Disclaimer: don't own Harry Potter!!!
Thank you to those of you who reviewed!! I am sorry for the delay in updating - first I was in hospital, then recovering, then holiday - you get the gist.
DIMENSIONS - chapter 2
The next morning, when Harry opened his eyes, he saw that once again Remus had his wand pointed at him. His mother however was asleep in a chair beside his bed. He sat up, amazed at how weak he had become over the course of the week, and looked at Remus apprehensively.
"well, congratulations. You have James and Lily convinced, as for the rest of the order, they are on their way here with a bottle of veritaserum." Remus said, a cold expression on his face.
Harry opened his mouth to reply but couldn't think of anything, so he closed it again. he lay back on the pillows, and stared at the ceiling. The large wooden door opened and everyone that was present at his first interrogation entered the room.
James walked up and shook Lily awake. Dumbledore approached the bed and sat at the end.
"James has told me your story Harry, but I am afraid that I can't put much faith in it until you are tested with this", he gestured to the bottle of Veritaserum in his hand.
He dripped it into Harry's mouth and stood back for it to take effect.
***James's POV***
James watched as the blank look again crossed Harry's features. He believed what Harry had told him about Voldemort, but the stuff about Sirius and Peter, that was unbelievable - he knew these men. Sirius was the traitor - not Peter!
Dumbledore cleared his throat and began asking questions to confirm what Harry had already told them. He asked how Harry got his scar, and about the fidelius charm that had protected his parents. The story was confirmed.
Dumbledore then expanded the questioning. He asked what Sirius had done after he escaped from Azkaban. Harry immediately went into detail about how Sirius had intended to kill Peter but how he had been stopped. The story went on. Sirius had not been proven innocent and had instead gone into hiding and working for the order.
Harry had then revealed that Sirius had died protecting him. James, having got over the shock of Sirius actually being decent, looked upon Harry with Pity. The boy had clearly been through hell, and here they were, subjecting him to an inquisition.
Dumbledore asked a couple of questions pertaining to where Harry's loyalties lie and then gave him the antidote to the Veritaserum. Lily was crying again. James approached his wife and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, surprised at the lump in his own throat.
Members of the order were muttering to each other about what to do now. Remus had his head resting in his hands. James could only imagine the torment that this was putting him through.
Harry was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees, staring blankly off into space. Just as James moved to ask the boy if he was alright, Dumbledore called him and Lily to follow him outside.
James hesitated, turned and followed Dumbledore, leaving McGonagall with Harry.
***Harry's POV***
Everyone left the room, with the exception of his transfiguration professor. Harry shook his head as if to throw of the reverie about Sirius into which he had sank.
McGonagall was giving Harry an appraising stare. In order to break the uncomfortable silence (well, near silence, he could hear the rest of the order having an urgent discussion outside of the hospital wing), he spoke up
"Are you the transfiguration teacher in this world as well?"
Looking startled, McGonagall replied "Uh, yes. I am". She paused "Is this world very different, aside from the differences that you spoke about?"
"Not really. The people here seem - I don't know. they didn't have a break like on my world. Everyone seems more like, tired."
"Yes. The war has been hard on everyone."
"aside from Peter, Remus, my parents and - Sirius, everyone seems to be quite similar in personality."
"so you are a student of Hogwarts?"
Harry made to answer, but again the door opened and the order re-entered. They all looked relatively satisfied. Before Dumbledore even opened his mouth, Harry knew that a plan would be coming out of it.
"Harry, I believe in your dimension that you attend Hogwarts?"
"Yeah." Harry said, thinking that this was a better start than he had anticipated
"We have decided that you are to come here as a student when school starts up tomorrow. Obvioiusly you cannot attend under your own name, as you are a known deatheater in this world." Harry nodded
"you will be sorted today and before the feast tomorrow night, you will be taken shopping for clothes."
"who am I going to 'be'?" Harry asked
"you will pose as Lily's nephew. It is not well known that she has a sister, as they don't exactly get on. Therefore it is reasonable to suggest that said sister's son could have been a wizard without anyone knowing."
"So where have I been studying for the past five years?"
"At a much smaller magical school in Devon, they specialise in taking in muggle borns."
"oh. Why have I decided to come here?"
"because, that school was attacked by deatheaters at the end of last year. Nobody was hurt, but we can tell everyone that your 'mother'"
"Aunt Petunia?"
"Exactly, was worried for your safety and contacted Lily who works here as a nurse and could get you in."
Harry nodded his approval of the plan and sighed. the irony of the situation not escaping him.
"Right, in order to pull this off your appearance must be changed." Harry felt horrified. He did NOT want to look like his cousin
"I will give you red hair to resemble your mothers and alter your facial structure so you don't look like James. That way there will still be a family resemblance but not a very strong one. What colour eyes would you like?"
a wave of relief spread through Harry. Obviously they had never met his cousin. "Brown." Harry answered
Dumbledore and McGonagall pointed their wands at him and began to transfigure his features. James took his glasses and altered their shape, making them more oval with thin frames.
Harry looked into a mirror that Tonks handed him, and gasped. He looked very different, but still, quite handsome, and fortunately, did not have the body mass of Dudley Dursley.
The order left the room. Lily went to get Harry some robes and James helped him out of bed. "Hungry?" he asked kindly
"Yeah." Harry answered.
"You need to put on some weight, rebuild yourself. I think Azkaban took a lot out of you."
"Sirius survived there for twelve years, and I was a complete mess after the first few days." Harry commented, then immediately wished he hadn't as James's features darkened.
"Look" James said eventually "you have recently lost someone close to you and were flung to the dementors without any warning at all. It's probably why it hit you like that."
"In my world, Dumbledore hates the dementors. He would never use them. Anyway, they are servants of the dark lord."
"It was like that here as well. Flitwick was trying to find an easier was to repel dementors than a patronus, as so many can't do it, and stumbled across a way to control them. Then, as times became desperate enough, we decided to use it."
"oh."
Lily came into the room and gave Harry a set of robes. Once he put them on they walked together down to the hall for breakfast.
Harry was so happy to have the chance to get to know these people. Since hearing his story they seemed to trust him and even care for him. He looked at his father as they made their way towards the hall. James was supporting Harry by the elbow.
"What do you do for a job?" Harry asked
"Oh. I'm the defence teacher."
"So you'll be teaching me?"
"That's the general idea." James responded with a smirk.
They sat down at one end of the almost empty staff table. Snape sat at the other end casting surly looks at them every now and again.
Harry tried not to be too pig like as he ate. It felt like he hadn't had a decent meal in weeks. James and Lily kept looking at him appraisingly when they thought he wasn't looking.
"So" Lily said by way of conversation "What are you good at in school?"
"Quidditch." Harry said immediately
"Really?" James asked "Seeker?"
"Yeah." Harry replied, suddenly hit with a vision of James playing with the stolen snitch that he had seen in Snape's pensieve. He cast a look at the aforementioned potions master out of the corner of his eye, wondering what sort of relationship he had with his father in this world.
"How did you do in your OWLS?" Lily asked
"ok. I passed everything except divination and history of magic."
"how did you do in defence?" James asked curiously
Harry reddened slightly, and said "Outstanding"
James smiled. "Well hopefully you'll like my classes. I try to make them interesting."
Breakfast now finished, Harry, Lily and James made their way to Dumbledore's office. The sorting hat was sitting on Dumbledore's desk. Dumbledore came round the desk and motioned for Harry to sit down.
"Well Harr - sorry, Dudley, you know the how this works?"
"Yes sir." Harry replied
Dumbledore placed the hat on his head. The sorting hat started to mutter
"well, this is difficult. You have a great deal of Slytherin in you, bravery however seems to be one of your greatest assets - and failings. Quite clever too, so, what to do."
Harry thought hard, as he had done years ago 'not Slytherin, not slytherin'.
The hat considered a moment more before bellowing "Gryffindor!"
Fawkes squawked indignantly at the noise, and relieved smiles broke out on the faces around the room.
"Congratulations Harry. Is that the house you are 'normally' in?"
"Yes." Dumbledore nodded
"Right. Well, I'll inform Minerva of her additional student. Meanwhile, I'd like you to rest. I'm sure Lily can have you feeling a lot more yourself by tomorrow."
Harry stood, said goodbye to Dumbledore and followed his mother from the office. Once they were back in the hospital wing, Lily gave Harry some nutritional and strengthening potions and left him to sleep. She also bought up some sixth year reading material in case the mood took him to do some reading when he awoke.
Thank you to those of you who reviewed!! I am sorry for the delay in updating - first I was in hospital, then recovering, then holiday - you get the gist.
DIMENSIONS - chapter 2
The next morning, when Harry opened his eyes, he saw that once again Remus had his wand pointed at him. His mother however was asleep in a chair beside his bed. He sat up, amazed at how weak he had become over the course of the week, and looked at Remus apprehensively.
"well, congratulations. You have James and Lily convinced, as for the rest of the order, they are on their way here with a bottle of veritaserum." Remus said, a cold expression on his face.
Harry opened his mouth to reply but couldn't think of anything, so he closed it again. he lay back on the pillows, and stared at the ceiling. The large wooden door opened and everyone that was present at his first interrogation entered the room.
James walked up and shook Lily awake. Dumbledore approached the bed and sat at the end.
"James has told me your story Harry, but I am afraid that I can't put much faith in it until you are tested with this", he gestured to the bottle of Veritaserum in his hand.
He dripped it into Harry's mouth and stood back for it to take effect.
***James's POV***
James watched as the blank look again crossed Harry's features. He believed what Harry had told him about Voldemort, but the stuff about Sirius and Peter, that was unbelievable - he knew these men. Sirius was the traitor - not Peter!
Dumbledore cleared his throat and began asking questions to confirm what Harry had already told them. He asked how Harry got his scar, and about the fidelius charm that had protected his parents. The story was confirmed.
Dumbledore then expanded the questioning. He asked what Sirius had done after he escaped from Azkaban. Harry immediately went into detail about how Sirius had intended to kill Peter but how he had been stopped. The story went on. Sirius had not been proven innocent and had instead gone into hiding and working for the order.
Harry had then revealed that Sirius had died protecting him. James, having got over the shock of Sirius actually being decent, looked upon Harry with Pity. The boy had clearly been through hell, and here they were, subjecting him to an inquisition.
Dumbledore asked a couple of questions pertaining to where Harry's loyalties lie and then gave him the antidote to the Veritaserum. Lily was crying again. James approached his wife and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, surprised at the lump in his own throat.
Members of the order were muttering to each other about what to do now. Remus had his head resting in his hands. James could only imagine the torment that this was putting him through.
Harry was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees, staring blankly off into space. Just as James moved to ask the boy if he was alright, Dumbledore called him and Lily to follow him outside.
James hesitated, turned and followed Dumbledore, leaving McGonagall with Harry.
***Harry's POV***
Everyone left the room, with the exception of his transfiguration professor. Harry shook his head as if to throw of the reverie about Sirius into which he had sank.
McGonagall was giving Harry an appraising stare. In order to break the uncomfortable silence (well, near silence, he could hear the rest of the order having an urgent discussion outside of the hospital wing), he spoke up
"Are you the transfiguration teacher in this world as well?"
Looking startled, McGonagall replied "Uh, yes. I am". She paused "Is this world very different, aside from the differences that you spoke about?"
"Not really. The people here seem - I don't know. they didn't have a break like on my world. Everyone seems more like, tired."
"Yes. The war has been hard on everyone."
"aside from Peter, Remus, my parents and - Sirius, everyone seems to be quite similar in personality."
"so you are a student of Hogwarts?"
Harry made to answer, but again the door opened and the order re-entered. They all looked relatively satisfied. Before Dumbledore even opened his mouth, Harry knew that a plan would be coming out of it.
"Harry, I believe in your dimension that you attend Hogwarts?"
"Yeah." Harry said, thinking that this was a better start than he had anticipated
"We have decided that you are to come here as a student when school starts up tomorrow. Obvioiusly you cannot attend under your own name, as you are a known deatheater in this world." Harry nodded
"you will be sorted today and before the feast tomorrow night, you will be taken shopping for clothes."
"who am I going to 'be'?" Harry asked
"you will pose as Lily's nephew. It is not well known that she has a sister, as they don't exactly get on. Therefore it is reasonable to suggest that said sister's son could have been a wizard without anyone knowing."
"So where have I been studying for the past five years?"
"At a much smaller magical school in Devon, they specialise in taking in muggle borns."
"oh. Why have I decided to come here?"
"because, that school was attacked by deatheaters at the end of last year. Nobody was hurt, but we can tell everyone that your 'mother'"
"Aunt Petunia?"
"Exactly, was worried for your safety and contacted Lily who works here as a nurse and could get you in."
Harry nodded his approval of the plan and sighed. the irony of the situation not escaping him.
"Right, in order to pull this off your appearance must be changed." Harry felt horrified. He did NOT want to look like his cousin
"I will give you red hair to resemble your mothers and alter your facial structure so you don't look like James. That way there will still be a family resemblance but not a very strong one. What colour eyes would you like?"
a wave of relief spread through Harry. Obviously they had never met his cousin. "Brown." Harry answered
Dumbledore and McGonagall pointed their wands at him and began to transfigure his features. James took his glasses and altered their shape, making them more oval with thin frames.
Harry looked into a mirror that Tonks handed him, and gasped. He looked very different, but still, quite handsome, and fortunately, did not have the body mass of Dudley Dursley.
The order left the room. Lily went to get Harry some robes and James helped him out of bed. "Hungry?" he asked kindly
"Yeah." Harry answered.
"You need to put on some weight, rebuild yourself. I think Azkaban took a lot out of you."
"Sirius survived there for twelve years, and I was a complete mess after the first few days." Harry commented, then immediately wished he hadn't as James's features darkened.
"Look" James said eventually "you have recently lost someone close to you and were flung to the dementors without any warning at all. It's probably why it hit you like that."
"In my world, Dumbledore hates the dementors. He would never use them. Anyway, they are servants of the dark lord."
"It was like that here as well. Flitwick was trying to find an easier was to repel dementors than a patronus, as so many can't do it, and stumbled across a way to control them. Then, as times became desperate enough, we decided to use it."
"oh."
Lily came into the room and gave Harry a set of robes. Once he put them on they walked together down to the hall for breakfast.
Harry was so happy to have the chance to get to know these people. Since hearing his story they seemed to trust him and even care for him. He looked at his father as they made their way towards the hall. James was supporting Harry by the elbow.
"What do you do for a job?" Harry asked
"Oh. I'm the defence teacher."
"So you'll be teaching me?"
"That's the general idea." James responded with a smirk.
They sat down at one end of the almost empty staff table. Snape sat at the other end casting surly looks at them every now and again.
Harry tried not to be too pig like as he ate. It felt like he hadn't had a decent meal in weeks. James and Lily kept looking at him appraisingly when they thought he wasn't looking.
"So" Lily said by way of conversation "What are you good at in school?"
"Quidditch." Harry said immediately
"Really?" James asked "Seeker?"
"Yeah." Harry replied, suddenly hit with a vision of James playing with the stolen snitch that he had seen in Snape's pensieve. He cast a look at the aforementioned potions master out of the corner of his eye, wondering what sort of relationship he had with his father in this world.
"How did you do in your OWLS?" Lily asked
"ok. I passed everything except divination and history of magic."
"how did you do in defence?" James asked curiously
Harry reddened slightly, and said "Outstanding"
James smiled. "Well hopefully you'll like my classes. I try to make them interesting."
Breakfast now finished, Harry, Lily and James made their way to Dumbledore's office. The sorting hat was sitting on Dumbledore's desk. Dumbledore came round the desk and motioned for Harry to sit down.
"Well Harr - sorry, Dudley, you know the how this works?"
"Yes sir." Harry replied
Dumbledore placed the hat on his head. The sorting hat started to mutter
"well, this is difficult. You have a great deal of Slytherin in you, bravery however seems to be one of your greatest assets - and failings. Quite clever too, so, what to do."
Harry thought hard, as he had done years ago 'not Slytherin, not slytherin'.
The hat considered a moment more before bellowing "Gryffindor!"
Fawkes squawked indignantly at the noise, and relieved smiles broke out on the faces around the room.
"Congratulations Harry. Is that the house you are 'normally' in?"
"Yes." Dumbledore nodded
"Right. Well, I'll inform Minerva of her additional student. Meanwhile, I'd like you to rest. I'm sure Lily can have you feeling a lot more yourself by tomorrow."
Harry stood, said goodbye to Dumbledore and followed his mother from the office. Once they were back in the hospital wing, Lily gave Harry some nutritional and strengthening potions and left him to sleep. She also bought up some sixth year reading material in case the mood took him to do some reading when he awoke.