Disclaimer
I don't own Harry Potter, its characters or plotline – it belongs to J. K. Rowling. Only my imagination is my own :)
Beta Reader
Thanks to my brilliant editor: A Fire in the Attic!
CHAPTER ONE – TWO WORLDS INTERTWINED
Rays of sunlight shone through the countless leaves above him, which were being moved ever so slightly by a warm breeze. Soft grass tickled his face gently, leaving a fresh smell of spring.
The boy was laying face down at the north end of the meadow. There were trees nearly blocking the morning sun. He looked peaceful, noted the two men hidden between the trees in the forest. Black messy hair partly concealed his sleeping face. He seemed unaware of his surroundings.
Completely defenseless.
The sun rose higher in the sky, now brightly shining on the boy, but he was still soundly asleep.
A man with black shoulder-long hair and quite handsome facial features edged closer to the sleeping boy.
The other stayed back, watching intently.
The boy's unruly hair shifted when he turned in his sleep, coincidently facing them both.
A small gasp escaped the man closest to him. He sent a quick glance over his shoulder and saw the same look of surprise in his friend's eyes, their mission momentarily forgotten.
He could feel his consciousness gradually return, like a dense fog lifting slowly but surely. His mind was between a waking and sleeping state, a feeling of comfortable obliviousness and serenity. The boy stirred on the soft bed of greenness, lazily stretching his limbs. Slowly he opened his eyes, revealing twinkling emerald irises, a legacy his mother had left behind. He eyed his surroundings with dull interest, not completely awake just yet.
An almost silent cough seemed quite loud in the stillness of the meadow and the surrounding forest. Barely audible, but still resounding in the quiet morning.
The boy whipped his head around, searchingly, suddenly alert of every movement.
The two men stood deathly still.
The boy's eyes scanned the meadow and the shadows between the trees, suddenly vigilant and not so peaceful. His facial features changed, confusedness battling a hunted look, finally replaced by a contemplative frown.
The boy got to his feet in a swift movement, startling the spying men. For a couple of slow minutes, he stood perfectly still, his back to his onlookers. Then a low voice breached the resounding stillness.
"Why don't you show yourselves?"
He could imagine their stupidly surprised faces; they had been almost soundless, after all. It wasn't difficult deducing what happened behind his back. Inaudible communication. Debating their next move, whether to reveal themselves or not. He could feel his patience diminishing. Evaporating like heated water. Soon they would have to reveal themselves, or he would force them. Their lack of answer irritated him, seeing he didn't know where he was or how he even got there. At first he had been worried about an attack, a trap, but none came. His spies showed no maliciousness, or ill-intended intentions. They seemed… curious.
The two men looked at each other, surprised. Wordlessly, they eyed each other, and then turned their gaze to the boy standing in the meadow. At a second glance, the boy's obvious perceptiveness showed he wasn't a mere boy. A young man, really. They nodded at each other, having decided something, and walked out of their hiding place in the shadows of the forest.
"There seems to be no reason to hide ourselves," the man with long black hair said.
The young man said nothing, but turned around, finally able to see their faces. He gasped, a conflicted expression flitting across his face. Barely two seconds later, all traces of surprise were gone. His face…a mask.
"Care to tell me where I am, what year it is and why you were watching me?"
A little surprised by his questions, they refrained from answering for quite some time.
The young man watched them, awaiting an answer.
The black haired man suddenly came out of his reverie.
"This is the Dean forest."'
He nodded, suddenly recognizing the forest they had used as a temporary camp one and a half years ago. At least I'm not completely lost… He eyed the two eerily familiar men. Or am I? This doesn't make much sense. His eyes couldn't bear to stray from the two men he never thought he would see again in his lifetime.
"The year is 1999," the other man continued, a questioning brow rising at the odd question.
The young man could barely contain a surprised sound, and looked more intently at the two men he thought were dead. Time travel, he mused, but quickly discarded that idea. They didn't know him. Granted this was around a year and a half before his time, but they would still have known who he was. They clearly didn't.
"And, concerning your last question…" The black haired man spoke up again. "We were told you would be here."
He met the man's eyes with raised eyebrows. They knew I would be here, he repeated in his head.
"How?"
The two men looked at each other, and turned to him with apologetic facial expressions. The message was clear. They wouldn't or couldn't tell.
Probably both, he thought bitterly. It wasn't exactly new for him to be kept in the dark. Still, meeting their eyes once again, he realized they didn't know him. Even though he knew them.
Changing the subject, the black-haired man stepped towards him with his hand outstretched, a playful grin lightening up his face.
"So, what's your name?"
He eyed them carefully, not knowing if he could reveal his identity or not. He knew he shouldn't. The right way to deal with this situation was to treat it like time travel, meaning to be really careful about what one said. In a way this seems to be just that, but at the same time it doesn't. He racked his brain for a possible answer, but didn't really find one. Just time travel doesn't add up, though, it's more like being in another world.
He raised his green eyes, meeting smiling grey ones, planning on making an alibi for himself. But when looking into the grinning expression of his deceased godfather, reason abandoned him. He couldn't bring himself to lie.
"My name is Harry James Potter."
A/N:
Thanks for reading the first chapter of Twin Dimensions. I hope you enjoyed it!
Reviews are always highly appreciated :)
I plan monthly updates.
- Elysia