Chapter 03

• Servants •

Severus Snape tried to push a little further into Harry's mind than he was willing to give and when the spell ended it was Severus who was floored and Harry who was breathing hard. "You're certainly just as much of a bastard in this world as you are in the other," Harry grinned maliciously. "I do hope that was enough of my memories unless you want to take another try at it. I'll be sure to find out exactly what happened different in my world."

"What the hell do you want Potter?" Severus asked as he tried to pull himself up from the floor.

An eerie looking grin came over Harry. "There are a lot of things I want Severus, and the least of which is Draco Malfoy's head on a platter. He doesn't seem to be as bad in this world, but I might as well alleviate myself of having to worry about him before things get bad. Other than that I just want to go back to wherever it is I came from. I despise being revered and I took care of that a long time ago."

"A Potter with a proper attitude?" Severus jeered and found a wand at his throat before he could blink, he heard a slight whisperings of a spell and he shivered involuntarily. Still, nothing happened and after a moment he relaxed understanding it was a threat, and this new Potter wasn't going to kill him yet.

"Don't get me wrong Severus, you and I may have a vague friendship where I'm from, but there are certain lines you don't cross and that's one of them. Never speak about my parents or any part of my family otherwise you'll know exactly how good I am at the Crucio curse. I have after all been forced to practice it to insure I'm a proper Death Eater. You know all about that, don't you?" Harry said with a sneer, still holding the wand to Severus' throat. "If you understand and you're not going to try and get me back simply nod."

Severus' head bobbed up and down slightly and Harry dropped his wand, and then turned away, summoning a chair to sit on. "So, let me tell you exactly what happened and we can go from there," Harry said as he took a seat. He went over exactly what had happened from the moment he received the letter. He hadn't had any true contact in months so he was sure that everything had happened since he got his letter, leaving out the interaction with Tonks.

"Describe the mirror again," Severus said, deep in thought but watching Harry warily.

"I can do better," Harry muttered and tapped the wand he held to his head. In a moment a bright flash lit the room and Severus found himself staring at a wall of memories, they flashed about quickly finally slowing down as the picture approached a dingy old house in Hogsmeade. There was a hand that reached forward and knocked twice and then the door opened and the picture followed. The mirror in the room was the most beautiful mirror Severus had ever seen and he stared at it as it floated over the ground, barely moving.

Severus stepped out of his chair and almost fell forward as he moved to the wall. "It's impossible," Severus said, trying to reach into the picture and touch the mirror.

The image dissipated and Severus turned, wide-eyed to Harry. "The glass was living you say, it flowed?"

"Seemed to me that way, I'd have almost thought it was a liquid if it wasn't hard. Why, do you know what it is?"

"No," Severus muttered, "But I've heard of a potion that bridges worlds. It's suppose to simultaneously be a liquid a gas and a solid, but until now I hadn't thought it was more than a myth. Even potions can't have more than two forms at the same time."

"Well apparently it is," Harry muttered and stood. "Now go figure out what it is so I can go back home," he snapped and started towards the door. "I have some things to take care of," he grinned maliciously.

"Hold it," Severus growled, "just because in your world we're ... friends," he said, spitting as if he'd eaten something foul. "Doesn't allow you to order me around here."

"No," Harry answered as he opened the door, "but the adstringento curse I've put on you makes for an excellent slave. Really Severus I expected better of you. Well I'll remove it as soon as you've gone and figured out how to get me back. I'm afraid you won't be able to harm me or do anything against my will until I let you off the hook and that means telling anyone that you're bound to my will."

"Oh and Severus," Harry said as he walked out the door, turning one last time before he closed it behind him. "I don't care if it's in this world or my world. Don't underestimate me. You do know exactly how complicated that curse is, don't you?"

He snapped the door shut behind him and wandered down the hall feeling quite full of himself. He'd never actually been able to catch his Severus off guard like that, it certainly made things easier while he was here. He hadn't planned on using it at all but the poor man had just been oozing with malice and that made the thought even happier. Perhaps he'd have a talk with this Harry and get some of his priorities straightened out.

Then again, this Harry was a Gryffindor and dating the worst of the Gryffindors. What could he possibly be thinking, in fact he wondered if he should right that first thing. He wasn't about to go to the towers though but then, she probably wasn't there anyway.

First though, he definitely had to go work off some steam and he knew where he was going to be able to pull that off. "Pepper," he told the portrait as he walked into the teachers quarters. Tonks certainly wasn't a teacher, but she was in training, and that meant she stayed at the castle.

The door opened up and he saw Tonks laying on the bed sobbing. He cursed his luck and figured he probably shouldn't have brought up old memories. "It's alright," he said when he laid next to her, holding her against him.

She pushed into his chest and her sobs continued. He hated it when she was so... vulnerable, it made things difficult. "You're not the same," she said, sobbing, "it's just not the same. I want him, but you're not him and you're not even staying around are you?"

That struck him as odd, the Tonks he knew was only vulnerable about her past, anything that was more recent she'd gotten over and was never so blatant about it. Still, it felt good to hold her even if she was soaking his robes, and that was enough.

Two hours later a knock on the portrait woke Harry, he'd been feeling much nicer until it happened and he sat up, angry at whoever had woken him. Tonks was asleep next to him, dressed, which was unusual, but he found he was dressed to and he stood wondering how that had happened. Immediately he noticed he was wearing red robes and the whole scene jerked him back to the reality of what had happened. "Bloody Hell," he said under his breath and took a deep breath.

The knock came again and he heard someone's voice faintly beyond. "I know you're in there Harry, you should have taken the map with you," it said angrily. Harry blinked, wondering what map the girl was talking about and why he should have taken it. He composed himself, reading the topmost thoughts on her mind. She was angry with him because he was in the same bed as Tonks.

First Harry had the idea of opening it in nothing but his boxers, surely she'd seen the other him in less and it didn't bother him a bit. She certainly was a bit better looking than her counterpart in his world. But then upon being reminded of that he wondered if she was as smart and bookwormish as her counterpart. If she was the same it might be a good idea to use her to get him home. He grinned and then the smile faded again as she opened up the door, changing to a look of blankness.

"Yes Hermione," he said, trying as best as possible to say her name right and with some care to it. "What's wrong?" He asked apparently surprised and distressed, when he saw she was angry.

"You know exactly what the hell's wrong Harry," she replied and threw the map at him. "I saw you. You told me you wouldn't do it, you swore to me that there were no feelings but then you go and shag her as soon as soon as some doppelganger shows up to give you ideas."

"Shag?" Harry coughed, opening the door wider. "Please keep it quiet, she's not feeling well right now. Apparently my Doppelganger got her all worked up that we might have a chance, I came over to make sure she was alright. I was tired after what happened and I fell asleep, nothing happened, really," he said smoothly and proud at how easily he said it. "Come in if you like, she's all dressed even and my robes are still a bit wet from her tears. I swear nothing happened."

Granger stepped into the room and looked over at Tonks' bed where she was still sleeping. "She really loves you, you know," Granger said quietly. "Just as much as I do. I think it's hard on her to see us together."

The anger she'd had had already faded and Harry grinned as she was looking away, this woman was so easy to play with. The people in this place trusted him way too much. "Let's go," he said quietly as he drug his hand along hers, grabbing her half clenched fingers with hers and tugging her gently. She turned to him smiling and followed him out. "You haven't done that in months," she said after the door to Tonks's room had been closed.

"I just felt like doing it," Harry said as innocently as possible. "You don't mind do you?" he added, continuing to play the proper Gryffindor to a tee. It was a wonder that they ever got any pussy at all he thought with a smirk that was misinterpreted by Granger.

"Of course it's alright," she said, pulled him close to her. "Do you still want to get your present?" she asked, and almost seductive enough to gives Tonks a run for her money. This world certainly was different.

"I need to check something," Harry said, as he shook his head. He was trying to stay on this Tonks's good side, he needed her at least for a while and it wouldn't do for her to catch him with Granger. "Can I see the map?" he asked, hoping that he was assuming correctly, that it was a magical map of some sort, and if Granger had somehow tracked him with it then it must show Hogwarts and at least him.

Granger pulled the lump of parchment from her pocket and handed it to him. He opened it to find it empty. "See," she said calmly, "I made sure that it was turned off so that Severus doesn't get his hands on it again and know everything about us."

Harry nodded, as if that's the reason he'd asked to check it. He blinked and pulled a thought off the top of her head then pulled out his wand. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," he said, tapping the map lightly. Ink flowed from a central point in the map, filling it in until it looked like a floor plan of the castle. He had a hard time not gasping when he saw the names on it. Apparently this Harry had access to some things he didn't. This map would certainly be useful, he wondered where it had gone.

His eyes traced the hallways until they came to Granger and him standing still in the corridor, then they moved beyond to his doppelganger in the infirmary. In neat letters written next to them was the name Harry Potter. He scanned it again, seeing corridors he knew were hidden and passageways he'd used to steal out of the school. This map was a great find and he'd have to make sure to discover its prior whereabouts before he returned home. He could copy it of course but that would take days of examining it to duplicate all the spells, not to mention if the brewing any potions that might be needed.

He started to fold it up but Granger gave him a serious look and he paused, smiling. Gently he tapped the wand and whispered the next set of words that were on the top of her mind. "Mischief managed."

"...see he's safe and sound in the infirmary." Granger said. "I checked that too. Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving, really the party was only just getting started. Why did that person have to go and show up and ruin everything?"

Harry shrugged. He wasn't sure exactly why he was brought – or sent – whichever it was to this place and it certainly wasn't by choice. 'Let's go see if we can find out how he got here," Harry said as inconspicuously as possible. "If he's me maybe he's from a alternate reality. He did say he was Slytherin, maybe something happened to him that made him darker than me."

The words certainly got the right reaction from her, in fact she seemed eager to go, she almost dragged him halfway to the library before pausing. "You know, you're the one that got me from coming here every night," she said oddly, "and now you're the one that's getting me to come back here."

Harry stared at her for a few seconds, not sure she was telling the truth, but he got what he wanted and smiled back before she noticed he was reading her thoughts. "No one could ever get you away from the library," he said with a fake laugh. "You know that. Besides, this is about me this time, it's a little more important than finding out the answer to every question asked on the N.E.W.T.s. Granger turned bright pink and Harry knew he'd gotten everything right.

It was a good thing that he was always suspicious, it was a survival trait and a good reflex, especially now. He wasn't sure what had given Granger the idea that he wasn't himself, but he had to watch it. Maybe his doppelganger was due for a visit tonight along with another strong confusion spell. If only that damned healer wasn't there all the time.

He definitely planned on returning to Tonks's room later tonight after Granger had fallen asleep in the library and this time she wouldn't have the map to tell her where he'd run off to. She certainly had the brains for Ravenclaw and it was obvious that in this world she was a bit cunning too, though not nearly enough – she hadn't exploited her ability yet, but it was curious to Harry why she'd ended up in Gryffindor in both worlds. In his world she hung out with the Ravenclaws for a while, but that had gotten old and she'd gotten cast out of them. She didn't have any friends at all anymore except for the redheaded Weasley girl... Ginny.

"Should we get Ron?" Hermione asked and then laughed. "You know, I think he might think you'd gone nutters if I told him you were the one that suggested we go to the library.

Another breeze over her mind and Harry laughed too. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he said between false laughs. "We can just leave him be, it's not like he'll want to come anyway," Harry said smoothly transitioning away from the other thoughts.

Severus was standing in the isle of one of the restricted sections and when he caught a glimpse of Harry he sneered with pure hate. "What are you doing here," he asked venomously.

It took some control to keep from pointing his wand at Severus again, but he didn't, in fact he kept a completely calm exterior. Severus was his at the moment and he didn't need to emphasize that fact in front of Hermione. "We're looking for books on alternate worlds," Harry said, smirking behind Hermione. "Hermione thinks there might be something here."

"Don't bother," Snape snapped. "You won't find anything, any of the books that were here are suspiciously missing now. You might want to speak with the headmaster and see if he might know anything, Potter." he added with an evil smirk.

"How would you know that Professor?" Granger asked, showing a particularly nasty streak of anger. It worried Harry that she simply thought to much about things, and he wondered if it had been the right choice to keep her as she was. Maybe back in his world... he could mold her, that was if the damage that had been done over the years wasn't irreparable.

Severus' cold eyes moved from Harry to Hermione and Harry could tell that he didn't like her very much. "The Headmaster mentioned that possibility and I came down here to investigate. I don't want to have two Potters around here to trouble me. One is handful enough for now," he said.

Harry smirked, not caring if Hermione turned to see. It didn't matter really, he was proud of the fact that people didn't like him. Even though he was a golden-boy here Severus didn't like him much and probably wouldn't in any other universes.

There was something that was bothering Harry though, not once in the whole time he'd been in this place had Voldemort's name been mentioned or alluded to other than the mark of the Death Eater he'd shown Severus. Was Voldemort dead? Was it possible that the reason the Harry in this world was a Golden Boy was because he'd somehow managed to defeat the evil wizard?

"Hey," Granger said sort of poking Harry. "You're daydreaming again," she said in front of him. "Is everything alright?"

Glancing around Harry noticed that Severus had disappeared. Blast, he hated when he got too involved with his thoughts. "What if he's from another universe?" Harry said swiftly, trying to give her a good reason, and also get her to give him more information. "Maybe things were different there, maybe he didn't have to deal with V... the dark lord."

"It's alright," Granger said, "You can say it. I've told you before I don't mind, besides we've still got to break Ron of the habit of calling him that. Maybe you're right though, maybe his parents weren't killed and he wasn't raised by your horrid aunt and uncle."

Harry almost choked. He couldn't believe he'd been raised by Petunia Dursley, no wonder he was different. But how the hell had someone raised by the likes of someone like her ended up being a Gryffindor? A Hufflepuff maybe, but a Gryffindor? "What if we could help teach him," Harry said, trying to keep her talking.

"You mean tell him how you did it?" Granger asked. "You haven't told anyone and you're just going to go tell some stranger that you met today. A stranger that cursed you only minutes after seeing you by-the-way. Come on Harry, whatever it is you did is not something I thought I'd ever see you talk about again. If he's from another world where Voldemort's still alive he can take care of it there, don't go putting yourself in danger again, you've done enough."

"But..." Harry said, realizing what she was saying, and also trying to play the proper Gryffindor. They always wanted to get into the thick of things without finding out exactly how bad it was before jumping in.

"Shhh," Granger said and pressed her lips to his. Harry didn't respond normally, that would certainly give things away, he was certain that this Harry didn't have a great deal of experience with kissing besides with Granger. She certainly didn't have that much experience. When he did respond he made sure to make it seem awkward and Granger broke away quickly looking at him funny.

"You won't leave it be, will you?" she asked. "You want to go find out if you're right. You're always ruining the mood by trying to save everyone. Leave it be please, at least for tonight. It's not like he's going anywhere, he's restrained magically and there's a silencing charm around him so that no one can hear him screaming again when he wakes up.

Harry swore under his breath and then pulled her a little tighter, feigning a hug, but pulling out his wand. He whispered a spell behind her back as she hugged him and she fainted in his arms. "Bloody Gryffindors and their stupid 'I can take care of everything' attitude," he said as he laid her down in the seat. The librarian Madam Pince was organizing some books and not paying attention at all.

Kneeling in front of Granger he whispered a strong sleeping spell so she wouldn't wake for at least the rest of the night, probably not until tomorrow evening. By then he hoped he'd have everything figured out. She wasn't going to be any help if all she did was follow him around, it was easier to just get her out of the way now. He wondered if he should take her and hide her away, but that didn't sound like such a good idea, might bring suspicion to him. He grabbed a few books and sat them in front of Granger, the positioned one open on her lap. Checking over her one last time he left the library swiftly. If Voldemort was dead he needed to know how, and immediately.

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