A/N : Wow this chapter is super long for me! Compared to others its actually really short, but hey! I tried! This chapter might be hard to read to read near the end, because it has a bit of phonetics in it but, just bare with me! Also it's taken me so long to write I haven't checked it through as much as I should so I'm sorry if it's full of typos! Though as I said some bits are supposed to be miss-spelt!
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary: Post OotP Harry receives a 'what if' stone for his birthday and gets thrown into an alternate reality where Sirius was the potter's secret keeper imagine a world with an alive Lily, James and Sirius, and a rather confused Harry. (As usual this will not be slash…I don't write it.)
What if
Chapter Twelve
The blackened dagger
Harry had been flying for nearly an hour by the time he reached a familiar forest, the very same one which surrounded his home.
He soared through the cloud and spiralled downwards towards the centre of the forest. He wasn't concerned that he could not see the mansion, it was magically hidden. The house cannot be seen unless you are practically standing on it.
Once at the precise tree Harry flew down into its branches and transformed back into the-boy-that-lived he sat in the branches for a moment thinking of a good spell which could cool his fathers temper once he'd found out what had happened. In the end he settled for a good cheering charm, and leaped down a fair height from the oak tree and landed elegantly on his feet. He straightened his jet black robes, and lowered his shield.
Harry stepped forwards onto the X shape marked onto the forest floor, and watched the mansion materialise in front of him. He frowned, it looked slightly different, the front garden which was trimmed like a cricket pitch. He would be surprised if there was a single blade of grass out of place, the entire scene spelled 'pretentious.'
Harry walked up the path to the front door wondering why his mum had decided to change the front garden so suddenly. He rang the doorbell and waited, rehearsing his argument. There was a sudden click and the door swung partly open. A house elf peaked out.
"Who goes there," It squeaked.
"It's Harry, what the hells going on?" Harry said angrily.
"Harry- Harry p-potter," The house elf opened the door wider to check.
"Yeah, stop being stupid and let me in," Harry said but the house elf had already left with a 'pop'.
After standing around cursing for a few moments the door once again opened to Harry. Rather than being faced with his parents, Sirius, Remus or anyone from the order, Harry was faced with the last person he expected.
"Draco Malfoy what the hell are you doing here?" Harry said distastefully covering his shock.
"I was about to ask you the same question. This is my fathers house and thanks to you he's in prison, instead of here." Malfoy drawled
Harry grit his teeth, he suppressed his anger, his father had put Lucius into prison years ago. Draco would pay for his cheek later, first Harry needed answers.
"Where are my parents?" Harry said forcing himself to stay calm. Looking past Malfoy into his house, wondering what on earth was going on.
Draco smiled, "Six feet under, where they should be."
Harry was so outraged he raised his hand and Draco flew across the room and hit the wall behind him. Harry walked into the house and kept his hand up in front of Malfoy who was slowly having his air cut off.
"Now do you want to re-phrase that?" Harry said smirking
"Fine kill me, Potter, but the Dark Lord will destroy you like he did your parents, then you'll join them in hell," He gasped.
Harry narrowed his eyes, "Who's the Dark lord?" He let Draco slide down the wall but kept him binded to the spot
"What are you on about? …Oh how pathetic, you've lost your memory," Draco said though his gave away that he was nervous.
Harry raised his hand again and flicked it, Malfoy crashed into the wall with a bang. Harry walked up to Draco's unconscious form and knelt down beside him, there was a small trail of blood coming from his mouth. "Do another single thing to piss me off again and I will not hold back." Harry stood up, turned on his heel and briskly left the Mansion without looking back.
Once Harry walked past the X in the forest the Mansion disappeared. Harry leant against a nearby beach tree, he sighed deeply, what was going on? That was the second person that had told him his parents were dead. Sure he thought they were ostentatious fools, but deep down he knew he would hate it if anything happened to them.
******************
Remus Lupin walked sadly around the hospital wing looking for any clue as to why Harry had reacted so strongly. Especially worrying was that Harry denied his parent's death and now he'd escaped into the world, he could be anywhere, and Voldemort was not renowned for his compassion.
He couldn't help but worry that this was all connected with Sirius' death, it had affected them all, but particularly Harry suffered. Remus himself of course had taken quite a blow. The last thing he needed was to lose Harry too.
Remus stopped in his tracks, next to a large piece of glass was an odd looking stone, so black it seemed to suck colour out of everything surrounding it. He picked it up it wasn't far from where apparently Harry stood.
Remus decided he needed to know what it was, so rather than going to the headmaster as usual Remus found himself outside the potion master's door.
"Come in if you must," came the reply to Remus' knocking. Remus stepped into the office which didn't quite look the same since Harry made a shelf of potions blow up. There were messy piles of glass all over the office and there was an odd purple mist in the air which even Albus couldn't seem to shift. Though Remus felt that the headmaster didn't try terribly hard to get it removed, he probably found it amusing.
"It's there," Snape pointed to a goblet of steaming liquid. Snape left the Hospital wing this afternoon, healed from after the incident with Harry. Apparently Harry only exploded the harmless potion shelf, so Severus healed fast, though he still had most of the bandages on.
"Oh, Wolfsbane, of course. Look Severus I was rather hoping for your, erm, advice. If you wouldn't mind."
Snape looked a little taken aback. "What is it?" He narrowed his eyes at the wolf.
"It's this," Remus handed over the stone, "Do you know what it is?"
Snape looked shocked, "I've only ever seen one of these…and it was in the possession of the dark lord."
"Oh no, I think it dropped out of Harry's pocket earlier. What's it for?" Remus suddenly felt concerned.
"It's a what if stone, it's use is to transport someone to any reality they wish to view. The only drawback is that whatever reality your transported to your counterpart replaces you in your reality." Snape said.
"Ah, well that explains a lot." Remus said thinking hard "So he's actually Harry from some alternate reality."
"Yes it looks that way, an alternate reality where they do not teach manners no doubt." Snape said.
"Perhaps, do you think he's aware of the change?"
"I would hope that is quite obvious, even to someone of your intelligence level." Severus snapped.
Remus grit his teeth and said, "I was referring to the what if stone."
"I would doubt it, why would he leave so suddenly otherwise?" Snape said.
"In that case we need to find him, fast." Remus said worriedly.
"We are not doing anything. You will go and find him, whereas I will alert the order." Severus handed the 'What if' stone back to Remus, who pocketed it.
"Fine then, goodbye," Remus then drunk the Wolfsbane potion in one big gulp, grimaced and left the office still feeling confused. He walked down the corridors wondering where on earth Harry could be, without thinking he paced the same corridor three times, when suddenly a door appeared.
"Of course, the room of requirement," The werewolf muttered under his breath, as he entered the room.
Inside was a plain looking room with a large window. It had on a table in the middle of the room a piece of parchment, which had Tracking spell written on it, then had the instructions written underneath.
"Ah, that's perfect!" he exclaimed. There was also a map and a lock of jet-black hair, on the table. No doubt Harry's hair so the spell will work.
Remus shook his head in amazement. This was a truly amazing room; he now knew why Harry used it so often for his Defence against the dark arts group. He smiled at the memory of Sirius telling him all about it. Sirius was so proud of him; he grinned and said it was the 'work of a Madurer.' 'Dumbledore's Army' Harry had called it. Right now though this other Harry was single-handedly trying to fight a war against Dumbledore. Remus wondered what horrible thing must have happened in this other Harry's world to make him so bitter. He hoped he could get his own Harry back. He realised now more than ever he needed him. Remus wasn't sure how but he knew he had to get Harry back to his rightful time; otherwise Voldemort could never be defeated. Death eaters were already attacking left right and centre.
Remus was dragged out of his thoughts by a tapping at the window. He opened the window and let the tawny owl in. He took the letter off and read.
Order informed. Searching, if you find first convince him of the truth then take to the order.
It was cryptic, so obviously from Snape. 'So If I find Harry first I'm to convince him that he really has came to a different world. Then take him to Gimmuald Place. That should be simple.' He thought sarcastically.
Remus then turned back to the tracking spell and set to work.
*******************
Harry was in a strange mood. After leaving the forest he Apparated, to London because he was tired of flying. It would take hours to get there by wing anyway. He was shocked by the reaction he received when he walked down Diagon ally. He was used to an unpleasant reaction to him wherever he went. People disliked him because they felt he was responsible for the deaths of many students. However when he walked down Diagon ally everyone turned and stared like he was some sort of an idol. He had to use a glamour charm to make himself blend in a bit more. He had the privilege to use magic whenever he wanted because he had a ward on him, which meant he could cast spells without leaving magical signatures. So no one could ever send him to Azkaban for any of the things he'd done.
He slipped into 'newts newsagents' and found the newspapers and bought the 'daily prophet.' His father had once said to him. "If ever you're unsure of the truth buy a newspaper, and ignore the lies, read between the lines and you'll find the truth." That was when he listened to his father. He never bothered now days. He paid for the newspaper with the money he carried in a secret pocket, the pocket took money straight from his parents vault whenever the pocket was empty, and so it never was.
He walked out of the shop and went to a quiet dreary pub just off Knockturn ally called 'the blackened dagger'. It was his favourite when he needed to be alone. He renewed his glamour charm as he went in and pulled up the collar on his black velvet dress robes. Inside was very dark and full of smoke, the odd thing was that no one was ever smoking in there. He went up to the bar where an odd man with moving tattoos all over his baldhead, was talking to someone who Harry couldn't see. Harry asked for a fire whisky, remembering to keep his voice low. The man with the tattoos looked up and grunted in reply. He shoved a tankard Harry's way and some of the whisky sloshed over the edge. The man grunted again, Harry snapped out of watching a skeleton walking across the man's head. And paid from the secret pocket.
Harry then went over to his favourite seat by the window, which was magically tinted so people could look out but not in. He could barely see out anyway though because the windows were so dirty. He sat down and looked down at the daily prophet in his hands. On the front cover was a moving picture of Fudge he was grinning stupidly and waving, though he actually looked quite nervous, and stressed. It was obvious on the picture that he was sweating quite a lot. Every so often he wiped his forehead with a polka dot handkerchief. Harry then looked down and the caption read…
Minister of Magic says the attacks are nothing to be worried about!
'Minister' Harry thought incredulously 'He's not…but Albus is the Minister! Why would Albus give up his position to an idiot like Fudge?' His mind travelled back to when he was at Hogwarts. Albus had brought him to school, why did he do that? He should have taken him home for his parents to deal with. It now seemed he no longer had a home, and Dumbledore and even Draco seemed convinced his parents were dead. If they were, who killed them? Malfoy had said a Dark lord had killed them, but who was this? Was dark lord a nickname for a Shadow? Were they killed by Feverius? Also he could have sworn he saw Hermione and Ron and his old friends alive at Hogwarts.
Harry's head started to hurt, nothing made sense. He took a large swig of fire whisky, he didn't even choke as it burned down his throat. He'd drunk too much of the stuff for it to have that effect on anymore. He decided to give his parents one last try. He took out his two way mirror, from another of his many pockets and said clearly into the mirror "James Potter" but nothing happened. He then tried "Lily Potter" Then finally in desperation he said "Sirius Black" but none of them worked. He sighed and put the mirror back into his pocket.
"So…My family is dead." He muttered. He looked down at his tankard and realised he had drunk it all.
"I think it's time for another drink." He said under his breath.
Three fire whiskeys later…the door to the blackened dagger opened and in walked a hooded figure, who walked up to the bar and ordered a Dragon rum. The figure then walked over to where Harry was downing yet another fire whisky, and sat opposite him.
"I know why I'm drinking, but why would someone as young as you want to?" Came the growling voice from under the hood.
"Apart from my life suddenly being flipped upside down, I think my parents are dead." Harry said in a harsh voice, hoping the man would leave.
"I see what are you going to do?" The voice growled.
"I don't know, my first plan was to get pissed, after that, I was going to kill whoever murdered them, then find out what the hell's going on."
"You think that'll help?"
"I don't know or care. All I know is there's some bloke called the dark lord who apparently killed my parents years ago even though I saw them a few days ago."
"Odd." The dark cloaked figure took a gulp of his drink.
"Yeah, so what's your reason for getting paralytic?" Harry said, pushing away the sudden urge to set fire to something.
"My best friend died a few weeks ago, and now the only person I have left is sitting in front of me drinking himself stupid, while plotting murder." The voice changed, sounded familiar.
Harry was fairly drunk so it took a few moments for what the hooded man said to sink in.
"Wha' the hell?" he slurred
Remus pulled his hood down "Hi Harry."
Harry automatically put up a blue shimmering shield.
"Don't worry I'm not going to attack you." Remus said calmly
Harry slowly put his shield down. "If you don't explain what's going on, I'll blow this pub up with you and me in it." Harry said.
"I will, I will just give me a chance." Remus took another swig of his drink.
"Okay fine, I'm listening," Harry kept one hand on his wand though.
Remus then went on to explain that Harry had been transported to another world where there was an evil wizard called Voldemort, who had killed his parents at the age of one. He went on to explain all the major events that had happened since then. This took some time and by the end they were both quite drunk.
"I can't believe PPeter did 'dat, what a bastard! Soo you're tellin' me 'dat like they aren't really dead, just in thiss world." Harry slurred.
"Yeah, 'dey are probably sstill alive in your world, with SSirius and our Harry." Remus Downed another Dragon rum, he didn't really want to think of that.
"Man, 'dats pissed on my bonfire!" Harry laughed.
Remus started laughing too. "So, why are you ssso angry all the time?" he slurred
Harry then explained to Remus the incident with Feverius, including how he hunted down Wormtail and killed him.
"Woa, that's really…" Remus said suddenly feeling more sober.
"yeah I know." Harry said sobering up slightly too.
"Look, how can I trust you? Harry asked. "Can you prove any of what you said is true?"
Remus thought about for a moment, his intoxicated brain seemed to be working very slowly. "Here, thiss is the 'What if' stone I told yyou about." Remus remembered it was still in his pocket.
Harry looked at it, "thiss was in my hand when I-I got 'transported here, I 'fort it was a portkey."
"I think it is ssort of, just to another wworld," Remus' head had started to spin.
A few more drinks later, Remus took Harry to a graveyard. It was around mid-night and the pair both stumbled through the gates and into the silent graveyard where no-one was around.
Harry tripped and ended up lying in the grass by Jonathan Marks' 1935-1990. He was sending different coloured sparks into the air with his wand and giggling at them.
Remus however was stumbling around barely able to walk, muttering to himself. Finally he found what he was looking for. "Harrry!" He called out
"Yearrh," Harry Apparated across the graveyard to where Remus was. Who yelled out as he appeared by his side.
"Your nott old enough to App-pparat-te," Remus could not seem to pronounce 'Apparate'
"Dad ttaught me," Harry was surprised he didn't Splinch himself.
"Talking of 'im here he is," Remus motioned to the grave in front of him. There was two graves side by side. The names read Lily Potter, and James potter. Died 31st of October 1981.
Harry fell to his knees, a combination of too much drink and shock. "Oh shit," was all Harry said before transforming into a golden phoenix and flying off. Leaving drunken Remus Lupin who promptly passed out there in the graveyard.
A/N: Reviews!
blue transparent stapler : wow great name! Umm sort of Dark Harry is off is rocker insane so I guess he's going to get worse, the good Harry is just going to start to hallucinate, unless he can get home soon.
Drusilla : Pretty much, he's not all evil. Just a bit messed up! But anyway yes he's gonna get worse. I can't wait to write it!
Eruve tinwen : *Blushes* hehe your so kind! Do you really squeal when I update? Wow that is so kool! Yes it's an odd concept the parallel universe itself rejecting Harry, aww he just can't get a break! Thanks so much for saying all those nice things about me, that means tonnes to me.
Limegreenlion : Great…! Creepy I think someone needs a straight jacket, or a creased one, whatever! Thanks do you really think it fits together, I was a tad paranoid it wasn't. *Looks over shoulder* I could have sworn…
Gaul1 : thanks, I think its an interesting change.
Authouress : LOL does everyone have to insane for you to like them?
Silvercrystal77 : HA I made this chappie really long to make up for the last one.
Gilthas : Hey notice the long chapter? Well for me long, anyway I'm really busy right now, so I'm trying my best. Yeah the other Harry is pretty mad already, this will just be the icing on the cake.Good I'm looking forwards to finding out what happens in the end of 3003. HORRAY FOR HRI!!!! Sorry I just want to marry your story…okay maybe I'm the insane one…nah, I eat parsnips, that keeps you sane. What's elvish for Parsnips rock?
LilyEvans : thanks loads, here you go!
Funness : yep he's gonna go mad as a mad person who hasn't had their screws tightened for ages, who goes to a madness convention and buys a plot but then looses it and with it their marbles…okay I went too far!
Lizai : I doubt he can!
chocoliciouz : sure, I'm trying!
Abluebird225 : umm
Padfootlet : I don't really know how to respond to that! But "Woof"
A/N : See I told you it was longer than usual, that means you should all write a nice long review!