by Child of Two Worlds
Disclaimer - Not mine and probably not yours either...unless you're JK Rowling or Wanner Brothers or someone who actually owns in. In that case it is yours. But still, it is not mine.
A/N - If anyone wants to be emailed about new chapters please leave your email adress in your review. DF Miei requested it and I have no problem with it. It'll be one mass email. Please drop a note about any html or gramatical errors. Plot errors were probably put in there on purpose. ::wink:: Thank you Sets for beta reading and having patience when I had none. ^.^
*thought* = thoughts
/italics/ -or- /bold/ = emphasis
Italicized text without either of those marks are Parseltongue and spells.
It was like a photograph: frozen, crisp and motionless, even though it was only milliseconds long. There was Harry sitting on the couch, confused and worried. Sirius' tight grasp on his wrist was preventing the blood from reaching his fingertips. Off to the side of the odd couple was Remus: cool, calm, collected, and slightly peeved.
"We should question him before you berate him anymore," Remus spoke his professor voice, the one used when introducing a new topic to his class.
"Sorry, Moony. I won't trust anything less than Veritaserum," growled Sirius.
"I regret to inform you of this but, we're all out," Remus replied lightly.
"Don't joke around Remus, this is serious."
Harry wanted to say 'I'm Harry, /you're/ Sirius,' but decided to ignore the obvious play on words and ask a more important question, "Does Uncle Peter know about this?" Harry demanded.
That was the wrong thing to say. Sirius' grip on Harry's wrist became painful and a strange glimmer came into his eyes.
Harry winced "Ouch!" He turned his wrist in an attempt to get out of Sirius' grasp.
"Don't hurt him!" exclaimed Remus.
Sirius's grip slackened and he put his face just inches away from Harry's, "What did you say?" his voice was a dangerous whisper.
Harry glared right back at his godfather. "Ouch. O – U – C – H."
"Don't play games. What did you say before that," Sirius growled.
"Oh," Harry smirked in answer to Sirius' scowl, "I /asked/ whether or not Uncle Peter knows about this." But Harry was tired of playing, "This joke is old. Ancient. Extinct. Stop trying to scare me because it's not going to work."
Sirius continued to subject Harry to his suspicious glare. When he realized that his fury would not break the boy, Sirius returned to his original tactic of finding out his identity. "Who. Are. You?" Sirius demanded again, speaking slowly and clearly.
"Harold. James. Evans-Potter. Who are you?" Harry answered back, baiting Sirius to try and scare him again.
A twisted grin played across Sirius' face, but before he could say anything Remus spoke.
"I'm going to write to Dumbledore. There is more to this than we think," Remus spoke to Sirius in a commanding tone. "Watch him," turning to leave the room he added, "don't hurt him."
Sirius glared at Remus but didn't say anything.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," with that Remus left the room.
Sirius let go of Harry's hand and sat back into a nearby chair. However, he never took his eyes off Harry, nor did Harry remove his gaze from his godfather. A staring match ensued.
Harry yawned as he rubbed his wrist. *This game is getting old,* he thought, *Whatever they're up to has to be good. I'm not about to be fooled by this act. Uncle Remus must be writing to my dad now.*
Sirius continued to scowl at Harry. Harry didn't believe the hatred that was in his godfather's eyes, those eyes had tricked him so many times. One minute they gleamed with unshed tears, the next they would sparkle with mirth. He was not going to be fooled by his behavior.
But it had gone on much longer than a normal prank would, even for Sirius. Doubt entered Harry's mind. What if he had done something bad? Surely the dungbombs in the bathroom couldn't get anyone this mad. *If Uncle Sirius is really angry with me there's no way we're playing apparition tag now.* Harry crossed his arms and leaned futher back into the cushions, *Hrmp. Good thing I couldn't find my animagus notes. He'd probably think I was trying to do that illegally.* Harry couldn't help suppress a snigger at that thought.
Sirius picked up on it immediately. "What's so funny?" he demanded.
"Nothing," Harry placated.
Sirius glowered at the boy, "You sniggered. Why?"
"I didn't bring my animagus notes with me," Harry replied, returning scowl for scowl, "It was a good thing because you'd probably think I was an unregistered animagus and threaten to owl the ministry." Harry watched for a change in expression that never came. "But /you/ are an illegal animagus."
Sirius did a good job of keeping his face neutral…for Sirius. A look of surprise fleeted across his face before the scowl deepened. His suspicion of the boy on the couch increased. *How in high heaven did he know /that/?!*
"I thought it was ironic," Harry finished lamely. This act was getting to him. *Maybe,* he thought, *Maybe if I just shut-up and be good they'll stop, say they fooled me good, and we can-*
Harry's thoughts were cut short by Remus, "I wrote to Dumbledore," he announced.
"Good," growled Sirius.
"I told him to contact us through the fire as soon as he can," Remus crossed his arms, "It's not like we're going anywhere."
Harry sunk even further into the cushions. *I'm stuck here until Dad shows up.* He looked at Remus who stood a few feet away with his wand firmly in his hand. Then he looked back at Sirius who was stiffly sitting in the worn, wooden chair and still glaring at him. Harry frowned worriedly. *What's going on here? Where's my family? What did I do to make you both so angry and suspicious?* He couldn't voice these thoughts however, because he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere while they were still playing. *This must be big,* Harry yawned. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open, *for them to keep up the act this long.* He really couldn't face the thought that it was real; that his godfather really hated him. It was too confusing to think about when he was so tired.
Sirius and Remus watched the mystery boy fall asleep.
Remus walked up behind Sirius and said quietly, "Well, /that/ made a whole lot of sense."
"Yeah. Should we wake him up?" Sirius asked. Ever since he realized this boy was not Harry, he had to keep reminding himself. The resemblance was scary. It was worse than the shock of seeing Harry for the first time; having to look into Lily's eyes on James' face.
"No, he's better off asleep," Remus looked curiously at the boy asleep on his couch, "Do you think it's polyjuice?"
"I'm not sure, but it could be. We've got a while before he'll turn back if it is, though," replied Sirius. "Why did he fall asleep?
"Maybe he's tired?" Remus grinned.
"How can you smirk at a time like this?"
"Lighten up, Padfoot," Remus was presenting a cheerful mood to keep the shadows of Azkaban out of his friend's eyes.
Sirius snorted, "How long until we hear from Dumbledore?"
"Hours," replied Remus. "He's going to come through the fire, unless you want to risk Flooing to Hogsmead."
Once again Sirius' status as an escaped convict interfered with the war against Voldemort. "What if he's waiting for us let our guard down?" Sirius indicated the sleeping boy on the couch.
"How about this?" suggested Remus. With a flick of his wand and a few muttered words Harry fully relaxed and sank deeper into the cushions, "A nice sleeping spell. It'll keep him under for a few hours."
"Good. I need something strong to numb the shock," Sirius grunted, stood, and went into the kitchen.
Remus went back to his chair by the fire and picked up his discarded book. His werewolf senses would alert him to any change in the boy's condition.
James Potter stood at the threshold of the hospital room observing a nurse tending to his son. For two days Harry was in very critical condition, the doctors weren't sure if he would live. Thank goodness, this morning they managed to stabilize him. Harry was laid out on a standard St. Mungo's hospital bed with the magical medication field surrounding him. James could just see Harry through the haze of multicolored gases. Those gases were how Harry was being healed; all the medication was inhaled and/or absorbed by his skin. James watched Harry breathe slowly and shallowly as the nurse walked up and down the bed, pulling out bits of color and putting others in.
Harry's condition had stabilized enough that the doctors let James visit, but it was Rose who had found him. The rest of the family would come visit tomorrow, they couldn't leave Harry alone for Christmas.
James let his mind wander while he waited for the nurse to finish. Harry, Rose and Andrew had been playing in the woods, he couldn't remember the game though. He remembered questioning a hysterical Rose when he found both her and Harry nearly buried in a snow bank. Rose told him that she heard a bit of a melody and then a loud crack. When she went to see what it was she found Harry lying at the base of the tree and bleeding from the head. She told him that Andrew arrived a bit later because he had heard her screaming. Andrew went back to the house under Rose's orders to get their father. James left Andrew with his mother while he went to get Harry.
The nurse brushed past as she left to tend to the other children, but James didn't take any notice of it.
The image of seeing Harry laying in red snow with Rose crying over him, screaming at him to wake up, was crisp in James' mind. Harry's hand was clutching his wand, his other hand was covered in blood from the compound fracture above his elbow. There was no sign of struggle, the rest of the woods looked like it belonged on a greeting card. But there was his son, lying bleeding in the snow with his daughter crying over him.
A deep, masculine voice pulled him away from his thoughts.
"Mr. Potter," the doctor said a second time.
"Yes?" James finally responded.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Burke," he smiled in a reassuring, doctorish way.
"Nice to meet you, Doctor," James shook his hand.
"Why don't we step inside," The doctor motioned for James to enter, closed the door behind them and then joined James at the foot of Harry's bed.
"How is Harry doing?" asked James.
"He's getting better, but he's not out of the woods yet." The doctor's manner beceome more serious and less friendly, "I know you told me that the children were only playing, but he's got traces of Dark Magic in him."
James looked wonderingly at his son. *What had happened to him?*
"That's all we've been able to glean off him so far. We've been careful not to aggravate his condition. But, Mr. Potter-"
"Yes?" James interrupted.
"Mr. Potter, is there something you're not telling me? Or not willing to tell me?" Dr Burke asked sternly.
James only looked more confused and worried.
"What reason is there for the boy, your son, to have traces of Dark Magic on him?" Dr. Burke frowned at James.
"I don't know," James said quietly as he continued to watch his son. After a moment of silence he looked at the doctor, "There's no reason… unless, maybe, he was attacked by someone."
"When he wakes up we will have to question him, but you should consider speaking to the Aurors."
"I already had a few of them go over the area where Harry was found. They told me that it was like he just ran behind the tree and threw himself against it. But there's no way he could muster enough force to do that to himself without magic. And it's impossible for someone to attack him without leaving evidence."
Dr. Burke nodded, "That is certainly out of the ordinary. Perhaps Harry will have answers for us when he wakes up."
The two men stood silently at the foot of Harry's bed just watching him breathe slowly.
AN - The whole writing to Dumbledore might confuse some people. Harry thinks that Remus and Sirius are playing games. He doesn't think Remus is really writing to Dumbledore, he thinks Remus is writing to his father and that "Dumbledore" is a code word for "James". I hope this chapter made sense, otherwise I'll explain it in the next one. There are lots of little and subtle and important differences between the two realities (Ex: Sirius being refered to as "Pookie" instead of "Snuffles".) that might confuse people. That's why plot errors might just be there on purpose. ^.-
My discription isn't very good, I know, but I'm working on it. ^^;;; Moldy Voldie's is better... hehe
Thank you for all the reviews:
Kay (Harry's kinda in a coma, as you read. There's not much to react to. ^^;;),
A-Chan (::giggles:: Well, Sirius thought so, that's why he snapped at Harry.),
Mayleesa (Glad you like it ^.^),
Lady Knight of Kennan (I plan on continuing to the end! ^.^),
DF Miei (Did you get the update notice? Hope you did. ^.^), and
neutral (hehe, to address his situation: he's kinda unconcious. After I get a few more chapters in and I reveal what happened/s to Voldemort (not telling) then you can pick on those two (Voldie #1 and Voldie #2) if you want to because I have no idea what to do with them, though it would be interesting. ::grins:: And I like what you write! Be positive! ^.^).
Miyamoto (Lily and James can say all they want, but while Harry's "in an altered staed on conciousness" (a term from my psychology textbook ::grin::) it won't really matter. hehe)
