry. Those that were using the facilities to clean and wash up. Petrol stations had people coming and going that had been trapped in a car sometimes for hours and desperately in need of a toilet. His sleeping place was the one that caused him the most trouble. He'd be roused by police if he tried sleeping in public places. He didn't have any money to ride the metro and get some sleep that way. He was too scared to try and sleep other places. In the end he'd been so exhausted he'd actually fell asleep in a graveyard. He hadn't been disturbed and had taken to sleeping there. Until he'd overslept and was woken by the caretaker who gave him a card with the name of a soup kitchen. Harry didn't ask why the man had the card and the man didn't volunteer just gave him the card and said that they would know a place he could sleep.
At least the Dursley's were good for one thing when giving him Dudley's cast offs. With the baggy and worn clothing he stood out and was accepted by the homeless of London. One or two had been generous enough to show him where the best place to look for clothing was. While he was still wearing cast offs, at least he wasn't swimming in them. During his week he would remember bits and pieces of where he came from while he slept. Only a sliver of what he dreamed stuck. He remembered he had relatives and he'd been living with them because his parents were dead. After recalling that bit of information, Harry had immediately went and looked up the Dursleys. What he found hadn't been encouraging. According to what he was able to look up, Vernon Dursley had died of a heart attack while watching the news. His wife Petunia Dursley was living by herself while her son Dudley was a grunt in the government that was anti-mutant. There was no listing for any nephew and Petunia's sister Lily was a registered mutant. Or she had been until she had been killed by anti-mutant supporters in 1988 during a rally.
Recalling where he had grown up, Harry wanted to go to Surrey but hadn't due to lack of funds. It wasn't as if he could panhandle since he spent most of his free time in the library. There was so much different here then what he remembered. It didn't make sense and made his head hurt. There was still a part of him that knew he was missing something. Only if he could recall what it was! At least he was able to come to terms with some things. Even if the mutants that were homeless gave Harry a weird look when he'd first been introduced to them. Yeah okay, it had been weird to see a kid that looked half dinosaur but he'd seen weirder. Of that he was sure from what he'd seen when he slept.
It helped that they thought he was a mutant as well. How they figured that, Harry hadn't a clue until he'd seen for himself. The tube tunnels they had been squatting in had been raided. While everyone scattered, Harry and another kid ended up trapped. Seeing a small crevice that they might be able to squeeze into if they held their breath, Harry had grabbed the kid and shoved him at the space. While there, he shut his eyes fervently wishing that the man wouldn't notice them. 'Blend in, blend in, blend in. Don't notice us. Come on, just keep going.'
The man had done just that sweeping the torch past the spot they were in as if not seeing them. Not until Harry was sure the man was far enough away did he breathe in relief. He and the kid had beat a hasty retreat and later the kid had explained to the others when they regrouped that Harry had turned invisible. Harry had just stared at the kid in confusion and even when trying to consciously turn invisible he couldn't. Since the incident, he took care to try and notice things. And notice he did. If he wanted to be ignored he was. People would look straight past him as if he wasn't there or he wasn't important.
Running a hand through his wet hair, Harry didn't bother with drying it since it was a waste of time and paper towels. He just wanted to leave the toilets as quick as he could. The guy that entered gave him a suspicious look coupled with derision, Harry bit back the anger that welled up as well as his shame. It wasn't as if he liked being homeless and clothed in other peoples clothes! He'd acquired a jacket from one of the people he was staying with. He'd also gotten gloves and a hat for when the sun went down. Shying around him, Harry stuffed his hands in his pockets as he left.
Maybe he should just go ahead and take the advice of the lady that worked at one of the soup kitchens he visited. She told him that the detention center could put out his picture, see if he had family. If he didn't he could still go to school. Get his diploma, sit his A-levels. Have a chance to not be stuck on the street. The only problem was Harry was pretty sure he didn't have any family here. The Dursley's were pretty much the same as the ones from where he was from. How would he explain the age difference? Dudley was twenty-seven while Harry was fifteen! No, he didn't think that was a good idea. As for schooling, he hadn't gone to a regular school since he was ten years old. He'd have to take special classes just to catch him up with his age mates.
The problem was, Harry didn't have any special skills. As much as he hated to admit it, he'd been pretty sheltered most of his life. The only thing he was good at was house chores. He could cook, and he could clean. Maybe if he applied for a job at a diner or cafe until he could figure out a long term goal. Or until his mind decided it would give him all of his bloody memories so he could figure out how he got here in the first place! Why his memories didn't mesh up with history here. There were people he was sure didn't exist and people who should exist who didn't. And it shouldn't be 2007! He didn't know what year it was supposed to be, but not as far as that.
Catching sight of the news on a television in a store window, Harry pushed his glasses up as he went to the window. The news was reporting another crater like the one that had drained the Tames. What the bloody hell was going on? Something was trying to tug at his subconscious but the problem was it was being difficult and stubborn not hinting at exactly what it was. Not able to do anything and since it wasn't affecting him right now, Harry turned away and continued on down the street. Right now he had to be on the look out for a job.
-TSOAMJ-
He'd been working for a small store for about a week now doing things like stocking the shelves, sweeping the floors, and keeping a look out for shoplifters. Harry was okay with this since it allowed him to get some money and the guy didn't care how old Harry was. He'd be deluding himself if it was because he thought that maybe he could pull of looking like a young eighteen year old. Even if he'd gotten that tiny little growth spurt, he wasn't going to be very tall. At least he didn't look like he was twelve anymore and looked around his proper age.
Mike was a great boss though and didn't ask many questions. Could Harry work? Was anyone going to come looking for Harry or cause the Mike trouble? As long as Harry didn't ask any question either, he was free to work there and would get paid cash at the end of his shift each and every day. Occasionally he might be asked to deliver groceries and not accept any tips, but always double check the amount he is given. The runner fees were included in the total. Mike's only other rules were: Don't bring friends in when you're working, don't go anywhere else when he's supposed to be doing grocery deliveries, and don't come to work strung out or pissed or he could find himself another job. Don't steal from him or he would get it taken out of his hide.
It had been luck more than anything of that he was sure, that had landed him at Mike's feet. Harry hadn't slept so well during the night having a nightmare and waking up the others he was staying with. In order to let them sleep and not decide he was more trouble than he was worth, Harry had gotten up and walked. For some reason the nightmares was sticking with him more than the other dreams were. This time he could fully recall the flashes. Red hair, green light, a high cold voice that made him shiver. A creature that was the only way he knew how to describe it, sitting in a chair holding a stick with a cruel expression on it's ugly face. That thing and the person who had been with the thing in that room were in the cemetery. There was someone else there too but he was dead. And in the nightmare it felt as if he was responsible. It was his fault the other person died.
Wrapped up in his thoughts, Harry hadn't been paying attention to where he'd been going and tripped over a raised bit of concrete. And straight into a person who had been running out of the store followed by the angry tiller. Both Harry and the thief struggled, Harry to remain upright because the thief kept trying to shove him away, and the thief shoving and trying to get out of the teen's grip because of the tiller. Both ended up on the ground during their scuffle when the tiller brought a cricket bat down on the thief's back. Scuttling away from them, Harry stared with wide eyes as the thief in a desperate bid to escape left the things cash and booze he'd stolen and ran for it.
While the tiller was angrily picking up the cash, Harry went to help collect the booze but quickly put his hands up in surrender when the cricket back swiveled towards his face. "I'm only trying to help you!" Harry quickly stated.
"Right," the man replied as if he wasn't sure he believed Harry or not but allowed him to pick up the unbroken bottles. "Put em back in the cooler there."
Looking to where the man was pointing, Harry did so and then went back outside and looking down at the glass shards, began to pick them up. He was unaware of the tiller watching him and bringing out a bin for him to toss them in. Uncomfortable and unknowing how he must look to the man aside from a bit unkempt, Harry shifted under the scrutinizing gaze. "I'll be off then," he muttered.
"You need a job?"
Blinking, Harry stared at him in surprise. The man who introduced himself as Mike told him he'd lost his assistant when he'd moved. Mike needed someone to man the store when he wasn't around and since Harry had helped with the thief... It wasn't charity, Mike had told him. Just Harry was in the right place at the right time and it saved him from doing interviews since he hated those. It also saved him money not having to put the advert in the paper. Beaming, Harry had immediately started work that day. He was also allowed to take home the sandwiches which were getting close to the expiration date. That meant no waiting in line at the soup kitchen unless he wanted something hot to eat. And now that he was getting money he could actually afford to buy something he actually liked and enjoyed rather then something to get him filled.
Because he couldn't really keep money on him or even open a bank account since he didn't exist here or have an address to put on his identification, Harry had to find a place to put his earnings. His shoe was out since he didn't really want to put it in such an obvious place. Sowing wasn't really his thing and it would be a bother to have to keep ripping open a seam to add and remove money when he needed it. That meant spending his money as soon as he got it, or finding a hiding place that wasn't obvious and would be safe from everyone that wasn't him. As of yet no one had tried to mug him and the only thing he could think of why was that ability or whatever of not wanting people to notice him too much.
Always an early riser, Harry was awake when things started to get weird. The wind was picking up and there were clouds in the sky almost blocking out the sunrise. Gaping was the only thing Harry could do while other people who were just waking up started to panic. A huge funnel came down towards where that crater in the Tames was! Always one to rush towards danger than away from it, Harry had begun to run in that direction to take a closer look. As he did he jerked around when the buildings began to shake and the lights all went out. Snapping his head up to look he could only stare with wide eyes while thinking that maybe those doomsayers were right and perhaps this was the end of the world.
With the darkness swirling around and Harry wondering if this was going to be the last thing he saw, his memory decided to be a pain and divulge a couple more things to him. Making him think that this would be just the sort of thing Voldemort would do. Or the dementors and why was he thinking about this now? Why couldn't his brain have supplied him with this information sooner? Frantically his eyes searched for the soul sucking creatures and was glad he didn't feel or see them. And the clouds weren't forming in that dark mark the snake faced bastard liked.
And with that his memory came crashing down disorientating him just like when he'd first popped up here. He was a wizard and he'd fallen into the veil after his godfather, Sirius during that disastrous rescue attempt at the Ministry of Magic. While his brain was being helpful to him now, the wind picked up to where Harry had to squint his eyes and the sky seemed to be trying to come ever closer to the earth. It seemed like eternity until suddenly the cloud imploded, dissipating like the fog did. Lights flickered back on and people stopped screaming and running around like lemmings.
Plopping down on the ground, Harry gasped then quickly got to his feet. "Sirius!" How could he have forgotten? Looking around, he wondered if his godfather was here as well. He had to be since Harry was here, didn't he? There was only one place the thing could have gone and they'd both come through it. Had Sirius lost his memories too or had he come through and only have to worry about finding out he didn't exist? With determination, Harry now had a new goal. To find Sirius.
-TSOAMJ-
AN- So, there you have it. Like it, hate it? I have no idea how long between when the crater in London happened to when the Silver Surfer took on Galactus. But I thought one of the Fantastic Four said it was a cpl weeks. If I'm wrong well...that's a writer's prerogative to screw with the time lines and why we love fanfiction :P
I will probably come back at a later time and actually fix this slipshod job up. At the moment though I'm good with it since it's short and yeah...I have no excuse save that I'm lazy and that I know it would have taken forever for me to actually write and update if I was meticulous and serious about this.