Chapter 3: Reactions of Suspicion

Chapter 3: Reactions of Suspicion

James Potter was right in assuming that Harry was trying to get out of the Hospital Wing.

He had always hated the stark, white walls, and he wanted to think about this alternate universe without being surrounded by them. He thought it was unnecessary to use wandless magic to escape (not to mention incredibly reckless), but his only other option couldn't be implemented until Madam Pomfrey left.

In his sixth year Harry had discovered multiple passages throughout the castle that responded to Parseltongue, no doubt an extension of the Chamber of Secrets. One such passage connected the Hospital Wing to a corridor near the staff's quarters. However, he didn't want anyone to know about the tunnels, and he certainly didn't want anyone to know he was a Parselmouth, so he waited to make his escape, acting as if he had no plan to escape.

When he was pretending to be asleep to fool Madam Pomfrey, he actually did fall asleep, still exhausted from his injuries and lack of sleep. Madam Pomfrey watched her patient fall asleep. He was good at trying to seem asleep, she gave him that. She had been almost fooled, except she believed that his sleep wouldn't be so peaceful.

Surely enough, his breathing deepened, and he restlessly turning back and forth. He began muttering in his sleep, but it was so low she had to lean forward to hear him whisper, "Kill the spare."

She threw herself back in horror. 'Kill the spare?' What kind of past did this Chris Collins have: did he kill someone or watch someone be killed? She had absolutely no idea, and started in surprise when the sleeping form moaned, half-rising from the bed before falling silently into a deeper sleep.

Deciding to not tell anyone what she had heard, Madam Pomfrey walked to her quarters to sleep, still thinking about her mysterious new patient.

Harry woke suddenly about an hour before dawn, cursing himself for falling asleep. But a quick look around the Hospital Wing told him that Madam Pomfrey was still in her room.

Quickly standing up, a part of his brain realized that most of his injuries were much better. His leg, however, refused to support much weight.

He walked as best as he could to the far part of the wall and hissed, "Open."

A stone passageway appeared, looking damp and musty from disuse use and Harry quickly into it, watching it seal itself automatically.

Madam Pomfrey walked into the Hospital half an hour later. "Well, Mr. Collins, I think that--"

She stopped as she realized that she was the only person in the Hospital Wing, but, as she checked the window and door, she knew the ever-present charms on them had not been broken, charms that she had always left on the doors so no students would sneak in or out.

Bolting to the door, she unlocked it and ran to Dumbledore's office. Hurriedly telling the gargoyle 'chocolate frog,' she burst into the office. "Albus!" she exclaimed in a panic, never having lost a patient before. "Collins is gone!"

Dumbledore just chuckled, knowing that James had been right.

Harry stumbled through the rough passageway, grumbling slightly to himself. His injuries may have been healing, but he could still barely walk.

He groaned as his foot snagged yet another loose stone laying haphazard across the passageway, and fell clumsily to the ground. Maybe leaving the Hospital Wing was a bad idea, but he would have gone insane if he were in there any longer.

Looking around for inspiration, Harry saw an out-of-place wooden beam not far down the musty tunnel. Grabbing it, he leaned on it to stand up, and continued walking, thinking about the insurmountable difficulty he had gotten himself into by somehow traveling across dimensions.

After a while he reached the end of the tunnel, and hissing, "Open," once more, stepped into an empty hallway.

He sighed in relief at getting out of the musty passageway, and felt victorious that he had successfully escaped Madam Pomfrey's grasp. He had stepped around a corner when he heard a low, threatening voice behind him.

"Escaped, did you?"

Lily and James Potter were walking around the halls of Hogwarts early the next morning. Both were required to wake early due to their jobs, and they saw no reason to break the habit because of summer.

As they passed the infamous Moaning Myrtle's bathrooms, near Lily's quarters as a member of the staff, she brought up the subject of Chris Collins.

"I wish I knew what spell she used!" She pouted to her husband in frustration.

Her pride and gift was Charms, she taught useful offensive Charms in conjunction to Professor Flitwick's regular Charms, and she didn't like not knowing spells that a, by her husband's estimate, nineteen- or twenty-year-old knew. James chuckled at her, and was promptly elbowed in the side.

"Don't worry, Lily," he said, still grinning, "I'm sure you'll be able to beat it out of him sometime."

The unhurried couple continued their conversation, moving from the mysterious Collins to their children. Rose, the youngest, was only nine, and so wouldn't be going learning at Hogwarts just yet, even though she lived there in the staffs' rooms. Holly their oldest, was starting fifth year, already obsessing over the OWLs.

Since the castle was temporarily the Order's headquarters, the whole Potter family was staying at Hogwarts, as were many other members. Neither of them mentioned the son who would have been going into his seventh year, who had died almost sixteen years previous.

The peaceful silence between the two of them was broken when a rhythmic thumping reached both their ears.

Immediately on alert, they slowly poked their heads around the corner of the hallway to see the back of a person with slightly long, ragged, black hair limping down the hallway away from them.

James turned to Lily and mouthed, "Collins."

She nodded, and then frowned. "Shouldn't he be in the Hospital Wing?" She silently asked back, and James grinned at her. Obviously he had escaped the medi-witch's clutches, as foretold by James.

He put a finger to his lips and softly tread to right behind Collins, putting his Auror training to good use. When James was directly behind him, he said loudly, "Escaped, did you?" in a cold voice.

Lily had rolled her eyes, knowing that her husband was up to no good, but gasped as Collins froze, then spun around penning James to the wall with his walking stick. For an instant there was a wary, defiant look on his face, but it went away, leaving Harry looking apologetic as he recognized James and released him.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter. I didn't know it was you," Harry said, inwardly thinking that his dad deserved a good punch on the face for frightening him like that.

James just waved his apology away, still looking rather pale. "Well, at least I know not to sneak up on you anymore," James responded, only half-joking and chucking weakly.

Harry leaned over to pick up his fallen walking stick. "To answer your question," he said, "I did indeed escape."

His face and voice was emotionless, but there was a touch of smugness in his manner. Harry suddenly caught sight of Lily, and he almost fell over in shock.

He had known that she was alive, but actually seeing the person he had only heard pleading for his life was completely different. If Snape or Dumbledore walked by at that moment, Harry would not have been able to shut his Occlumency shields. Lily was speechless as the strange young man gazed at her sorrowfully. She found herself staring back, unable to move.

James was rather confused, but took the initiative anyway.

"Collins," he said in introduction, "this is my wife, Lily. Lily, this is Chris Collins, the strange person who travels between worlds."

Harry rolled his eyes and snapped out of his mind lock.

"Sorry about that," Harry said emotionless once more. "You looked like someone I had known." 'Recognized, but never really knew,' he though sadly, knowing that he wouldn't really know her here, either.

Lily smiled at him, and then frowned severely. "You ran away from the Hospital Wing?" She scolded, seeming to suddenly tower over him. "You probably have frightened poor Poppy out of her mind and no doubt the Order will be searching the castle. If it weren't for the fact that James would just help you create another escape plan, I'd march you back to the Hospital Wing right now!"

Her rant was interrupted by running feet above them.

"Where is he?" A distant voice yelled, and with a thrill of apprehension Harry recognized the voice as Moody's. Harry did not want to be found by a hunting Moody. "The wards weren't touched! If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't possibly be able to walk that far in the castle, I'd say he was already gone!"

Harry scowled at that. "I'm perfectly capable of walking around the castle, thank you very much," he muttered, making James grin.

His mutterings subsided he heard the ex-Auror clunking down a near flight of stairs. Muttering curses that made Lily frown disapprovingly, Harry hurriedly limped off, noting with growing irritation that his parents were calmly walking after him, easily keeping up.

"One-legged race," James muttered to Lily, commenting on the fact that both Moody and Harry had a useless leg apiece.

Harry heard him and reached his walking stick back to stomp on his foot in irritation. Lily giggled as James winced, and the two paused as Harry turned the corner.

"We can wait for Mad-Eye," James said, rubbing his foot, and Lily nodded. "That corridor is a dead-end."

Soon enough, Moody came barreling around the corner, screeching to a halt as he saw the two Potters.

He glared at them, his usual mode of greeting. "Have you seen Collins anywhere? You, lad," he said, pointing to James, "You know what he looks like."

James chuckled, making the ex-Auror scowl. "Yeah, Moody," James said. "He just hobbled around the corner, but the passage is a dead-end."

Moody clunked around the corner, followed by the Potters. The hallway had no one in it, and no doors of escape.

Moody turned to James, and roared, "You're supposed to be an Auror? You never let someone out of your sight!"

James winced. "But there is no way for someone to leave this hallway," he said in his defense. "There're no secret passages down there!"

Moody rolled his eyes at him in obvious irritation. "Never suppose anything, Potter," Moody lectured. "Because apparently there is. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Shaking his head and muttering about the falling standards of Aurors, Mad-Eye clunked off, leaving a disgruntled James and a grinning Lily behind.

Harry looked around the tunnel, full of dread at where it had led him to.

'Damn,' he thought crossly. 'Of all the places for that tunnel to go, it just had to be the dungeons.' There was no doubt in his mind that Snape still haunted this part of the castle, and a close muttering voice proved him right.

"Should have just Stunned him and been done with it, but the idiot boy has to disappear, wasting all our time as a search party."

Harry did some quick thinking. The only part of the castle that he really needed to examine was the Chamber of Secrets, which even he couldn't deny that he wasn't in the condition to do so, making the next important thing discovering the history of this place.

Seeing his mum had shaken him enough, and he had already suspected that she was alive. Next thing he knew, Bellatrix Lestrange would be in the Order. He should probably let himself be found, but being caught by Snape? Not even he was as reckless as that.

But soon he caught sound of the voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt. Kingsley, on the other hand, could be reasoned with.

"At least we're not partnered with Mad-Eye, Severus," the Auror was saying. "Now that would be something to complain about."

Making up his mind, Harry wandlessly conjured a white cloth and he tied it to the end of his walking stick. Sensing that the two were about to walk by, he hastily stuck his walking stick out about chest-height, making it look like a flag.

"I surrender!" He called, and to his amusement he heard whispered curses of surprise, and he waited calmly, leaning on his lowered walking stick, until they had their wands pointed at him.

"Took you a while," Harry commented lazily. "Shouldn't you two be better prepared than that? You are hunting down an unknown entity."

Snape sneered at him and pointed his wand threateningly at Harry's throat. Harry continued, making himself have a slightly Dean-Thomas-like personality. As Dumbledore hid behind his grandfatherly act, Harry hid behind the personalities of different people.

"Are we off to Dumbledore's office?" Harry asked. "No time like the present to find out more about the history of here."

Both adults bristled at this, and Snape brandished his wand even more threateningly, though Harry didn't even spare it a glance.

"I don't believe you're in a place to make inquiries, Collins," Snape said dangerously.

Kingsley stepped behind Harry, and he had to fight his instincts not to treat the well-known Auror like a threat. Shacklebolt pressed his wand into the back of Harry's neck.

"Get moving, Collins," he growled. "We won't wait for an excuse to Stun you."

Harry glared at him, bristling at the threat in return. "Hello to you, too, Shacklebolt."

"How the Hell do you know who I am, kid?" The rather suspicious-looking Auror asked, but Harry merely grinned and started walking down the dungeon's hallway with the help of his walking stick, which made a loud, echoing bang every time it hit the floor, causing Snape to glare at him.

"Is there any way you could possibly keep quiet?" The Potions Master demanded, ill at ease with a stranger who knew the castle so well, alternate dimension or no.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, Professor. Anyone nearby will hear my walking stick, think that Moody is near, then run in the opposite direction. It's very unlikely that we'll come across anyone."

Kingsley chuckled at this apt description of the ex-Auror, while Snape merely scowled.

"So, where are we going?" Harry asked, and smirked when he heard the grunted response of "Albus's office." "Which is where I wanted to be in the first place," Harry said softly, thinking that the situation was similar to a story he had heard one time via Hermione. 'Something about chocolate cake and grapefruit juice,' he though distractedly, before shaking himself out of his thoughts as the small group reached the gargoyle.

Harry began to limp up the stairs, but Kingsley pulled Snape back. "Who is this guy? How does he know he way around the castle and everything?"

Snape didn't sneer at the question. He was bemused by the concept of alternate universes. Instead, he merely said, "That is for the Headmaster to divulge."

Then he swept up the staircase, followed by an irked and muttering Kingsley.

When he got to Albus's office, he saw Collins talking to Dumbledore. "The castle seems to be the same in majority. Has there been a mysterious attack on the students, some time within the last ten or fifteen years?"

Albus looked curiously at the enigma in front of him, and responded, "Not that I'm aware of. The Weasley twins were widely considered more of a plague more than a concentrated attack."

Harry's lips quirked at that, but he felt mournful about the death of the twins in his world, though the pair here were surely still alive. He shook himself and paid attention to what Dumbledore was now saying.

"Poppy is not particularly amused by your escape, though James was quite thrilled with reminding her that you are her first successful escapee. Though, I daresay that you shouldn't have slipped off like that. Seeing how most inhabitants of the castle would stun you on sight."

Harry narrowed his eyes slightly. Dumbledore seriously wanted to know what Harry was up to, and, despite knowing how manipulative the old Headmaster could be, Harry gave his reason anyway. "I needed to see the castle, Professor. If I asked for the answers I needed, you would have a very strange insight into my past. I would rather nobody get a clear insight."

Albus nodded at his answer. The challenge between the two of them was sealed. "I don't suppose you would be willing to tell me why you questioned about a mysterious attack."

Harry grinned. "It's on a need-to-know basis, Professor. And you don't need to know."

Snape's resolve not to hex Collins seemed to snap at this. "You, Collins," he demanded, looking every inch the angry Death Eater. "How can we trust you, with such a resolve to hide your past? You suddenly appear, assuming we'll swallow your story about an alternate dimension, and then have complete knowledge of everything going on! Tell me, if you truly aren't a Death Eater, are you acting under threat of capture of someone you love, or are you so desperate you'd cut off your right arm for power?"

Harry paled at that question, and Snape sneered, knowing that he had won. But the pressure in the room suddenly increased until the windows blew outward in a magical force.

Harry found himself with both hands wrapped around Snape's neck, pushing him up against the wall. "Don't you ever accuse me of being a Death Eater," Harry snarled in a deadly whisper, cowing even Shacklebolt and Dumbledore. "I have given all I have to fight Voldemort and will continue doing so, even if it means siding with you. But if you ever think I would side with him again, Merlin himself will not be able to help you."

Harry released Snape, his eyes still burning with rage as the windows repaired themselves and a tense silence filled the room, until James came bounding into the office.

"Hey, Albus, Lily said that--" He stopped when he saw Harry. "Caught, were you?" he asked, grinning mischievously, and Harry nodded, his ire still raised at Snape.

Harry decided to drop his act, having it pretty much blown, and acted like his normal self, slightly cold and defensive. "Yes. I can't search anymore until my leg is healed, which will take a while. Speaking of taking a while," Harry thought suddenly, "since I'm here in this universe, would it be possible for me to enroll here?"

Harry would rather not reveal his age and waste time with school when he should be fighting, but Voldemort was hardly going to be defeated on sixth-year knowledge.

"Of course," Dumbledore replied, thinking that Harry's school career must have been interrupted by the war. The headmaster, along with Severus and James, believed Harry to be in his twenties.

"Wait a second," James said incredulously. "You never finished school? But you're about twenty years old!" Harry smirked at his guess, but only Albus saw him, and he noticed the smirk get wider as Snape scoffed.

"Don't be ridiculous, Potter," Snape argued back dismissively. "He has to be older than that to be such a target of the Dark Lord, immature though he may be."

Harry outright laughed at that, knowing that he wouldn't be able to keep his age a secret for very long anyway.

"Do I really look that old?" Harry asked, as James and Severus froze with perplexed looks on their faces. "I just turned seventeen a couple days ago!"

Even Kingsley chuckled at the look on James's face. Snape had his usual sneer in place.

"Then why are you such a high target for old snake-face?" James asked, his curiosity coming forward. "How long has he been after you?"

Harry's face hardened and his grin fell. "Long enough," he said, refusing to say anymore.

Not one to be rebuffed, James remembered Lily's burning question. "Oh, Lily wanted to know what spell you used against the Death Eaters. She's upset that she didn't know what it was."

"It's a form of the Patronus Charm," Harry answered. "It's a variation that I came up with, but it only seems to work for me." At the skeptical look he got, Harry continued. "I have absolutely no idea why it works like that, but it is more powerful than the original, so it's the one I use."

Harry trailed off, looking around the office. Something was missing-- 'Ah,' he thought, realizing what it was. Gryffindor's sword wouldn't be here, seeing as Harry had never pulled it out of the Sorting Hat.

Harry turned back to see the three looking at him expectantly. "Sorry," he said. "Can you repeat that?"

Snape tsked his tongue in annoyance but answered. "The Headmaster was merely commenting on the fact that you need to get acquainted with this world's history. Since you can't seem to lower yourself to tell us your own so as to be told the differences, I suggest visiting the school library."

Harry rolled his eyes at Snape. "You really are a git, Professor."

James snorted in amusement, and Snape leveled a glare at him.

"Well," Harry said," I would say that I'm off to the library, but people, especially Moody, are still hunting me. It looks like I'm stuck here until they give up."

Dumbledore had a thoughtful expression on his face, and spoke. "Well, I can use this time to introduce you to Fawkes. It will put to rest any misgivings people have about you."

"Fair enough," Harry responded, glaring at Snape, who glared back.

Dumbledore called Fawkes, and the majestic bird appeared.

Fawkes cried out angrily upon seeing Harry and held out his talons dangerously. Harry almost groaned at Fawkes, not believing that the supposedly Light creature (Harry was doubting any such thing at the moment) would do this. The phoenix had once pulled this before during Harry's sixth year, making Dumbledore think that Harry was a Death Eater in disguise, and this one was doing the exact same thing.

Harry watched with a mixture of trepidation and amusement as everyone pulled out their wands. Just as Dumbledore was about to fire a spell, Fawkes calmed down and landed lightly on Harry's shoulder, trilling happily.

Harry glanced down at the phoenix in some irritation. "Was that really necessary, Fawkes? You're supposed to be a Light creature, not sadistic."

The four other wizards looked scandalized that Harry was talking to Fawkes in such a manner, but the bird but just trilled smugly and cuffed Harry on the head with a wing as he flew away.

"Wait a second," Harry said in comprehension. "How did you know that the other Fawkes pulled that before?"

Fawkes twittered at him and Harry scowled. "Fine. I'm in way over my head. No reason to rub it in."

"You can understand Fawkes?" James asked, and after Harry nodded, asked, "You don't he would want to help with a couple pranks, do you?"

Harry grinned but didn't have a chance to answer before Fawkes's eyes widened comically and he disappeared in a flash of fire.

"I think that that would be a solid 'no,' Potter," Snape sneered, to which James stuck his tongue out.

"You call me immature," Harry muttered under his breath loud enough for everyone to hear. "You two are the very epitome of maturity!"

The two opened their mouths to respond but Dumbledore interrupted before a fight got under way.

"I believe that we have no option but to trust Fawkes's judgment," the old wizard said, his eyes twinkling at his familiar's rather unusual manner.

"Oh, goody," Harry said sarcastically. "Maybe now Moody won't hex me on sight!"

"Yes, now he'll just wait until you open your mouth and insult him," Kingsley said, and Harry looked at him innocently.

"I'm hurt. You've only known me for a quarter of an hour and already think I'm incapable of holding my tongue."

"Don't even bother acting innocent, Collins," Snape replied. "I've known you since you got here and I've come to the same conclusion."

James sounded his whole-hearted agreement, and Dumbledore also nodded his head at the irate seventeen-year-old.

"Fine," Harry grumbled, knowing it would be an argument he would lose. His thoughts wandered off to what he found out the first night he came here, wondering what gaps in his knowledge he would have to fill. Blinking in surprise, Harry realized something.

"Professor," he said, looking at Dumbledore, "do you know Voldemort's real name?"

Albus looked at him curiously. "No, I don't believe I do. Why, is it something rather important?"

"No," Harry answered bemusedly. How could Dumbledore not know Voldemort was Tom Riddle? That was the Headmaster's trademark: annoying Voldemort by calling him Tom. "It's not overly important, just passingly amusing. At least, I think it's the same person here...I'm not exactly sure if some events are the same..." Harry trailed off.

Coming to a decision, Harry stood. "Castle-wide game of hide-and-seek or no, I'm going to the library. There are too many things I need to find out."

James jumped up, too. "I'll go with you, that way they won't be as inclined to hex you."

"That gives me so much confidence, you have no idea," Harry replied sarcastically as he walked down the steps. He didn't see Kingsley's completely gob smacked look at Dumbledore.

"What the Hell was that? Seems like a miniature tornado just swept through and then left merrily."

"Indeed," Albus replied absently, his mind stuck on the possibility of knowing Voldemort's identity. "Indeed."

"What do you need to look up?"

Harry sighed. He had almost gotten used to the knowledge that his father was alive, along with Sirius and his mum. Of course, part of that might have happened because James Potter still acted like a teenager rather than the loosest idea of an adult.

"Well," Harry responded, knowing not to tell the truth. "I need to determine facts about the differences in the war," well, that was the truth, "see if there are any different spells or potions here," that really wasn't a lie either, but it wasn't on the top of the list, "and research ways to get home." As much as the last one would have been helpful, Harry remembered enough about Hermione's essay that it wasn't possible.

"What, so eager to leave alre--"

"CHRIS COLLINS!" James and Harry both winced as the force of nature that was Madam Pomfrey walked towards them.

"WHAT do you think you were doing, Mr. Collins? Leaving the Hospital Wing, walking around, escaping from the Hospital Wing ..."

Harry almost grinned as the irate Medi-witch began to repeat herself, but narrowed his eyes as James snickered. "I'm sorry, Madam Pomfrey, but Mr. Potter here showed me an easy passageway out of the Hospital Wing and..."

He paused so Madam Pomfrey could summon another round of fury as James gaped accusingly at Harry. "You lie!" James accused, but was cut off.

"Shame on you, Mr. Potter. You should know better than to submit Mr. Collins to all your maraudering tricks, especially while he is still injured!"

James just stood there glaring at Harry throughout the lecture. "You're going to pay for that, Collins," he growled.

"Pay for what?" Harry said sweetly, smirking at him nonetheless.

Madam Pomfrey began to bustle Harry towards the Hospital Wing while James pulled a mirror out of his pocket.

"Padfoot?" He said, and an image of Sirius Black appeared.

"Yeah, Prongs?"

"You know Collins broke out of the Hospital Wing, right?" He got a nod in response. "The little bugger blamed me for it!"

Sirius chuckled and James pretended to frown severely. "That invokes the wrath of the Marauders."

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius responded. "I gotta go. Go nurse your wounded pride."

James was left glaring at an empty mirror.

"Mr. Collins, since this little escapade of yours has probably set back your healing, you are going to stay here-- Sit! -- and drink this potion!"

Harry rolled his eyes but submitted. The month-long capture by the Death Eaters had left him physically weak, and he was too tired to argue, not that it would have done much good.

He drank the potion, shuddering at the awful taste and slowly fell asleep, not noticing that his scar began to prick as he did so.

Severus Snape, in the confines of his dungeons, hissed as his Dark Mark suddenly burned. Putting a Stasis Charm on the developmental potion he was half-finished with, he hurriedly grabbed his Death Eater mask and cloak.

Only bothering to implement a couple of his several locking charms, Snape ran towards the Entrance Hall and the Apparation point outside the Hogwarts wards.