James and Remus came out of the dormitory 10 minutes later. They found Sirius fuming in the corner with his potions textbook open in front of him. He determinedly kept his head down as James came towards him.
'Pad?'
'What?' Sirius snapped.
'It
wasn't me.'
'What?' Sirius repeated but in a softer tone
and looked up.
'It wasn't me. I swear on the marauder's map
it wasn't.'
Sirius stared at James for a moment then grabbed
his arm 'come on we're going to see Dumbledore.'
They
ran to the hospital wing and found the bed that "James" had been
in was sealed off. 'Madam Pomfrey? Is Dumbledore still here?'
Madam
Pomfrey was bustling around in her office and didn't look round to
see who was talking 'No, he went back to his office.'
James
and Sirius legged it out of the hospital wing and to Dumbledore's
office.
'Professor Dumbledore?'
'Ah, Mr. Black, come in
and ….Mr… Potter?' Dumbledore frowned at James, 'Would you
care to explain?'
'Yes sir, me and Remus went back to the
dormitory after you told us to, and we found James already there. He
says he had no idea who the person in the hospital is.'
'I
see…'
Dumbledore was silent, he looked up seemingly
meditating.
'Sir?'
Dumbledore looked down.
'Do you
know who he is?'
'No Mr Potter, I am afraid I do not. All I am
sure of is that he is not James as the two of you kindly pointed out
to me. I have had the area sealed off due to the nature of his
injuries and it is a good thing that I have done so. He is still
unconscious but rest assured that I will find out who he is once he
is awake.'
'Yes sir,'
'Thank you sir.'
'Pleasant
dreams.'
'Thank you sir, you too.'
Harry woke up a
week later to find himself in the hospital wing, with only vague
memories of arriving there. He remembered the fight with the death
eaters, being thrown through the window and the blue light
encompassing him and transporting him to Hogwarts, but that was it.
He had no idea how long he had been here for, but guessed that it was
over three weeks because he could hear students in the background.
He
looked up to find professor Dumbledore and madam Pomfrey at his side.
He quickly averted his gaze, he wasn't sure if he anted to talk to
Dumbledore after their conversation at the end of last year, after
Sirius' death, where he had learned about the prophecy, during
which he had demolished half his office.
Dumbledore smiled at him
and spoke first.
'Well sir, quite a fright you gave us there,
arriving out of nowhere with your injuries.'
Madam Pomfrey
nodded, 'Yes, quite right headmaster, collapsed lung, internal
bleeding, two broken ribs, not to mention all the bruises.'
'I
trust you are feeling better.'
'Yes,' mumbled Harry.
'Then
perhaps you could enlighten us on the circumstances that resulted in
your arrival here.'
Harry frowned, had no one told Dumbledore
what had happened? He remained silent trying to contemplate exactly
what it was Dumbledore didn't know, or was trying to find
out.
Dumbledore prodded him, 'How about starting with your
name.'
Harry raised his eyebrows, 'My name?'
'Yes,'
answered Dumbledore simply.
'You don't know my name?' asked
Harry disbelievingly, had someone removed Dumbledore's
memory.
'Should I?'
Harry looked at Madam Pomfrey, 'You
don't know my name either?'
She shook her head.
'What is
going on?' Harry demanded.
'We were hoping you would tell
us.'
Harry could feel the anger bubbling up inside him, was this
one of Dumbledore's tricks to "protect" him?
'So you're
telling me that no one from the ministry, the order, the Weasley's,
Ron or Hermione told you.'
Dumbledore shook his head. At this
point Harry lost it, Dumbledore was definitely lying to him.
'WHAT
IS GOING ON? LAST YEAR YOU PRETENDED I WAS INVISIBLE, THIS YEAR YOU
ARE GOING TO PRETEND THAT YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ME. IS THIS ANOTHER
OF YOUR CRACKED UP PLANS TO PROTECT ME? TO KEEP ME IN THE DARK? IS
IT? OR IS IT JUST SOME SICK JOKE? DO YOU THINK I HAVENT BEEN THROUGH
ENOGH IN MY LIFE? YOU THINK I CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH. HAVE YOU ALREADY
FORGOTTEN WHAT HAPPENED TO SIRIUS LAST YEAR?' By now Harry had
tears of anger, of sadness and of betrayal streaming down his face,
and he made no effort to stop them. 'SIRIUS DIED BECAUSE YOU
DECIDED IT WAS UNNECESSARY TO TELL ME ABOUT MY LIFE! I'M SICK OF
IT! SICK! AND YOU KNOW WHAT I'M LEAVING!'
in truth Harry of
course had no idea of where he would go, but made to get out of bed
anyway. Dumbledore laid a hand on his shoulder.
'My dear boy,
you need rest, and Sirius, do you mean Sirius Black?'
'What
other Sirius' do we know?' Harry snapped.
'Sirius is alive
and well, I believe it was he who brought you here.'
Harry threw
Dumbledore a dirty look, then shook his hand roughly off his
shoulder, jumped out of his bed and turned towards the
exit.
Dumbledore sighed as he watched the troubled boy, wondering
what he had missed.
Harry found himself in the corridor outside the
hospital wing. He made his way fuming to the Gryffindor Tower, but
even through his anger, he realised that he didn't recognise any of
the faces he passed and a slight panic began within him; surely there
couldn't be that many new first years.
He reached the portrait
of the fat lady "Password?"
'Er…'
'No password, no
entrance.'
'Oh come on I can't be bothered right now.'
The
fat lady pursed her lips.
Harry let out a roar of frustration,
and began pacing hoping that someone would come soon. He didn't
wait long.
'Hey James,'
Harry spun round, he looked at the
boy behind him, he looked vaguely familiar, but Harry couldn't
quite put his finger on it, and the boy had just called him
James!
'Forgot the password?' he asked brightly.
Harry
didn't answer; he just regarded him suspiciously, trying to work
out who he was. The boy raised an eyebrow, 'You okay?'
'Er…
I don't mean to be rude but who the hell are you?'
The boy
looked disbelievingly at Harry, then his face cracked into a grin,
'This is another one of your pranks isn't it, its not going to
work on me.'
'Pranks?' said Harry blankly, 'I don't do
pranks.'
'Yeah whatever, and I'm Bob Marley.'
Harry
began to panic as he started to fit things together, just one more
piece on info and he would know.
'Bob, could you tell me what
the date is.'
'it's the 17th.'
'of?'
'September.'
'What
year is it?'
'1978,' the boy answered cautiously, not sure
where the conversation was headed.
'SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!' Harry
turned and ran, it all made sense now, this was why he was being
called James, this was why Dumbledore had no idea who he was, this
was what he meant by Sirius being alive and well.
'Hey James,
come back! Whats going on?'
Harry didn't look back, he needed
to see Dumbledore. He sprinted towards his office nad stopped outside
the gargoyle. Desperately he started naming sweets, 'Bertie botts,
chocolate frogs, sugar quills.'
The gargoyle moved aside,
Harry ran up the stairs and flung the door open without bothering to
knock. He stopped in front of Dumbledore's desk, his breathing
becoming difficult, he must have strained his collapsed lung,
'Professor Dumbledore' said Harry in-between gasps.
Dumbledore
stood up and helped Harry into a chair.
'Take your time.'
Harry sat still for a while trying to regain his composure. His
breathing steadied and he began to talk.
'Professor, I think I'm
from the future...' A/N: im tempted to stop here, but that would
make the next chapter too short, so count yourselves lucky.
'The
future? What do you mean?'
'My name is Harry Potter.'
'Potter?
I thought you had some potter blood in you, please continue.'
'yes…
well my dad is James potter and my mum is Lily Evans. When I came it
was the year 1998.'
'I see… well Mr Potter, would you care
to explain how you got here.'
Harry briefly explained his
encounter with the death eaters. '… and then there was this blue
light and I ended up here.'
'Interesting. Well until I can
find a way for you to return you will need to stay here.'
'But
sir… I haven't got any stuff.'
'That is not a problem, I
will have some stuff sent up to your room, but first we need to
determine which house you are in.'
'I'm in Gryffindor.'
'And
which year?'
'Sixth'
'Ah yes with the marauders.'
Said Dumbledore with his eyes twinkling, 'Was there anything else
you wished to tell me.'
'No sir.'
'Okay well that's
sorted, but I think we should change your name. Harry will be okay
buy potter will need to be changes. Any suggestions?'
