Disclaimer: I own none of these characters. JK Rowling does. I don't even own my car. Or my house. On top of that I have a lousy job and I have to work weird hours. My dog ran away, my parrot has laryngitis, and I can't find my medication so I had to use a TicTac instead. I may be crazy but my breath smells great.
Warning: Please ignore the above disclaimer. He is a very disturbed little boy.
-E. Cartman
Chapter 4: Part of the family
At Dumbledore's urging, Harry began to describe his world. He told everyone how Voldemort killed his parents, and his life with the Dursleys. When he began to talk about Hogwarts, they began comparing notes about the teachers, most of whom he knew. Professor Quirrell turned out to be a charity case, but still managed to betray Dumbledore's trust. Remus Lupin never came to Hogwarts, but had been cured of his illness, to Harry's surprise, by Professor Snape. When no one had ever heard of Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry said they should feel lucky. When Harry asked who had been the teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts he was told Sirius Black. "He's my Godfather," Harry exclaimed. He quickly explained what had happened to Sirius, his escape from Azkaban, and how he was now living in hiding.
Dumbledore, with the help of Lucius, then explained how things had occurred in this world. Peter Pettigrew had followed Hagrid to the Dursleys, where it was thought he had killed the young Harry. The truth of this had only recently been confirmed. His cousin had been killed instead, and his parents, fearing further attacks from the wizarding world, hid this fact, raising Harry as their own son. "But what happened, Sir?" asked Harry, not sure who to direct the question to. "Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy, that explains why you called me Dudley, but how did you become my father."
Lucius smiled at Harry in a familiar way. Harry had seen him smile like that at Draco, and thought it an arrogant look, but, now, being on the receiving end of that same smile, he saw warmth and trust in those piercing eyes. He knew then how Draco could love his father. 'Draco is a fool for being jealous of me,' thought Harry, 'he has the one thing I always wanted.'
Lucius explained simply, "you were adopted. I was the only wizard your parents knew, and I was made your legal guardian after they died." Harry thought for a moment, then said, "Sir, there is something you are not telling me." Lucius looked away from Harry and began staring intensely at a bare spot on Dumbledore's desk. "There's a lot I'm not telling you, Harry. I don't mean to be rude, but it is none of your business. Dudley has had a hard life, much harder than you, if you can imagine. Like you, he lost his parents, but then he lost a second family, and, when I turned against Voldemort, he nearly lost this family. I won't go into detail about any of that because it is HIS life. I f he is willing to share his life story with anyone, I'm sure you will hear about it when you return." Harry watched as Narcissa, with a tear in her eye, put her arm around Lucius. Draco was looking down at the floor as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. Even Hermione was uncomfortable, turning away when he looked at her. "I'm sorry," Harry said to the empty air.
To lighten the mood, Dumbledore asked Harry to describe some events that happened in his world. Harry mentioned the Triwizard Tournament and his involvement in it. Dumbledore gave a smile at that, "it was something we had planned on doing, but had to cancel." He did refuse to offer Harry any help in understanding how he had been entered, but promised to explain what he knew, in a letter to his counterpart, and leave it to his discretion.
"Tell us something embarrassing," urged Hermione, feeling like herself again. Harry, wary now of this Miss Granger, thought for a minute and then suggested, "I could tell about Norbert." Hermione went white. Harry could fell Draco behind him freezing like a statue. In that same instant, Lucius Malfoy said in a very level voice, the kind that implies it is only being nice until it finds out why it should be mad, "And who is Norbert." Before anyone could say anything, Dumbledore broke out in a fit of laughter. "I apologize, Lucius, but your sons are the only students in the school to successfully sneak a dragon out of Hogwarts." "Did you say OUT?" Lucius asked in disbelief, but then turned to Harry and Draco, saying, "We will talk about this later." At that moment, for the first time in his life, Harry felt like he was part of a real family, and he did not like the feeling at all.
At this point, Dumbledore dismissed Hermione, asking that she use her discretion as to what she told anyone. He then suggested that Harry stay with the Malfoys, at least for the night. "Harry, before you go, I want to tell you a few things you may not like," Dumbledore said. "First, you should know that, in this world, we are at War. Lord Voldemort has behind him an army of dark wizards. The Giants have also joined him, as well as the Dementors of Azkaban. It is only through the quick actions of the Minister of Magic that they are held at bay.
"Secondly, almost every student is here because Hogwarts is the safest place to be. Almost everyone here knows someone who has been killed or is missing. As a result, it is an unspoken rule that you do not talk about what is going on outside of this school. You must follow this rule. Do not even talk about outside events in your own world. Also, you will know students in your own world who are not here. Again, the rule is if they are not here, do not ask about them. Do you understand?" Harry nodded.
Harry was stunned by what he had heard. Professor Dumbledore was talking about war and armies. "May I ask, Headmaster, how did it happen? On my world we know trouble is coming but it is still years away." "It happened because of you, Harry," Dumbledore replied, "Lucius broke from Voldemort rather than give you up. The result was a preemptive strike against your father and his few supporters. Your family came here because they had nothing left, and nowhere else to go." Dumbledore turned to Lucius to apologize but Lucius waved him off, "It's all right, Albus, he had to know."
As they left, everyone walked silently, until Lucius told Draco to go to Slytherin House to get the things the two boys would need for the night. "Mrs. Malfoy, what do I need from Slytherin," Harry asked. "Nothing, Harry," said Narcissa, putting her arm around his shoulders, "we have all that you need in for when you stay in our rooms. It just that Hermione Granger, being in Gryffindor House, will make it a point not to tell the Slytherins anything. Lucius wants to make sure that the students in your house know what has happened, as well." "My house?" asked Harry. Narcissa laughed, "Yes, dear, while you are here you are in Slytherin House." As Harry looked at her in surprise, she added, "There is one more thing, you are not to call me Mrs. Malfoy. I don't expect you to call me mother, but you can at least call me Narcissa, because while you are here, I consider you to be my son, and I will treat you as such."
Dinner at the Malfoys was a strained affair. Harry tried to fit in, but he couldn't find it in himself to treat these people like family. Narcissa pushed herself trying to make Harry more comfortable. She pumped him with questions about his schoolwork. Do you have any hobbies outside of Quidditch? How are you doing in Transfiguration? How are your grades? How are you really doing in Transfiguration? After asking a dozen questions she dramatically threw up her hands, "How is it you are no better than Dudley in any of your classes? You are just like him." "I am?" asked Harry. "Except for the glasses, four eyes," laughed Draco. "Ferret face," Harry replied. "Muggle Lover." "Pompous jerk." "Boys," yelled Lucius, prompting them into silence, "I regret to say, dear, they are exactly alike." At that everyone laughed.
The ice was finally broken, and Harry began to relax. Harry realized that, regardless of how the Malfoys in his world felt about him, these people considered him to be part of their family. Not even the fact that his opinions differed strongly from theirs, would change that.
The conversation became more lively as Harry and Draco compared notes on what events they had in common. Draco was upset that it was Ron who helped Harry with the Troll, and not him. On the other hand, Harry was surprised that Draco joined them in the search for the Philosophers Stone. "They joined us." Draco corrected. The main difference was that Draco was the knight instead of Ron, and insisted on moving when Ron hesitated to put him in danger. "If we don't get along, here." Harry asked, "why did Hermione and Ron help us." "Some things are more important," Draco answered. At one point, Lucius interrupted. "About Norbert," he asked at the now nervous boys, "I honestly do not want to know how, or why, you got the dragon out of Hogwarts. I only want to know how it got in." It was unintended, but both boys said in unison, "It hatched." Lucius stared for a moment, then asked, "Hagrid." When the boys nodded, Lucius just rolled his eyes.
When they had stopped laughing, Lucius asked Harry to take off his glasses. When Harry asked why, he explained that he was curious as to why he needed glasses and Dudley did not. Lucius and Narcissa, both admitted it was a mystery, "we will just have to wait until Del returns, and ask him."
It was then that Narcissa sent the boys off to bed, using the argument that they had school the next day. When Draco complained that it was still early, she laughed at him. "I know, Draco, I just want to make sure that the two of you are in bed when you get too tired to talk anymore," When they were alone in the bedroom they shared, Harry asked if they always slept here. Draco said only during the holidays and for special occasions, like this. They did compare adventures, and Draco did clear up a question Harry had about Norbert. "How did we get Ron to help us?" Harry asked. "You had managed to get on the Quidditch Team," said Draco. "That happened on my world too," Harry told him. "So we bribed him. You gave him your Nimbus 2000, and I talked Dumbledore into letting all first years try out for the house teams. But then Granger made us include flying lessons, to improve his chances of making the team." "And Ron became Gryffindor's seeker," asked Harry, and Draco nodded. "So I became Slytherin's seeker," Harry said. At this, Draco laughed, "No, when Dumbledore let the first years try out, I beat you out for that position. You became a chaser and, after Marcus left, you became keeper." Draco howled with laughter at Harry's reaction.
Harry came to realize that Draco and Dudley were very close. This made Harry feel comfortable, and when the time came, he readily fell asleep. Thus he missed the final question, when Draco called out from his own bed, "Harry?" When Harry replied with a gentle snore, Draco just shrugged his shoulders, and settled down to sleep.