Disclaimer: I'm afraid that my limited brain capacity would never allow me to produce such a wonderful concept as Harry Potter, nor would my finances allow me to buy him. Therefore, I regretfully state that I own neither Harry Potter, nor any other characters that you may recognize. I'm not even sure if I own the plot.

Note: I'm assuming that you already know the basic story of Harry Potter from books 1 through 5.

'Italics' stand for thoughts/letters or text

Please keep in mind that this is not the Harry you know. He has been raised in a completely different manner from the books and is therefore somewhat OOC.

Chapter Two: Fitting In

Day One, Evening:

"Harry? Are you okay?" Hermione asked, leaning closer to her friend. "You've been awfully quiet."

Harry glanced up from his treacle tart. "I'm fine, Hermione," he insisted. "I'm just…thinking."

Hermione studied him, her brow furrowed in thought, before shrugging. "There's something different about you," she remarked.

Thinking quickly, Harry flashed her a light smile. "What, I'm not allowed to be a little moody after a near-death experience?"

Seeing his grin, Hermione relaxed slightly and shook her head. "You're right. I'm starting to see things."

"Too much studying," Ron put in, although his mouth was so full of pudding that it was barely intelligible.

Immediately, Hermione turned to scold him. "Ron, can't you ever swallow before you talk?"

'They sound like a married couple,' Harry commented to himself, feeling both amused and irritated. 'How immature. But that girl's pretty smart, for a Muggleborn. She's suspicious already…I'll have to be careful.' He stood up, interrupting the pair's argument. "Uh, I'm going to go to bed early tonight," he said. "I'm kind of tired."

"Oh, of course! You're probably still recovering from this afternoon," Hermione agreed at once. "Do you want us to go up with you?"

"No, that's okay. I'll just go straight to bed," Harry replied. They nodded in acceptance, and he left the Great Hall.

When he reached the Gryffindor common room, he made his way to the sixth year boys' dormitory and paused in the doorway, studying the mess carefully. He identified his bed, then went to the battered trunk at its foot. Upon opening it, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. 'What are these rags? They can't expect me to wear these! I'd look like, like a beggar!'

Wrinkling his nose contemptuously, he Transfigured the worn pajamas into finer silk ones and lengthened them so that the cuffs covered his wrists and ankles. As he changed, he noticed that he still had his Dark Mark. 'Hmm, that could be a problem. An illusion will cover it, but what if someone hits me with the Finite Incantatem? I'll have to be careful never to bare my arms. Oh yeah, and I need to create a fake scar.'

Twirling his wand skillfully, he created a Glamour over his bare forehead, drawing a lightning bolt like the one he knew should be there. Then, he hid his Dark Mark under a complex Concealing Charm. 'That will have to do. Now, let's see about this scrawny body of mine.'

Once he had set Proximity Charms to let him know if anyone was coming, Harry dropped to the floor and began doing push-ups and sit-ups. He nearly reached 100 when his charms announced that the other boys were returning. Hastily, Harry cancelled his charms, jumped into bed, and pulled the curtains shut, adding a Locking Charm for good measure.

Before long, the other boys in the dormitory came in and got ready for bed. Finally, silence fell, mixed with the occasional snore.

…………

Day Two, Morning:

"Harry! Harry, wake up!"

Awakening in a flash, Harry threw himself from the bed, his wand in his hand and a spell on his tongue. The curse barely missed Ron, who ducked just in time.

"Whoa, calm down!" Ron exclaimed. "You're getting downright paranoid, mate!"

'What? Where am I?' Harry wondered, alarmed. He looked from the red-and-gold dorm room he was standing in to the four startled boys around him. 'Red and gold…oh.' Memories of the day before, and what had happened, filtered through to his half-asleep brain. 'Right. I'm in another dimension…I think.'

Quickly, Harry mustered a sheepish, apologetic grin. "Sorry, Ron. You startled me."

"I can see that. You're turning into Mad-Eye Moody," Ron remarked, with a shaky grin. "Just…don't do that again. You almost got me. What was that spell anyway?"

"Er…kind of like a low-powered Stunner," Harry lied. In actuality, he had used a borderline Dark curse.

"Oh. You'll have to teach it to me sometime. Anyway, it's time for breakfast. I'm starving!"

Thinking about how much the redhead had eaten at dinner the night before, Harry sneered mentally. 'Does he ever think about anything but his stomach?' He opened the battered trunk at the foot of his bed and pulled out the least wrinkled uniform he could find. 'This other Harry is pathetic,' he criticized in his mind. 'What a slob. Does he even care how he dresses? One would think that, being famous here, he would take care of his appearance.' Waving his wand, he cast a spell to press his slacks before putting them on.

"Harry, hurry up! The bacon will all be gone!" Ron urged.

Harry resisted his first instinct, which was to hit the other boy with a Silencing Charm, and instead said, "Why don't you go down then? I'll meet you in a little bit."

After a moment's indecision, Ron nodded. "Okay. See you then!"

Dully, Harry finished getting dressed and made his way to the Great Hall. 'This castle is so large,' he noted, with a small amount of awe. 'It's a good thing I have some memories to rely on, or I'd be lost in no time.'

"Harry, over here!" Hermione called, waving him over to where she and Ron were seated.

"Hello, Hermione," Harry greeted her politely, while inwardly scowling. 'Mudblood. I can't believe the other me is friends with people like this. And Gryffindor, too!'

"I'm glad it's Sunday," Hermione remarked. "I want to research something for Charms, and we'll have time to finish Snape's assignment, and—"

"Snape?" Harry interrupted before he could stop himself.

"Yeah, he wants us to write a report on the variations of veritaserum," Hermione reminded him.

'Snape's here? Hmm…Snape is a Death Eater in my world. I wonder if he could help me get in touch with the Dark Lord,' Harry mused.

"Oh, Harry, there's Quidditch practice tonight," Ron said suddenly. "Are you up for it, or are you still tired from yesterday?"

'Quidditch practice?' Harry thought, slightly alarmed. He liked to fly, but he hadn't had many chances too. After all, he'd had many responsibilities as Voldemort's heir and second-in-command. 'I've never played Quidditch properly, in a real game. Oh well, how difficult could it be?'

…………

Day Two, Evening:

Harry sank into an armchair in the common room with a groan. Apparently, flying for leisure wasn't quite the same as flying competitively.

"Harry, what's up with you?" Ron asked, looking a little worried. "Your flying was kind of off tonight."

"Er, I don't know," Harry stammered. "Maybe I'm still a little out of it."

"What happened?" Hermione inquired, looking up from her Transfiguration homework.

"Harry was flying different," Ron said slowly. "And he had trouble catching the snitch."

Hermione frowned. "Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey, Harry. Dumbledore's spell yesterday could have some delayed side effects or something."

"Uh, no, I'll be okay, just give me some time," Harry replied quickly. He didn't want the nurse to inspect him any more than necessary, lest she somehow discover that he's wasn't their Harry.

"Well, if you're sure. Here, do your Potions homework," Hermione suggested, pushing a textbook and some parchment at him.

Harry accepted the supplies with resignation. "What did we have to do again?"

"Honestly, why don't you write these things down?" Hermione demanded. "I got you those planners for a reason, you know. We're supposed to write five feet on the various derivations of veritaserum and how each one is made."

"Veritaserum," Harry murmured to himself, thinking about his private lessons with Snape. "Okay." Dipping his quill in the ink, he began to write. After about ten minutes, he looked up to see Ron and Hermione staring at him. "What?"

"Harry…can I see your essay?" Hermione requested shakily.

"Um, sure." Harry watched her read it, bemused. "What? Did I write something wrong?"

"Harry, how did you…how did you write all these without even looking at the textbook?" Hermione whispered, looking stunned.

"Uh…" Checking his counterpart's memories, Harry realized too late that the other Harry was awful at Potions. "I…read up on this. Before the fight."

"But…this is advanced stuff!" Hermione exclaimed. "Some of this…where did you find it? It's not in our normal book, I'm sure of it!"

"I looked at some other stuff," Harry stated hesitantly. "There are some references in the library." Seeing their skeptical expressions, he continued, "I've decided to try harder. I mean, Potions are pretty important, and, uh, I think veritaserum is interesting. It's good to know about truth serums."

Thankfully, Ron and Hermione seemed to accept this explanation. "All right, mate, but don't overdo it," Ron cautioned, relaxing. "You'll turn into Hermione."

"And what's wrong with that, Ronald?" Hermione snapped, glaring.

The redhead winced. "Uh, nothing, it's just…"

"Just what?"

'What is this, the fifteenth time they've gotten into a fight today?' Harry commented to himself, slightly exasperated. 'Huh. I can't believe they bought that story. All the better for me, I guess. But I need to be more careful. The other me is an idiot, apparently.'