The Asterothain

Disclaimer: All of the Harry Potter stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Strange basis for a story, but I just had to do it. Not OotP compatible because I couldn't bear the ending, but I kind of made it make sense… I guess.

What He Saw in the Mirror

Harry struggled angrily to get his mattress back into the cupboard under the stairs. He didn't know what he had done, or rather, what the Dursleys thought he had done, but they were putting him back in the cupboard. Harry kept pushing and pushing but no matter how hard he tried it never went in. It did, however, become very bent and when he stopped to rest he looked at its mutated springs.

"That won't be comfortable tonight," he said with a heavy sigh.

Dudley came waddling down the stairs and pushed the mattress back out of the cupboard so he could get into the kitchen. Harry groaned. He turned the mattress to make it cover up the door and ran at it. The entire thing fell in through the portal; the only downside was that he had to get it to lie flat now. It looked like a banana the way that it bent upward at both ends… no, it was worse than that.

The Boy Who Lived decided to give up for now. Petunia called him to the kitchen and shoved a plate of food into his hands. "Maybe you can at least eat food right."

She sat down at the table where Uncle Vernon and Dudley already sat. Harry pulled out a chair, but Vernon interrupted him-- "What do you think you're doing?"

"Taking a seat," Harry answered confusedly.

"No you don't. You get to your cupboard to eat." Vernon's purple face grimaced at the scowl Harry now wore on his face.

Harry pushed the chair back in frustration and walked out of the kitchen. On his way out he heard Vernon mutter, "Crazier than both his parents… you'd think he owned the place, the way he acts."

Harry Potter fell back on his banana mattress to eat his dinner of english peas, turkey, and a baked potato. As he thought about what Uncle Vernon had said, he drifted into a daydream about his parents. He started to wonder what they were like; what would it be like living with them?

Someone knocked on the door. Harry heard Vernon squeeze through the hallway to answer, heard the door open, then, curiously, he heard it slam. Vernon squeezed back through the hall muttering, "Damn imagination."

After he was sure Vernon was back in the kitchen, Harry looked out the cupboard door. The front door was shut. Harry watched it steadily, expecting something he wouldn't understand. The doorknob began to turn and in a few seconds it was coming into the hallway, opening the door to reveal something that Harry just couldn't believe. He shut the cupboard door and heard two pairs of feet walking to the kitchen.

The kitchen door opened and then closed. Muffled voices could be heard but not made out. Then Harry could hear them clearly. "WHERE'S OUR SON? WHERE IS HE, VERNON?"

Vernon replied with an almost inaudible whimper. Harry gathered all his courage and bravely walked out of the cupboard. He walked down the hall himself and flung open the kitchen door. "I'm right here," he said to Lily and James Potter. Looking at them was strange, not only because he had never seen them in person, but because there was some strange air about them that he couldn't comprehend quite yet. Assuming that he would understand everything later, Harry stood with full confidence in himself.

Vernon whimpered from across the kitchen as he cowered next to the stove. "Look, I don't know how this is happening, but--"

"You don't need to understand it, Vernon," said Lily icily. "You shouldn't care anyway, after sticking poor Harry in a cupboard!"

Harry looked up at his father. James cracked a tiny smile at Lily's severity, then turned to his son with a small twinkle in his eyes. "C'mon, Harry, we'll explain everything on the way."

"On the way to where?" He couldn't believe what he was seeing. As he held the side of his pants to keep from shaking in wonder, he pinched his leg just to make sure it wasn't a dream, that his parents really were standing before him.

"Godric's Hollow; we're going home."

Harry looked at him in amazement. "Home…. It sounds so nice."

James grinned at him warmly. "C'mon, Lily, they're not worth it."

All three Potters turned and left, with Vernon still sniveling by the stove. "I would have got those damn wizards; I just didn't feel like it." He slowly eased into his chair. "Yes sir, I would have hit them with a frying pan if they hadn't left."