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.

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Chapter 6: Harry's birthday (part 2)

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed, running towards him a blur of brown bushy hair and pink cardigan, she hugged him tightly, and Harry hugged her equally as tight. Man, it was good to see her. When he let go, Hermione ran over to hug Neville and then a stricken Draco.

Thankfully they just laughed it off, "Mate, you've been best friends with her for 3 years, and you still can't handle her hugging you." Neville teased.

"I would have thought hanging around my sibling would have made it easier on the poor guy." Harry joined in, grateful for a chance to tease the blond boy.

"Maybe he just can't handle girls," Neville suggested.

"Well, we aren't all like you, Nev. How many girls are you talking to?" Ron joined in. Harry was equally as happy to see him as well.

Harry thought Neville would go red, but he did the opposite; he smirked, "Only one."

Ron looked suitably shocked, "Who?"

Neville shrugged, "Pansy Parkinson."

That admission caused Draco and Harry to choke on air.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that," Draco muttered.

"I mean, we have been in the same house for the past 3 years," Neville defended.

"Can you not date all of my roommates Nev, I would rather not live with a bunch of girls who hate me for associating with you." Hermione put in.

"That's too hard a challenge, Hermione," Neville responded, smirking.

"Who are you going to invite to the winter ball?" Ron asked in response. This caused both Hermione and Harry to look at him in confusion, "you know the one that is had for the Triwizard tournament?"

When neither seemed to understand, the other 3 members of the room looked at them in returned shock.

"I don't understand how neither of you knows what the Triwizard tournament is." Ron said in disbelief, "Hermione, you know everything, and Harry, you have listened to your father and Uncle Sirius go on about it for months."

"I do not know everything, Ronald," Hermione said indignantly.

"Just pretty close," Harry said cheekily, which warranted a pillow being thrown at him. "And Dad says a lot of rubbish. I generally ignore him most of the time." He said, thinking on his feet.

"Who are you going to invite Harry?" Neville said to change the subject, and Harry felt gratitude that he changed the subject but was annoyed by his friend's topic choice.

Thankfully before Harry could respond, his door burst open to reveal a very angry 16/17-year-old. He had black hair and grey eyes with hair that swept into his eyes. There was only one person this could be, Lyas Black.

"Harry, I am going to kill you!" He growled, making his way over the room and the shocked teens to Harry.

Harry went white, "Why?" he asked cautiously, which apparently was the wrong thing to say.

"Why? Why? Did you seriously ask me that?"

"It's a fair question." Came a calm new voice from the door. All of the teens turned to the intruder, "Lyas, Harry with me now." This was the most serious Harry had seen his father. Lyas huffed and stormed out of the room. Once Harry reached his father, James put a hand on his shoulder. He guided him also out of the room before yelling over his shoulder, "And you four, try not to blow up the room. Hermione, you are in charge."

Harry didn't have time to wonder what Lyas meant, as the culprit was leaning against the wall outside the bedroom. James led them to a corridor that Harry didn't know existed and into a guest bedroom.

"Sit." He ordered as he started warding the door against unwanted ears, even throwing a notice me not charm on it, which confused Lyas, and terrified Harry. Harry sat on the bed, and Lyas sat on the desk chair. James summoned the other chair as he wanted to see the pair's faces. "Right, Lyas, care to explain why you burst into Harry's bedroom, on his birthday of all days?"

Lyas was so angry he didn't even feel bad about that, "Harry told Dad and my siblings and cousins secret information."

"Is this secret information that you are cheating on your girlfriend? Who 3 months ago, you wanted to marry?" James leaned back on his chair and tilted his head to the side in a questioning manner.

"You know?" Lyas fumed before adding, "And I am not cheating on her."

"Do you seriously think your father wouldn't tell me? He tells me everything, and sometimes things I don't even want to know. As for whether or not your cheating on her, have you not kissed this other girl?"

"I haven't slept with her, though." Lyas tried to defend.

"That doesn't answer the question. You are hurting the girl you claimed to love."

"I do love her. It's complicated, Uncle James." Lyas said, finally running his hand through his hair.

"I know, and we will talk about that later. But what as Harry got to do with this?" He asked although he knew the answer to the question.

"He told my father when I explicitly told him not to, and he told my siblings and cousins."

"He did the right letting your father know," Lyas started to object, so James held his hand up to silence him, "he did. Your father loves you and needs to know if you are doing something to harm another person or yourself. As for telling your cousins and siblings, they already knew. Lyas, you haven't exactly kept it a secret or been subtle. You spend all your time with her, including the nights."

"He didn't need to yell it, though. My neighbors still look at me, odd."

"When did he do that?" James questioned, confused as Lyas didn't mention it earlier.

"Ask him," Lyas replied.

James and Harry shared an awkward glance, "I wouldn't be able to answer that, though."

"You denying it happened?"

"Not at all, I," Harry stammered, so James took charge.

"Lyas, you are going to be let into a secret, and it is imperative you keep it a secret."

"What like he told my secret?" Lyas challenged angrily.

"I recognise the irony, but this is different. Had you not cheated, we wouldn't be in this situation. You are using Harry as your scapegoat for feeling guilty." Neither had seen James this serious before. "If Harry, Draco, Uncle Remus, and Uncle Sev's secret gets out, they will be killed."

"What have they got to do with it?"

"Be quiet, and I'll explain." James took a deep breath, "5 days ago, they, including Harry here, woke up in a different reality to the one they went to sleep in. One where Auntie Lily and I were killed when Harry was a year old. A lot of the kids, including you, didn't exist. Uncle Severus and Uncle Remus were both single and hated each other. That world was very different and much darker, we don't know why they jumped realities, but they did."

Lyas looked at him in disbelief, "Nice try, Uncle James. I know you are joking."

Harry laughed hollowly, "I can assure you we aren't joking. Did you not wonder why Draco screamed that morning, or why I can't call Severus Uncle Sev?"

Lyas considered this. He didn't trust his Uncle, as this was exactly the type of prank he would pull, but Harry, he could see a difference. "But if they are in this world, what happened to the people from this world? Like where are our Harry, Uncles, and Draco? Where is my brother?"

James nodded, "An excellent question that the adults have been discussing."

"Wait, all of you know?" Lyas responded he thought this was meant to be a secret.

"What do you think the meeting the night of the induction was about? Anyway, there are two possible answers to your question: the first is that when these four made the jump here, the other four got sent into their world. The second is that they simply ceased to exist. I honestly don't know which theory is correct."

"So these intruders have come into our world, and you all except it? With no problems?"

"They didn't control whether or not they came here."

"How do you know?"

"None of them are timekeepers." Harry looked at him, confused, "I'll explain it to you later." James directed at his son before focusing on his nephew, "Plus, we have to keep this a secret until we figure out what is going on, that means making everything seem as normal as possible."

Harry was hurt by his comment, "You are just keeping a pretense with me?"

"No, not at all. But not everything is okay, Harry. It isn't your fault, but you crashed into our world with clear trauma. The kid I raised is gone, as are my nephew and two of my best friends. Of course, I'm finding that hard; everyone is. But so are you, you haven't had a proper birthday before, man you lived in a cupboard for 11 years, you are different. You are still my son, but we need to figure out what is going on."

Lyas watched in continuous surprise. He didn't really know what to do at this point.

James watched this happen, "Lyas, we can talk about it later, but right now, Harry has friends to go back to, and we have to have a conversation with your father."

Lyas wanted to protest but decided to keep quiet, for now anyway.

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Once Harry returned to his room, he found a sight he never would have believed possible. Draco Malfoy was willingly sat playing exploding snaps with Ron, Hermione, and Neville, and he seemed to be enjoying it.

As soon as they noticed Harry returning, they stopped the game and started asking him what happened, so Harry explained everything apart from telling Lyas they are from another world. Ron, Hermione, and Neville seemed to sense he was holding something back but didn't question him on it further, not at that point anyway.

"Harry, have you had any more letters?" Hermione finally asked, changing the subject. It seemed like she spent the afternoon trying to find the right time to bring it up.

"Letters?" Harry asked, momentarily confused.

"You know the strange ones, from the moderator." Hermione supplied.

"Ah, them, no not since, I came, er, not in the last week." He stumbled, but as he was getting the letters, it covered him. Thankfully he saw them when he was doing an in-depth look at 'his' room earlier. He recovered the 5 letters.

The first one was dated the 1st of September 1993, exactly a year ago.

Harry Potter,

You will not yet know who I am or care, but soon all will be clear to you. A big event will happen in just a year, one that I can not tell you about just yet. This event will rock your world. If you do as I say, this event can be stopped in its tracks. However, I do not know yet if I can trust you, so I can't let you know who I am. If you want this knowledge, it's only fair for you to give me something too. Go to the Astronomy tower at 12pm tonight, alone.

Once you are there, one of my friends will be there to get something from you.

The moderator.

"And he never said what he wanted from you." Hermione pointed out, "Which was very strange, so we decided to ignore it; it seemed a bit ominous."

Harry nodded and read out the second letter out loud.

3rd September 1993

Harry Potter,

As you didn't come, I will benefit from the doubt and believe the letter either was misplaced, or you were too tired from your trip to Hogwarts. However, I am surprised you do not care about this event or what it will do to you and your friends.

I will give you another chance. This time go to the boathouse at Hogwarts. My friend Art will be there to meet you. He will require a sign of trust from you, in the form of one of your friends. You will also take something of mine.

I didn't say this in the previous letter because I thought I'd see if you could obey without a threat. However, this seems unlikely to happen. If you do not do what I say, I will not only tell your precious friends everything, you will have to answer to me personally.

The moderator.

The third letter was different altogether but clearly related.

16th February 1994

Harry,

I know you have been getting letters (or veiled threats) from someone claiming to be my friend. I can assure you that this isn't true. As interested as you may be in what the moderator says, please do not fall for the information he promises you. It is a trap, and he doesn't want the best for you.

He is, however, correct about the event. My advice would be to ignore the letters, especially when the event happens. This is very important. The threat will be more destructive when you know exactly what it involves.

Art.

"After that, we ignored the letters, but for some reason, I felt inclined to trust Art," Neville stated.

"Why are we talking as if retelling the story for someone who wasn't there?" Ron asked, confused.

"It was a long time ago. It's good to refresh." Harry defended, although thought that they were retelling it to not just one but two people that weren't there.

The fourth letter was dated the 8th of June 1994, only just over a month ago.

Harry Potter,

The date is coming close now. You have shown no care or interest to your family and friends. This just shows your disregard for other people's lives.

I am running out of patience.

The moderator.

"This was more of a threat than anything," Harry said after he read the letter.

Hermione nodded, "I agree. He sounded desperate almost.

The last letter was dated the 20th of June 1994.

Harry,

As the date is coming close now, you must watch your back. Don't leave anywhere alone, and make sure that someone knows about the letter. My advice would be your Uncle Severus.

I am making plans to see you and your family soon.

Hang in there.

Art

"This was weird. We still don't know who this guy is. He could be anyone." Draco spoke up for the first time in this conversation.

"You're right, but still, as Neville said, I'm inclined to trust him," Hermione responded confidently.

After that, the conversation veered into other topics, and for the rest of the day, Draco kept quiet. Something about the letters bothered him, but he didn't know why.

I, for one, couldn't wait to meet them.

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Authors note: And there we go. Please let me know what you think, this chapter was longer than normal for this story, but I had to get it all in there. The last sentence indicates a larger story plot and isn't a mistake. This story is written in 3rd person, but someone is narrating it. That person will be unknown for quite some time. A review I got a few chapters ago was addressed in this chapter, about how no one seemed to care about the fact these are intruders. No answers will be available just yet, as I like a good mystery. Lastly, I am sorry this chapter is so late, work is very inconsistent with when they want me in, so it looks like for the moment I have more time, but this could change. Please, please review, as it helps me more than you realise, and it's probs a good idea to follow the story, so you know when I post, as it is very random currently.

Anyway, that's all from me, much love, Abs xxx