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

Chapter Thirteen: Being Harry, Part One

Canon dimension, September 1st, 1995:

"Remember, you're to act as if you hate being the Boy-Who-Lived," Sirius reminded sternly.

"I know, I know," Harry snapped petulantly.

"Good. You'd better not forget." The ex-convict sighed and turned to his old friend. "Do you really think we can pull this off, Remus?"

"We don't have a choice, Padfoot."

"I know. Are you three packed?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded with various degrees of enthusiasm, ranging from sulky (Harry) to slightly depressed (Ron) to eager and excited (Hermione).

Tonks grinned brightly. "That's good! Hey, where's Ginny?"

"I dunno," Ron shrugged. "She's been acting real funny ever since…well, since Harry came."

"I'll bet she's still in her room. Ginny!" Tonks yelled, peering up the staircase.

"I'm here," the younger girl called back. After a moment, she appeared dragging her trunk behind her.

"Right, let's go then. Professor Dumbledore sent us a portkey, so grab on," Tonks directed, holding out a piece of rope. She, Remus, and the teens touched it, and once she was sure they had their trunks firmly in hand, Tonks said, "Hogwarts." A rush of wind and a dizzying swirl of magic accompanied them as they landed heavily on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. After listening to a few more lectures and last-minute warnings, the quartet was finally allowed to board the train.

"Come on; let's find a compartment," Ron urged. "This trunk is bloody heavy."

"Just charm it," Harry suggested lazily.

"We can't do magic yet!" Hermione exclaimed. "Not until we get back to Hogwarts! We'll get in trouble with the Ministry!"

"That's a stupid rule," Harry complained. "We should get to do magic whenever we want."

"You mean like the way you threw stunners around at your aunt's house?" Hermione retorted. "You're lucky they didn't expel you! If Professor Dumbledore hadn't gotten someone to cover for you…"

"What was I suppose to do?" Harry retorted. "What would you do if you woke up in a strange house with these strange people who kept yelling at you?"

Shaking her head, Hermione gave up trying to argue with him and busied herself with getting her trunk onto the train. Behind her back, Harry scowled fiercely. 'I hate this dimension,' he thought to himself. 'I can't do anything here! No magic, no Quidditch…I spend all day getting yelled at and being forced to clean that dirty house like a house-elf! I can't believe they treat me, the Boy-Who-Lived, this way! Why did the other me put up with this?'

"Harry?"

"Huh? Oh, hullo Dean," Harry greeted his fellow Gryffindor.

"How was your summer?" Dean asked.

"Rotten," Harry griped. "Simply rotten. Worst summer I've ever had!"

"Oh," Dean stammered, looking taken aback. "I'm sorry to hear that, mate. Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"On the train somewhere," Harry replied, unenthusiastically.

Dean frowned slightly. "Er, did you two have another fight or something? I thought you made up from last year?"

"Last year?" Harry inquired before recalling what he had learned about his counterpart's life. "Oh, that…yeah, um, we made up. Everything's fine."

"If you say so," his classmate answered, though he still seemed suspicious. "Well, it's getting late. You coming?"

"Yeah, sure." Feeling somewhat more cheerful, Harry followed Dean onto the train and reluctantly made his way to the compartment where his "friends" were sitting, while Dean went to find Seamus.

Not wanting to talk to them, Harry sulked in the corner and ignored the other three teens for the first hour or so of the ride, as they chatted among themselves. Then, the door opened and Malfoy came in, flanked by his ever-present goons.