Unknown Times

Chapter 6

Harry lay motionless on the couch covered in the blanket, as he pretended to be asleep. His eyes were hidden and facing in toward the couch, but his ears were alert and trying to pick up on everything that the other girl in the room was doing. She had apparently not been moving in her sleep, but rather getting up. He tuned into her every movement, as he could hear them.

The girl first sat up, and Harry felt her gaze on him. He tried to keep still, until her gaze shifted from him, and eventually it did, as he heard her pick up the note that he had been reading earlier. Harry was worried that she would notice that he had read it, but it turned out that that he needn't have worried. Harry heard her give a barely noticeable laugh while reading the piece of paper.

 He briefly recalled that it hadn't seemed like the type of paper that he used at school, but he did use different types of paper at school than his uncle used for his company. , maybe this was just another type of paper. However, it didn't seem right to him. The whole place didn't seem right to Harry. He had to stop his thoughts from drifting. This wasn't the same as the long hours he had spent locked away in his cupboard. During those times Harry did allow his mind to wander; he did not care the exact movements of his aunt, uncle and cousin. Those followed a general routine and Harry had been able to know how his family moved since he was young. However, this was different; Harry needed to focus and find out what was going on.

The girl put the note down and began to prepare a plate for herself from the heaping plates of food that scattered the table. She stopped and Harry was surprised when, rather than beginning to eat she began to prepare a second plate. Harry searched his mind trying to think of who the extra plate was for. Maybe she was going to give food to the people who had written the note. Though that did not make sense, since when she was done with the second plate she would have picked up a third plate. There was more than one person who wrote that note. Had there been anything in the note about just one of them coming back? Harry then felt stupid as he remembered that the note had specified that the food was for him as well as the girl.

A hand brushed the side of Harry's head though it hovered for a moment before it rested a top of head; this contact startled Harry. He had been so lost in his own mind that he had not noticed what the girl was doing. Now she was leaning across the table and staring at him intently. Knowing that her attention was focused on him, Harry shivered. The hand was quickly removed in response to Harry's abrupt movement. Now that the hand was gone Harry desired the girl to put it pack. He couldn't understand why, but it felt comfortable … right. Although when fingers ran through his hair a few minutes later, Harry shuddered involuntarily and attempted to bury himself deeper within the couch.

'Are you awake?' the girl's voice came after a moment of hesitant silence. Harry didn't know what to say, and thus remained silent. She pulled herself back from leaning across the table, correctly guessing the state of his consciousness.

'When you are ready there is some breakfast here for you,' she said in her voice, which was kind and soothing and something that Harry briefly recalled as if from a dream that he had sometimes when he wished for an unknown relation to come take him away from his aunt and uncle. (Though, if he had taken the time to think about it, there were many of these unknown relations that he dreamt of, and this girl's voice was remembered in the back of his mind.) 'I'd like to talk about a few things with you, explain some stuff, when you are ready, but take your time. I'm willing to wait until you are ready.'

Reluctantly Harry rolled over and sat up on the couch since she knew that he was awake; he did not meeting the girl's eyes. Harry's mind had wanted to pretend to stay asleep, wanted nothing more than force the girl to direct her attention at something else, and yet he trusted her more than he had trusted anyone he could remember. The girl was treating him with a concern he had never remembered from his aunt, uncle, teachers, or any other adult that he had ever met.

'Are you alright?' she asked, her voice still filled with concern and an emotion that Harry couldn't really place. Eyes still focused downwards on the table, Harry nodded. Her statement seemed restrained and he heard the desire to comment more in her voice. Harry was still unfamiliar with the environment of her actually caring for him and felt uncomfortable in the new environment.

'Are you sure? My friends told me that last night you seemed rather worried. It is perfectly OK not to be alright,' she continued, the worry to be sure of his comfort was evident. Harry looked into her eyes, he was amazed that they looked hauntingly familiar, but he couldn't place them out of nerves. He thought that he heard the girl gasp, but it might have been in his imagination. With his attention focused on the girl from her possible gasp Harry noticed that a smile had appeared on her face. She had already been smiling, yet this was a different type of smile.

'I'd like you to feel comfortable,' she said, still smiling and appeared that she was hoping that she was getting somewhere in communicating with him. 'I need to explain a few things about how you, well, how we think you ended up in the village yesterday, but I really want you to be feeling comfortable first. Would you like something to eat? You look half starved. Does your aunt feed you properly?' In all the excitement of having the girl talk to him Harry had forgotten about the food, and so, apparently, had she. Harry was genuinely hungry and took the plate from her.

'Thank you,' he murmured. He didn't answer her question. He had heard questions like that before, though never directed at him, in the event of worrying about him. He was wondering briefly why he was so trusting of this girl who he had just met and didn't even know who she was when she started talking again.

'My name is Lily Evans,' she said. The name was somehow familiar, had his aunt or uncle said something about the last name Evans. It was a common surname, Harry thought. 'The things I need to tell you are … strange, a bit unbelievable. Especially, since I know you've grown up with Petunia.' The last part was muttered under her breath, but Harry caught it. How could she possibly know his aunt? Maybe he had heard her name mentioned. Harry didn't comment on this, but was listening carefully. The information seemed rather important.

'Um,' the girl, Lily, seemed to be struggling with her words, attempting to find the right way to explain things. 'Do you believe in magic?'

This had not been what Harry had been expecting.  What sort of question was that? Magic wasn't real, was it? Harry's aunt and uncle and everyone seemed to explain as having a cause, maybe she was not talking about magic magic, but about that performer that Dudley had seen while out for the day on his birthday the year before. Dudley thought the show was amazing and therefore told Harry exactly what he had missed by not being allowed to come.

'Like a magician?' Harry said, his voice confused.

'No,' she said patiently. 'That is not magic. That is all illusions and making people see things that aren't really there. I'm talking about real magic. Some people being able to do things that others can't. Witches, wizards, things of that sort.'

Harry was confused. Why was she asking this? His first instinct was that she was trying to tell him that those things were real. They weren't, nothing like that ever happened. But … hadn't unexplained things happened around Harry? Didn't his aunt and uncle get nervous at the mention when things of the sort happened? They seemed to on the lookout for magic, constantly reinforcing the idea that it wasn't real, but what if their talk came from hiding something. She had said something about it being especially unbelievable if he lived with his Aunt Petunia. Did she know something he didn't?

'It can't really be real?' Harry said nervously. 'Can it?' Harry looked uncertain with his conclusions. The doubt that Lily seemed to be trying to place in his mind about everything that his aunt and uncle had ever told him seemed to be showing. She had been patient and his response made her smile.

'Magic is real,' she said calmly. Harry was startled by this revelation, the trust that he had in her had not diminished. Though instinct told him she was lying to him, Harry couldn't help but continuing to place his trust in her. He was even more interested as she continued.

'I'm a witch.' This he should have had guess from her previous comments, but was surprised and curious. What was she trying to do? Why was she telling him this?

'We are currently in a back room at the school that I go to. It is a school where people learn magic.' The whole idea sounded ridiculous, and yet Harry believed her. Why did he trust her that much?

'Now, there is a whole world that is set apart from people who can't do magic, people like your aunt and uncle.' Harry was confused; why did she only refer to his aunt and uncle?

'These two worlds are connected, but the world that we are in at the moment is rather different. Everyone here knows about magic and most can perform it.  There is also a great deal of … dislike for the other world in both worlds. That is partly why your aunt and uncle don't like things that have to do with magic. Your aunt doesn't like witchcraft or wizardry very much.

'Now, my friends told me that they found you yesterday in the village that is next to the school. They gave you a sleeping potion because they were worried about you and thought that it would be easier for someone to explain magic to you before you saw that everyone in the village demonstrated their magic.'

Harry was clinging onto her every word, nodding periodically. It seemed to him that he knew what she was saying was true, but couldn't know how he knew it. She appeared to be searching for words again.

'There are also magically ways in which to travel. Adult witches and wizards can Apparate, just disappear and reappear somewhere else, but that is very complicated.' Harry couldn't see where she was going with this, but he wanted to know more about witches and wizards from her and kept listening raptly.

'Younger witches and wizards can use something called floo powder to travel from one fire place to another. Another way to travel is something called a portkey.' She looked intently at Harry. 'Portkeys can be charmed to take a person from one place to a different place when someone touches it.' Harry's mind returned him to the previous day. He had touched the letter and he had been somewhere he was not supposed to be.

'So, was the letter a Portkey?' Harry asked timidly. Lily favored him with a proud smile.

'I think it was, yes,' she said. 'However there is a bit more to the story of what is going on. My friends and I are going to try and send you back to your home, but it will be difficult. You see the letter, was it, did not act in a way that Portkeys usually act.

'Anyway, my friends and I were planning on having you stay with us.' She had purposefully changed the subject and smiled at him, looking hopeful. 'Now that it is the winter holidays it will just be my friends and I in the tower. If you are willing we'd like you to spend the holiday with us. I can't imagine that your aunt and uncle made your holidays before that great, but we'd love for you to share them with us. Especially until we can get you back home.'

'But my aunt and uncle won't be happy if they find out I'm not there,' Harry said quickly. He knew that his aunt and uncle would surely punish him for this.

'I promise that we will get you back to your family without them ever realizing that you were gone. They won't even notice.' She was very reassuring, but…

'But if I'm gone for a long time, they are going to notice….'

She flashed a grin. 'I'm a witch and I'll be able to make sure that you are safe and not punished. Trust me, we'll get you back to their house and you will be in your room--'

'Cupboard,' He corrected. She scowled for a moment, but then became reassuring again.

'You'll be in your cupboard and no time will have passed to make your aunt and uncle worry.' Harry figured that he should trust her. She did know a lot about magic and he was sure that she could manipulate time to do what she wanted.

Harry trusted that Lily could fix everything with his family; for the time being, she could protect him and keep him safe. Fueled by his new curiosity for the new world that Lily had opened a window to Harry questioned her all about magical things. She had a great supply of knowledge for him and the patience to explain it to him. They spent a great deal of time talking, learning a great deal about each other.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter. I am writing this to satisfy my own personal "What-If" fantasies.

Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love you all!

I'm really sorry about the delay. The story is being written slowly, but it is going to be done. I was really bad not working on this at all possible times. I have learned that train rides are good times to write, but not as good as sitting down and telling myself 'Finish story. NOW!' Of course that only goes to the next bad step,  the problem of revising.

This chapter I didn't like. We've seen magic explained to Harry, but it needed to be done in my universe. I tried to make it dfferent, but I have the feeling that it was still repetitive. The chapter also got a bit out of hand and is much longer and makes up for the horribly short last chapter, I hope. Anyway, I made that all Chapter 5 because I didn't like breaking this up and having it all be one chapter would be way too long.

Please review, it really does help me convince myself to write. It is really nice to get feedback! Thanks again to those who reviewed.