Doppelganger
Part X: Convictions

By Krystiana
insanebunny@peoplepc.com

Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue. (aka HP and all other characters belong to JKR and whole bunch of other people, blah, blah, blah...)

Warnings: This is slash. If you don't know what that means, don't read this or I'll set you on fire. Unless you're open-minded, have at it. Maybe I'll convert yet another person to the wonders of slash. (WOO BABY.)

Archive: My site (), FanFiction.net, Noire Sensus (if they should somehow get a hold of this), Schnoogle (eventually). Anywhere else, please e-mail me first. ^_^

Thanks: To Emma Grant, who has been my beta and dealt with my ramblings. She's got no idea how great she is. I'm a lazy bum, and Emma is a goddess. ^_~

The only sound that could be heard on the top of the hill were the birds, making their last conversations before sunset.

The two boys stared at each other, trying to understand the other's expression.

"Why do you want to know who I am?" Harry finally broke the silence, his voice quiet and curious.

"Why?" Draco sat back, leaning on his elbows, looking down at the Quidditch pitch. "Because I'm usually very good at judging what people are like."

"You mean what you think they're like."

"You can't argue the fact that I'm right most of the time."

"You exaggerate the negative, if you're right."

"I'd like to call it being 'brutally honest.'" Draco moved his gaze back towards Harry. "Anyway, I want to know if I really have been wrong about you."

Harry sat up now, studying Draco through narrowed eyes. "Don't you already know the answer?"

"Why would I be asking if I did?"

Harry sighed, crossing his arms on top of his knees. "Where do you want me to start?"

* * *

Harry James was muttering under his breath as he and Draco Lucius walked away from Snape's office. "He treats me like he did in first year."

"Don't forget that he's been dealing with a very Gryffindor Harry Potter for six years, and he despise the Gryffindors," Draco Lucius said casually. "It doesn't matter, Harry. He'll warm up to you, if we're here long enough."

Harry James glanced at the boy beside him. "Do you really think we'll be here that long?"

"Considering we don't even have a clue as to how this happened yet…" Draco Lucius trailed off, looking at the ground.

"We might never get home."

Draco Lucius snapped his head up. "We'll get back home, Harry. We just have to figure this out."

"If it involves Voldemort, then he has to make a move sometime." Harry James narrowed his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets.

They both walked in silence before Draco Lucius broke it with a quiet statement. "I can't believe Sirius is dead in this world."

"Do you think Remus is okay?"

Draco Lucius sighed, his shoulders falling slightly. "I don't know." He glanced at Harry James out of the corner of his eye. "I'd rather not ask Harry about it-" He cut himself off as he heard an angry female voice shouting.

"FINE, Ron. If you're satisfied with what you've got, that's great. Don't blame me when you get a D on your paper."

Harry James and Draco Lucius looked down the corridor they were passing. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were walking out of the library doors just down the hall. Ron was storming off in the opposite direction. Hermione stood with her hands on her hips, glaring after him.

"The Weasel's a brat." Hermione heard Harry's voice come from behind her. Startled, she turned, noticing it was Harry James, not Harry. She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"He doesn't always act like that."

"He's one of the biggest gits you'll ever meet," Harry James responded. "He's a bigot."

"You're friends with Harry, right?" Draco Lucius asked, quickly stepping in between Hermione and Harry James.

Hermione nodded. "We've been friends since our first year. He's like a brother to me."

"Can you tell us how Sirius died?" The expression on Draco Lucius's face was somber.

Hermione's eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. "Why?"

"Because Sirius is very special to us in our world. He took me away from the Dursleys," Harry James said.

"He adopted me after my parents were killed," Draco Lucius said. "He and Remus have been taking care of both of us."

"Remus is okay, right?" Harry James's voice sounded a bit desperate.

Hermione blinked, leaning against a wall. "Remus is fine. He's actually in the school until sometime next week, so I'm sure you'll be able to talk to him." She closed her eyes. "He still seems so sad, though."

"Because of Sirius?" Draco Lucius said quietly.

Hermione nodded, opening her eyes once more.

"How did it happen?"

Hermione sank to the floor, leaning against the wall. "Bellatrix Lestrange… she killed him when we were in the Ministry of Magic, trying to get to the prophecy."

Harry James's eyes widened, and he sat down beside Hermione. Draco Lucius followed suit. "You were trying to get the prophecy?" Harry James repeated.

"We didn't go there to get the prophecy. We thought we were going there to save Sirius. Harry had a vision that Sirius had been captured by You-Know-Who… but we got there and found that it was a trap. Sirius hadn't been captured at all. He wasn't even there. Voldemort had lured us there so he could use us to get to the prophecy."

"Harry had a vision?" Harry James said sharply.

"Yes. Dumbledore came in with the Order and managed to save all of us that had gone, but Sirius… fell. He disappeared behind the veil. He's dead." Hermione put her head in her hands. "And the prophecy broke in all the confusion, so we still don't know what it said."

"You don't know?" Harry James's expression suddenly hardened. "That bastard should have been in Slytherin," he spat, standing up.

Hermione looked up in confusion. "Who?"

"Dumbledore. He knows what the fucking prophecy said. He's known for a long time, considering he was THERE when Trelawny said it." Harry James let out a small growl, his upper lip curling back. "He's too manipulative for his own good."

"Do YOU know what the prophecy said?" Hermione asked, her eyes widening.

"Of course. I made Dumbledore tell me in my second year. I wasn't putting up with his secrets anymore by then." He gritted his teeth, clenching his hand around his wand in his pocket. "He can't get away with that. He's got to tell him."

"He's got to tell who?"

"Harry. Your Harry." Harry James stared down the hall, his eyes dark. "Better yet, I'll tell him myself." He started moving to go and find Harry.

"NO!" Hermione stood up as well, blocking Harry James's way. "Harry trusts Dumbledore. If he finds out Dumbledore has been lying to him, it'll crush him!"

"He has to know that he can't rely on Dumbledore."

"But-"

"Don't." Draco Lucius reached up and tried to put a hand on Hermione's arm. As usual, he watched his hand fly through the girl's arm, but it was enough to get her attention. "He's right. Dumbledore can't be trusted, and Harry has to know that."

"Think of Harry's FEELINGS, though!" Hermione said, turning towards Draco, her eyes filled with compassion.

"It's better for his feelings if he knows."

Hermione let out a small sound of frustration, turning back to Harry James, only to find that he was no longer there. Her mouth fell open, and she looked both ways up and down the corridor. "Where did he go?"

Draco Lucius smirked. "He does that. He's like Batman sometimes."

Hermione stared down at Draco Lucius with an incredulous expression. "You know about Batman?"

"Of course. How could I be in love with a muggle-raised wizard and not know about the joys of muggle comics?"

* * *

"Where do you want me to start?"

"Wherever you want," Draco answered.

Harry wrinkled his nose. "Where I'd WANT to start is what you already know. My real life started when I came to Hogwarts."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "And what about the first eleven years of your life?"

"You already know the first year."

"Would you stop saying I already know?" Draco spat, a sneer spreading across his face. "You know what I already know. I'm asking you to tell me what I don't know."

Harry sighed, but didn't respond.

"Who are the Dursleys?"

Harry looked away from Draco. "They're the muggle family that raised me. Aunt Petunia was my mother's sister. My only living relatives."

"And why are you so unwilling to talk about them? What are they like?"

Harry let out a bitter laugh. "They told me my parents died in a car crash because my father had been drinking. I thought I had been in the backseat of that car, which is how I got the scar on my head." Harry gave his scar a quick, angry rub.

Draco was staring at him. "Is that what Dumbledore told them?"

"No. He, in fact, told them to tell me the truth. I didn't know I was a wizard until Hagrid came and knocked down the door."

"That's preposterous! Why didn't they tell you?"

"They wanted to squash all the magic out of me. They hate magic. Petunia hated my mother, and all three of them hate me." Harry sighed. "That family would confirm every single one of your anti-muggle beliefs. They are truly the bottom of the pot."

"What did they do to you?" Draco's eyes had widened slightly.

Harry hesitated, but proceeded to tell Draco what he had gone through growing up with the Dursleys. He wasn't looking at Draco as he spoke, but if he had he would have seen the expressions of anger and shock filter through the Slytherin's normally cold face.

Draco finally cut Harry off when he spoke of the cupboard under the stairs. "You were living in a cupboard? And Dumbledore lets you go BACK there?"

Harry finally turned his eyes over to Draco, surprised at the boy's outburst. "I don't have anyplace else to go. Sirius was supposed to be my guardian, but he couldn't until we had proven him innocent. Now it's too late for that." Harry buried his head in his knees again, wondering why he was telling Draco Malfoy about his history with the Dursleys.

"You're not going back."

Harry looked up to see Draco staring back at him with his jaw set, oddly resembling Hermione's stubborn look. "What?"

"No wizard deserves to be treated like that. I bet I can pull SOME strings in the Ministry, even with my father in Azkaban."

Harry stared at Draco. "As much as I would love to live somewhere else, I have to go back there."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Just because."

"Because Dumbledore said so?" Draco's upper lip curled back.

"Yes!" Harry snapped. "There's more to it than that, but I'm not going to tell you." Draco narrowed his eyes in thought, and Harry looked away from him again, staring down at the Quidditch pitch.

"Are you somehow protected from the Dark Lord there?"

Harry's mouth fell open and he stared at Draco once more. "How did you know that?"

"Because there's no other good reason that you wouldn't tell me. I'm supposed to be Mr. Death Eater Junior, so it's understandable." Draco stood up. "My point is that you can get away from the Dursleys. There's other ways of protecting you from the Dark Lord."

Harry sighed. "Dumbledore said-"

"It doesn't MATTER what Dumbledore says," Draco said, crossing his arms. "Whether you believe it or not, he doesn't have any say in where you go over the summer. The MINISTRY does, since you are an orphan and under eighteen."

Harry, still sitting on the grass, suddenly found himself unable to tear his gaze away from Draco. "Why are you doing this?" he asked quietly, afraid of finding some ulterior motive.

"I already told you. Wizards, even great gits like Harry Potter, should not live with a muggle family that doesn't give the wizard the proper respect they deserve."

Despite himself, Harry felt a smirk creeping across his face. "You think I deserve respect?"

"Of course. I may have treated you like shit over the years, Harry, but I have always respected you as a fellow wizard." Harry was startled at the use of his first name, but didn't say anything as Draco continued. "Those damn muggles don't have the right to treat you like I treat you." A twisted grin was spreading across Draco's face.

Harry shook his head, but couldn't stop his own smile. "You're insane, Malfoy."

"No, I'm not. I'm gifted with seeing the truth."

"Insane," Harry repeated, standing up as well. He didn't fully understand why Malfoy was offering to help him with his Dursley problem, but he welcomed the idea, and it lifted his spirits.

"Nice to see you two haven't killed each other yet." Harry and Draco looked down the hill to see Harry James approaching them with his hands in his pockets. "I thought you said you hated each other and couldn't stand to be in each other's presence."

"We did say that," Draco responded. "We're polar opposites."

Harry James smirked. "I wouldn't say that. The opposite of you would be a completely non-sexy Hufflepuff."

"No, it would be a non-sexy muggle." The statement fell out of Harry's mouth. His eyes widened as he realized what it implicated, and he found himself blushing as Draco and Harry James stared at him.

Draco raised his eyebrows, but couldn't help but grin. "I must be prettier than I thought, if I've got two Harry Potters calling me sexy."

Harry James burst out laughing. "Yes, yes, you're very pretty." Still grinning from ear to ear, he leaned forward and said in a hushed tone, "You'd be prettier with your hair loose. Hair gel tends to flake."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "For your information, I use a magical, conditioning, non-flake gel. And I'm not your boyfriend."

"I know you're not. He's much prettier than you."

Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving. I have to get a paper finished so I can actually get to sleep tonight."

Harry finally found his voice. "You're having problems sleeping?"

"None of your business. See you tomorrow." Draco set off down the hill, not looking back.

Harry watched him until he turned the corner around the tree and was out of sight. He finally looked away to see Harry James watching him with a knowing smile. "Don't look at me like that," Harry said. "You know nothing." He moved to start down the hill, as well.

"Wait a moment. I came up here to ask you something very important," Harry James said, his smile falling and his expression becoming serious.

"What?"

"Do you trust Dumbledore?"

* * *

Hermione was keeping Draco Lucius company while they waited for Harry James to return. They were wandering the halls aimlessly, chatting about classes, 'Hogwarts, A History,' and the differences between their worlds.

"So why does Harry James hate Ron so much?" Hermione asked casually. "He doesn't know Ron here. He can't know what he's like."

Draco Lucius sighed. "Truthfully, I don't know."

"You don't know what happened?"

"No… I just don't know why Harry took it so personally."

"What did happen?"

Draco shoved his hands in his pockets, looking down at the floor as they walked. "When we were on the train to Hogwarts for our first year here, Harry made friends with Weasley. They ate tons of candy, tried out spells that didn't work, and generally made fools of themselves. When I tried to make friends with Harry, he turned me down for Weasley."

Hermione's eyes had been getting wider and wider while Draco Lucius was speaking. "That happened in your world, too? I just figured it had been that Harry had made friends with you first, instead of Ron."

"Nope. Harry and I hated each other, in fact, for about half of our first year."

"So what happened?"

"We got over it, obviously."

"I mean with Harry and Ron."

Draco Lucius looked over at Hermione. "Can't you guess? Weasley has the same hatred of Slytherins here that he has in our world."

Hermione's expression melted into realization. "Harry was sorted into Slytherin, and Ron hated him." It wasn't a question.

"Exactly. Harry was already plenty put-out about being sorted into the house that was supposedly a Dark Wizard factory. Having his first friend that he had ever made suddenly treat him worse than the scum on the lake…"

"It's understandable. Ron can be brutal, sometimes." Hermione sighed. "But he really does have a good heart."

Draco Lucius smirked. "I could tell that from the moment we dropped out of the sky. He defended your Harry so brilliantly that I had the fleeting thought that they might be together."

"Together?"

"Like me and my Harry." His voice was quiet.

Hermione choked back a laugh. "You can have my assurance that those two would NEVER happen."

Draco Lucius offered a small smile. "I can see that now." He sighed, looking down again. "But it still frightens me."

"What does?"

"Well, it scares me enough that alternate dimensions actually exist," Draco Lucius began, his tone carrying an emotion that Hermione couldn't place.

"And…?"

"It scares me even more that Harry and I aren't destined to be together in every single one."

* * *

"Do I trust Dumbledore?" Harry repeated.

"That's what I just asked. Do you?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because he can't be trusted. You know that, right?"

Harry sat back down on the grass, looking down at the Quidditch pitch again, but not really seeing anything. "I do."

"You do trust him, or you do know that he can't be trusted?"

"I don't trust him," Harry said. "I've never really thought about it until now, but I can't trust him anymore. He hid too many things from me. He waited too long to tell me…"

"Tell you what?"

"The prophecy."

Harry James raised an eyebrow, sitting down next to Harry. "So you do know about the prophecy? Your friend Granger said that the prophecy has been destroyed, and none of you knew what was inside."

Harry sighed. "I haven't told anyone yet. It's kind of hard to deal with."

"It is hard. I was fortunate enough to know since second year."

Harry looked up in surprise. "How did you find out so early?"

"I bothered Dumbledore enough until he told me. I don't like things being hidden from me, and I knew that Dumbledore was doing just that."

Harry sighed. "You've already fulfilled YOUR prophecy. Any advice you want to give me?"

"Advice?" Harry James repeated thoughtfully, leaning back on his elbows, watching the sun set over the pitch. "The best advice I can give is to take the prophecy literally."

"'Neither can live while the other survives?'" Harry quoted bitterly. "I've already figured out that I have to murder or be murdered."

"It's easier to not think of it as murder," Harry James said. "What I meant is you have to be Voldemort's equal in order to defeat him. You have to be just as good as him, if not better."

"Voldemort is not good," Harry said.

"You know what I mean. You need to be able to get inside Voldemort's head without getting lost, so you truly CAN be his equal," Harry James paused, glancing over at Harry. "That's another thing I wanted to bring up with you - have you mastered occulmency yet?

It was by pure coincidence that Harry suddenly felt a pain that he hadn't felt in at least a month. His scar flared up first, and then his head exploded in pain. Harry put a hand over his scar, crying out. The last thing he saw was his own face, looking down at him in alarm. The last thing he heard was Harry James, somehow still finding room to make a sarcastic comment.

"I take that as a no."

Harry blacked out.

To be continued. Again.