"D'you think he's awake?"

"Not yet– wait, I think he is waking up."

Harry blinked his eyes open in time to see two blurry figures leap away from him. He reached up absently to check for his glasses and confirmed that they were not on his face. Then he checked his bedside table, but his hand passed through thin air– nearly making him fall out of the bed.

Harry frowned, now thoroughly confused. He was clearly on a bed, so he would expect there to be a bedside table somewhere nearby– only the one side was against a wall and the other side was empty.

"Right, sorry," one of the voices from earlier said. Then Harry's glasses were placed on his face.

The world came into focus, and Harry realized that he had absolutely no idea where he was– certainly not anywhere at Hogwarts, St Mungo's, or the Dursley's. He was in a small, dimly lit room, and the only piece of furniture in it was the cot that Harry was lying on.

At this, Harry sat up in bed and looked around again properly.

The other two people in the room were dressed almost normally for wizards. They had standard black robes on, but their faces were masked behind a veil that hung from their hats.

"Oh, and here are the rest of your belongings– that cloak and piece of parchment are pretty nifty," one of them said, placing Harry's invisibility cloak, his wand, and the Marauder's Map onto his lap.

Harry carefully gathered the items closer to him so he could put them in his pockets where they belonged, grateful beyond words that– wherever he was– his most precious belongings had arrived safely. He opened his mouth to ask– something, but closed it again when one of the people held up their hand.

"I wouldn't try talking just yet," the person said. "You have badly damaged your vocal chords, and we did not want to risk dosing you with something when we have no way of knowing if it would be safe."

The other person nodded. "Yeah, we could tell that you're from a different reality, so something that's completely benign and helpful to us could be downright poisonous to you."

Harry blinked. Different reality? He had thought he was dead. Harry held up his hands and mimed writing with his right hand against his left.

"Capital idea!" the one on the left said. Then they conjured a piece of parchment and a quill– without any ink. For one terrible moment, Harry thought that it was a blood quill, but then the person resumed speaking. "The quill's self-inking, so no need for ink– oh, and you need a surface to write on…"

Harry took the quill and parchment, and seconds later he was handed a thin slab of something hard. Granite, maybe. He balanced the granite against his knees and wrote, Alternate reality? Then he picked up the parchment and held it up for the two people to read.

Their heads swiveled towards each other, and Harry got the feeling they were nonverbally communicating somehow, even through the veils. Then they turned back towards Harry.

The one on the right spoke this time. "There is a theory that states that there are an infinite number of universes, each distinct in some way from all others. Since there's already a Harry Potter here– it is obvious that you're him with some noticeable differences– you must be from a different reality."

"The problem is," the one on the left resumed, "we don't know what makes your reality distinct from ours– it could be one teeny change, but it could also be thousands– or more!– of massive changes. And something my partner neglected to mention is that we were ready to believe that you're from an alternate reality because you came through the veil. Who you are only gave our theory more evidence."

Harry nodded. He thought he'd heard of the idea that there were other universes, but he'd never given much consideration to it. He was disappointed to realize that he must have landed in a universe fairly similar to his own if his face was so easily recognizable.

An infinite number of possibilities, and he still wasn't free of his fame.

He forced himself out of his self-pity and set the quill to parchment again. Before he could think of another question to ask, he realized that the two people must be Unspeakables. Unless they were called something different here… He wrote out, Is this the Department of Mysteries? Are you Unspeakables? Can you tell me your names?

"This is the Department of Mysteries. We're Unspeakables, but we can't give you our names– department policy, you understand. You can call me Liz," Liz said, pointing at herself.

"And you may call me Sue," Sue said.

Harry nodded, glad to have his location confirmed. He poised the quill against the parchment again. By the way, I don't have any potions allergies, as far as I know, he wrote, then held up the parchment.

"I take it you would prefer to not communicate by writing? Well… our universes do seem to be fairly similar… What do you think, Liz?" Sue asked. "Shall we get a proper healer down here to try and heal Mr Potter's throat?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically.

Liz seemed to stare at Harry for a moment, then nodded. "His physiology does seem to be pretty similar to ours, since our diagnostic spells worked as expected on him. Oh– first, can you remember any of the ingredients in the Throat-Soothing Potion?"

Harry stared at her blankly, then scribbled out, Wormwood, Bubotuber pus, Dittany. He held up the parchment.

"It ought to be alright," Sue said. "Those are three of the primary ingredients of our potion."

"I'll still get a healer, though, because it's better to have a healer here and not need one, than to need one and not have one," Liz said, then turned and hurried out of the room.

Harry was now alone with Sue. What's the date? he wrote.

"It is the 21st of June."

It took Harry a moment of thinking to recall what day he'd dragged his friends to the Department of Mysteries. June 21st meant it had only been one day. And the time? he wrote quickly, to avoid thinking about any of that while he still had an audience.

Sue looked at her watch. "It is currently a couple minutes past six in the morning."

That was well before normal working hours. Do you normally come in so early? Harry wrote, flipping the parchment up to show her in an action that was quickly becoming automatic.

She shook her head. "We could not leave you here alone, though, so Liz and I volunteered."

He couldn't believe that they had volunteered to come in this early just because he couldn't be left alone. Were there no other options? Harry wrote.

"Well," Sue said, looking uncomfortable, "there was a suggestion to place you in one of the Ministry holding cells, but Liz and I agreed that that was ludicrous, as you are a teenager, not a criminal. Of course, the person who suggested it is paranoid, so the distinction is likely difficult for him to make."

Harry felt bad that Liz and Sue had to sacrifice their own time because someone– Moody, maybe– had been paranoid. It probably wouldn't have been that bad to wake up in a holding cell– though he wasn't sure what he would have thought if he'd woken up in a holding cell while still thoroughly convinced that he was dead.

He was pretty sure he was alive. Though to be sure, he wrote out, I'm definitely not dead, right?

Sue paused for a moment before responding. "You are definitely not dead. I hope Liz comes back soon so we can ask you about your trip, because travelling here must have been something else if it had you convinced you were dead."

Harry shrugged.

He could describe the falling easily enough, but he doubted he could convey all the things that had led him to believe he had died.

Then a realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. His heart pounding in his ears, Harry moved his hand as fast as he could to write, Did someone come through the veil before me?

"No, you are the first person to have come through the veil. At least, according to our records you are. Why? Did someone fall through before you?"

Harry nodded glumly, his hands still shaking with residual adrenaline. It had been stupid to hope like that, stupid to forget about Sirius for so long only to have his hopes immediately dashed. Harry desperately wished Sirius had landed here with him. But Sirius hadn't, he was probably in another of those infinite universes; Harry hoped Sirius was somewhere nice.

Harry had just begun to tap the quill against the parchment, trying to think of something else to ask, when Liz returned, dragging a blindfolded and disgruntled looking healer behind her.

"Sorry 'bout the delay," Liz said brightly. "It took awhile to track down the healer on call."

"Can I take off the blindfold now?" the healer asked grumpily.

"Of course," Sue said.

The healer quickly reached up and removed the blindfold. He glanced at the two Unspeakables before his gaze landed on Harry. "You must be my patient. I'm Healer Ted Tonks"

Tonks– so this was Tonks's dad. Or at least, something like the dad Harry's Tonks would have had. Harry could feel a realization looming on the edge of his mind, but he lost his grasp on it as Healer Tonks spoke again.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" Healer Tonks asked.

Harry sighed and set the quill against the parchment. He'd just started to write out his response when Sue said, "We believe he damaged his vocal cords in transit, but we called you in because– and this is strictly confidential– he's from another universe, and a simple potion could cause dangerous complications."

Harry nodded, glad that he'd been saved the trouble of trying to write all that out.

"Fascinating," Healer Tonks said. "A simple Throat-Soothing Solution ought to do it– but you say he's from another universe?"

"We believe so, though it has been difficult to confirm with his voice gone," Sue said.

Harry nodded his agreement.

"Would you allow me to do a scan of your current physical state?" Healer Tonks asked Harry. "I want to have an idea of what your baselines are, just in case something goes wrong– it's much easier to return baselines to normal if I know what those levels are.

Harry nodded again, feeling a bit like a bobblehead.

Healer Tonks pulled out his wand and held it over Harry's head. A moment later, Healer Tonks started nodding to himself. Then he stowed his wand back into his pocket and said, "Well, you appear to be a perfectly normal– if slightly dehydrated– human, so I see no reason why the potion wouldn't work for you."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, ready to be able to speak again. Writing to communicate got very old, very quickly.

"Did you remember to bring the potion, Liz?" Sue asked.

"I did actually remember that," Liz enthused, reaching into her pocket and handing Harry a corked bottle.

"Good for you," Sue said.

Harry uncorked the bottle and glanced at the three adults in the room.

"It should be fine," Healer Tonks said in a tone that was probably meant to be encouraging.

Harry shrugged and knocked back the potion. It tasted disgusting, as most potions did. As the liquid went down his throat, he felt an odd tingling sensation followed by a cooling one. Harry cleared his throat experimentally. Everything seemed to be in order.

"Er– My name is Harry," he said awkwardly. Then he smiled in relief– his voice was back to normal and it didn't hurt to speak.

"Harry? Oh my, you do look just like James," Healer Tonks said.

Harry nodded.

"Is everything else alright?" Healer Tonks asked. "I mean– I know it is, because I performed the scan and everything, but it just feels right to ask."

"I think everything's fine," Harry said.

"Then I will take my leave," Healer Tonks said. "Would one of you please show me the way out?"

"I can escort you this time," Sue said. "Do you still have the blindfold?"

"Unfortunately," Healer Tonks said wryly. He pulled it out of his pocket, positioned it over his eyes, and held out an arm for Sue to grasp.

"I will be back soon," Sue said. "Feel free to get started on asking our questions, though I would prefer it if you left the most intriguing ones for my return."

"Will do," Liz said.

Then Sue led Healer Tonks out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Harry cleared his throat again, just because he could. "Your questions?" he asked, a little nervous.

"Well, of course we have questions," Liz said. "We're always asking questions around here– though I guess you would know that, since you were in the Department of Mysteries and fell through the veil."

It seemed like she thought he had a legitimate reason for being in the Department of Mysteries. Harry decided not to correct her since he wasn't sure if he could get in trouble for something that he'd done in his home dimension and he didn't want to find out.

"So, what did you want to know?" Harry asked.

"For starters, you really are Harry James Potter, son of James Potter and Sybil Trelawney?"

"What?" Harry blurted out. "Who? What?"

Liz nodded.

Harry shook his head frantically. What the hell kind of universe was this–

Then Liz burst into peals of laughter. "Sorry, but you should've seen your face!" She continued to laugh for a moment. Then, once she'd calmed down, she said, "In all seriousness, are you the son of Lily and James?"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know what he'd do if that had really been the case. "Yes."

"Right, so that's one point of continuity. I really want to ask you about the trip here, but I think Sue would kill me if I did– so, let's see. Is the macarena well known in your universe?"

"The macarena?" Harry echoed blankly.

"So is it not known, then?" Liz asked.

"No, it is," Harry said quickly. "I was just surprised by the question, that's all."

"Good, it'd be awful if you came from a world without the macarena."

"Not that I disagree," Sue said, coming back into the room. "But why on Merlin's kneecaps are you asking about the macarena?"

"Because I didn't want to ask about his trip here without you, but I couldn't think of anything else to ask. I will say though, it does seem like our universes are pretty fundamentally similar."

Sue sighed audibly. "Well, I have returned now. But I do want to know how you got 'pretty fundamentally similar' from his universe having the macarena."

"I didn't just ask that!" Liz protested. "Although, if you think about how long the series of events had to have been to produce the worldwide phenomenon that is the macarena, you'd agree that it's pretty significant that it's consistent between universes. But the thing that really made me say that our universes seem similar was Harry's reaction to my suggestion that the old fraud Sybill was his mum."

Sue's shoulders heaved in a sigh. "I take it he did not react very well?"

Harry decided it was time for him to give his own input. "How would you feel if you were told that Sybill Trelawney had– had– been with your dad?"

"That only proves my point!" Liz exclaimed.

Harry didn't quite get it, but he was at the point where he just wanted to stop thinking about his dad and Trelawney, so he quickly asked a thought that'd just occurred to him. "Do you think there's a way for me to get back to my universe?"

"Oh–" Liz said, then turned to Sue.

Sue shook her head. "I'm sorry, Harry, but almost certainly not."

"Yeah, you'd have to have a way to direct your– dimension travel, I guess we could call it. And there's nothing– we didn't even know for sure what the arch did until you came out of it," Liz continued.

"That makes sense," Harry said with forced levity, though the sting of disappointment was sharp.

"Harry," Sue said, after a moment of silence, "can you describe your journey here? We are specifically interested in the events that occured after you fell through the veil."

Harry fiddled with the covers as he thought back to that seemingly endless time he'd spent falling. "Well," he began, "it felt like I was falling forever, just through the open air. Everything was pitch black, and no matter what I did, I couldn't find any kind of– anything. It was just empty. And black. Then, after I'd been falling for ages, I suddenly felt some kind of pressure begin to surround me.

"The pressure built until I couldn't breathe. White spots grew until they took over my entire field of vision, and I guess I must have passed out, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up here."

Sue had taken out a pad of paper while Harry had been talking, and she had scribbled notes on everything that he said, which Harry found utterly bizarre.

"And what led you to fall through the veil? Is it not in a room accurately called the 'Death Chamber' in your universe?" Sue asked.

"Well," Harry said. "I didn't mean to fall through it– but there was a battle happening, and Sirius was stunned and fell through, and then I did too." He really didn't want them– or anyone else, for that matter– to know that he'd followed Sirius through the veil.

"Wait– battle?" Liz asked.

"Er– if it didn't happen here, then it's a long story," Harry said. He wondered what this Voldemort was up to, if he wasn't trying to get his hands on the prophecy.

"How long would you say there was between Sirius falling through and you falling through?" Sue asked intently.

"I'm not sure. Maybe a minute?" Harry said, guessing wildly. He didn't want to think about that.

"And Sirius was stunned when he went through, correct?" Sue clarified.

Harry nodded.

"Were you?"

"No."

"I believe I know why you ended up somewhere different than Sirius, then," Sue said triumphantly. "Sirius was stunned, thus he was completely immobile when he was between worlds. You were conscious and mobile, so any amount of motion would have altered your destination."

"Oh," Harry said. Then it was his own fault that he hadn't managed to follow Sirius. If he'd just been smart enough to stay still, he could have been reunited with Sirius right now. But he'd thrashed around, and now he was stuck here, in this world, without Sirius.

Liz yawned loudly and stuck her hand up in the air. "I vote we see about getting Harry here somewhere to stay so we can head out. We can deal with minutiae like getting him records some other time."

Sue stowed away her notepad and quill. "I agree," she said.

"Will you be alright if we leave you alone for a bit?" Liz asked.

Harry wasn't entirely sure he would be, but he nodded anyways.

"Right. We will be back," Sue said, holding the door open for Liz to pass through. A moment later, they were both gone.

Suddenly, the room seemed so much darker than it had been before. The lighting hadn't changed at all, but the feeling lingered.

Sue and Liz had gone to find Harry 'somewhere to stay'. He supposed that meant they'd gone to track down the Dursleys. A wave of injustice rose within him. He should have had at least another week at Hogwarts and away from that place.

Hogwarts… Harry wondered what was going to happen with that. He'd seemingly appeared out of nowhere, so he wasn't sure how he'd attend Hogwarts; it wasn't like he'd gotten an acceptance letter to this Hogwarts. Though– Liz had said they would get him records, so maybe he didn't need to worry about that. Then he wondered if he'd have to be sorted again, or if he'd just be able to go right back into Gryffindor with this world's version of Harry.

That was so weird to think about. There was another version of him walking around right at this very moment. Harry wondered when they'd meet– wait.

Their only living relatives were the Dursleys, and Harry was reasonably sure that Liz and Sue were going to contact them about taking him in.

But there was already a Harry in this world, which meant that the Dursleys had already been forced to take in a Harry. He could only imagine how much they'd resent having to take in another Harry.

He could only hope that this other Harry would be okay sharing his room, and that the Dursleys would let Harry sleep there too.

Because the only other alternative Harry could see was the cupboard, and he didn't think he could survive another two summers spent locked away there.

Harry jolted to his feet and got off the cot. He'd just have to deal with the future as it came.

He began to pace the small room. Inevitably, his thoughts were drawn back to his old universe– his home universe. He wished that he could see his friends one last time. He didn't even know if they'd survived the battle. The battle that they'd only been at because of him.

Harry wished he'd thought of that before he'd gone charging off after Sirius. But he hadn't been thinking at all when he'd ripped himself free of Lupin's arms– he'd just done it.

And now he would never get to see his friends again. Or Lupin– or, or anyone else from his universe. Because he'd selfishly abandoned them.

Desperate to distract himself, Harry bent over and buried his fingers into his hair, tugging lightly. It worked for only a moment, before Harry remembered that he hadn't even gotten one last look at his friends. And now he'd never get to see them. The true them. Ever again.

Because even if this universe held copies of his friends, they would never be his friends. Harry knew that there had to be a difference from his own universe somewhere in this universe, and even if there were carbon copies of his friends here, it would never be the same. Because they wouldn't have the same shared memories, they wouldn't have grown up together, they wouldn't have experienced life together.

It just wouldn't be the same.

And besides, this world's versions of his friends would all likely already be friends with this world's Harry. They would hardly be in need of another one.

Harry wished that Sue and Liz had mentioned when they'd be coming back. He didn't know how much longer he could take being alone with his thoughts like this– though, being alone in this room was probably better than whatever he would have to face at the Dursleys.

However, it was hard to imagine that now while his thoughts were swirling and spiralling out of control.

Harry pulled himself to his feet and began to pace again, trying to speculate on what the differences there could be in this world.

Moments later, he nearly jumped out of his skin when the door was pulled open.

Harry whipped around to face the door and lifted his hand to cover his mouth. "What," he whispered.

Standing in front of him was Lily Potter.

AN: another chapter! my computer is being horrible so it's been a challenge to get this chapter together, so i rly hope you all liked it :D please review!