Into a new world

Disclaimer: None of the characters you recognise or the Harry Potter world are mine. They all belong to the fantastic JK Rowling.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I will wade through the fire and smoke like sunlight through the haze
I will fight till the flag waves white until my dying days
Through the bombs and blasts
We will take it back

Start a riot by Banners

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 6: Harry's birthday (part 1)

It was Harry's birthday, the day he was dreading the most. This was mainly because he had no idea how he was supposed to act to be normal. He spent the day previous with Megan. He found his younger sibling very helpful for knowing what was going on in this world. She also didn't expect Harry to have an opinion on anything, which was helpful. Harry found he was in no relationships and wasn't 'talking' to anyone. This made his life easier. Lyas (Sirius and Kathleen's eldest child) had a girlfriend (Katie Bell). He stopped talking to her and started hanging around Alicia Spinet. Apparently, Lyas denies completely any thought that anything more happened between them other than friends. But everyone knows he is lying. Megan didn't know why Lyas did this; none of them did really.

But anyway, back to the day in question. Harry groaned when he was attacked by his twin brothers, jumping on his bed and him in the process.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" Ryan all but screamed, Matt nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, Happy Birthday, bro!"

"Thanks, guys, but could you try and not break my bones?"

"But that is half the fun!" Ryan insisted. "Come on, get up!"

"What time is it?" Harry asked groggily before looking to his alarm clock for the answer. It was only 7am. Granted, it was an hour later than his Aunt Petunia would have let him sleep till, and it was his birthday! Although he was dreading meeting his friends again, this was his first birthday with a family who loved him. This was enough to get him out of bed, after shooing his younger brothers out of his room so he could get dressed. Since waking up in this new world, he found that the Harry that belonged in this world slept in only boxers. His Aunt Petunia would never let him do that, but he found he liked it. He quickly got dressed in slacks and loose-fitting t-shirt, and brushed his teeth. Once he was ready, he grabbed his wand and left the room.

Harry reached the family room (the kitchen, family room, and dining table were all open planned). He found it decorated in Happy Birthday signs and filled with balloons (that Matt was currently hitting Megan with who was trying to ignore her irritating younger brother). She saw him first and ran up to hug him.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" She said as she hugged him tightly.

At this point, his father made an appearance clearly coming from the kitchen.

"Harry!" He screamed, "Happy Birthday, son!"

"Dad, do you have to scream everything?" Megan asked in clear annoyance. "It's literally 7am."

"He grew up with Uncle Sirius, of course, he has to be that loud." Harry's mother said, also coming from the kitchen. "Try living with a 12-year-old version of your father."

"I do." Megan countered, "Two of them." She pointed towards her twin brothers.

"Fair enough," Lily conceded, "Right, I need to go to the store to get some things for the party later."

"Mum, what's the plan for today?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Well, your Uncle Severus will arrive at 9am, to do some quidditch training with you. Then you'll need to clean up. At 11am, Ron, Hermione, and Neville will arrive to hang out. At 1pm, everyone else will arrive."

"When can he open his presents?" Megan asked, seemingly very concerned with this critical detail.

"Well, he can open the ones already here when I'm back from the store. But really, it's up to him."

"Harry, what do you want for the birthday breakfast?" James asked.

"Erm," Harry was already feeling overwhelmed, "Pancakes, I guess."

Once breakfast was over, Lily finally left for the store. Harry then spent the morning hanging out with his siblings playing board games they already had, and generally goofing off.

The dungeon bat himself arrived too soon, although Severus Snape looked less like a dungeon bat with black slacks and a forest green t-shirt and his broom over his shoulder. Apparently, he arrived with his 5 children (Caleb, who went to speak to Megan, and Samantha and Lauren joined the board game, in replacement of Harry and Megan).

"Come on, Harry," Severus said lightly. He had been much kinder to him since finding out about his old life.

Harry happily followed him down to the quidditch pitch that his family-owned, that was, however, until he saw Draco sheepishly stood in the middle of the pitch. Harry knew that Severus told him they would be training together, but he hoped that he wouldn't have trained with him as it was his birthday.

"Do we really have to train together today?" Harry asked as soon as he got his broom (which thankfully was a firebolt).

Severus looked between the two teenagers for a long moment before answering, "You two need to get over your childish bickering and act like you are 14 and not 4. You two are not the only ones who have been thrown into a new world where everything has changed."

"But Uncle Sev, your life got better, not worse," Draco stated confidently.

"How do you know?" Severus started icily. "The difference between being an adult and being a child is that I have to get on with it, with little complaint. I can't afford to show that I'm finding things difficult. I have to be best friends with the men who made my life hell, I have to parent children that I don't know, and I have to be a husband to a woman that hated me in our previous life. But I can't show this, because although you can get away with it, I can't. So when I tell you to grow up, I am not telling you this because your life is harder than mine, and I'm cruel. I am telling you this as someone who is doing what I'm asking you to do. Draco, your perception of Harry was that he was a spoilt kid who got his own way because he is the boy who lived. A boy whose family at home loved him and let him get away with murder. But that perception is far from the truth. Harry was kept in the cupboard under the stairs for his first 11 years of life. He was physically and emotionally abused and faced a murderous man who killed his parents 3 times. He was forced to live in these conditions because he is the boy who lived." Harry was horrified at his admission, and Draco looked suitably shocked too.

"I told you that in confidence," Harry said quietly.

"I know, but in this world, you two are like brothers, and if you won't grow up and try to get to know each other, I need to step in. Your lives, Remus' and myself's life will be in danger if you don't get a grip. And Harry, you believe Draco is a pretentious rich boy who gets everything he ever needed. However, although his physical needs are met, he has ridiculous pressure from his father to prove to the world that purebloods are better than muggle-borns. Him coming second to Hermione Granger causes him to be at the end of many cruciatus curses. That boy gets that curse more than myself, and Lucius combined received from the dark lord. He has been taught things about our world that just isn't true."

At that, Draco looked at him with a mixture of horror and confusion, "What do you mean, that isn't true?"

"Not today, son, but we can talk about it soon. My point is, while you two spend all your time fighting about the things you don't have in common, you can focus on the things that you do, like quidditch, for example. Now enough talking, you two in the air and do 2 laps around the pitch to warm up."

"Is that it?" Harry asked, horrified, "We normally do more for our warm-ups than that."

"If you are going to question every decision, you can create the training plan, alongside all of your medical considerations." The boys quieted after that. "I thought so." Once the two laps were done, they found they were both more out of breath than usual. "This is why I only had you do two laps. Remus and I think there may be some effects and symptoms from jumping into a different reality. We just need to keep an eye on it." He said the second half of the sentence more to himself than to the boys. "Now, I am going to release this snitch," he took it out of his pocket, "And you two are going to race for it, best of 5."

It took them an hour to complete the task. Harry won 3 out of 5 times. "Still better than me, Malfoy?" Harry taunted, but before Draco could respond, Severus whacked him on the back of the head.

"Don't start, Harry, it may be your birthday, but you can still be grounded."

Harry looked horrified, "but you aren't my parent!."

"In this family, you don't have to be, to be grounded. And you remember the punishment for fighting, don't you?" They both paled immediately. "I thought so. Now, Draco, you need to spend more time looking for the snitch and not looking at what Harry is doing. This is why he caught it most of the time. You need to also increase your speed. You both have the same broom, but Harry is more likely to test the broom's limits where you aren't. But you have excellent technique. Harry, you have good speed, and you are good at looking for the snitch, but you have no technique when you find it. So I'd recommend using each other to get better."

They nodded, "Okay, thank you, Uncle Sev." Draco said.

Harry nodded again, "Yeah, thank you."

"No problem, now go and get showered and cleaned up."

Around 15 minutes later, Harry was all showered and ready to open his presents. This was an interesting experiment, as when the gifts were picked out, they were for the old Harry, not the new one.

He got 5 identical small mirrors from his parents that he could contact his friends with; they were specifically for himself, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Draco. He couldn't see himself ever using it to speak to Draco, and the other three people were in his house at Hogwarts. But before he could voice the problem, Megan pipped up.

"Is that like the one you and Uncle Sirius have?"

Their father shook his head, "No, they are a twin pair. These are like the ones all the adults have been using to contact each other. All five are connected to ours too."

"I am the only one who isn't in their house. They won't need it to talk to each other cause they live in the same room or share a common room." Draco pointed out, scaring Harry that they were on the same wavelength.

James laughed, "Just cause they live together doesn't mean they won't come in useful."

Harry was glad he didn't seem to take offense. "Thank you anyway."

Next, Harry got an intermediate potions kit from Severus and Tanya. Their kids, some Omnioculars from Sirius and Kathleen for the quidditch match, and a sneakoscope from Remus and Lya. His siblings gave him a load of sweets. Draco gave him the folio Universitas (a collection of books on Dragons, Hags, Goblins, Vampires, and exclusive chocolate frog cards; obviously, the old Draco picked it out).

Once they were done, it was 10:50am so Harry went upstairs to wait for his friends. Thankfully Draco got into a game of gobstones with Ryan, and therefore didn't have to go upstairs with him.

Harry sat on his bed, reading letters from his friends, to remind him of things to ask about. However, before he got very far, there was a knock at his door. "Come in," Harry said in his most cheerful voice (that he could muster at that time, anyway).

Neville Longbottom walked through the door, but he looked different to how Harry remembered him. He was lean and fit with an athletic build, and his face wasn't as round. He also appeared much more confident.

"Hey, Harry!" Neville said excitedly, giving him a brief hug; he was followed by a put-out Draco, but after a warning glance from Harry, he tried to appear at least neutral.

"Hey, Nev."

Neville settled on the bed next to Harry, as Draco sat on the floor against the wall opposite them. "Managed to get a quidditch practice in this morning?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah, Se, er Uncle Sev," he started awkwardly, "started training me and Mal, Draco this morning."

Neville looked confused, "I thought your dad trained you?" He asked as a half question.

"He did," Draco cut in thinking on his feet, "but Uncle Sev took over and started training us together."

"why?"

"Because dad is super busy at work, and Uncle Sev has more free time," Harry responded.

Thankfully Neville seemed satisfied.

Before Harry had to think of something else to say, there was another knock at the door. "Come in." He called.

Ron and Hermione walked through the door, looking precisely the same as they did in the other world; Harry just hoped that their personalities were the same too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Authors note: Again, I found this chapter super hard to write, and have been super busy. My uploads will be inconsistent, so please put the story on your alerts to know when I upload. Please please review, they make my dad. Much love, Abs.