WARNINGS: This is very much a slash story, you have been warned. Swearing is pretty big, so watch out.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a mother, I am not British, I am not (shudders) blonde, and I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: Hey everyone, it's BlackRaven13 again. Cherry's still feeling lazy and I still have writers block on my stories, so I decided to type this chapter for her. If anyone reading this has read my stories, I'm sorry for the lack of updates. Blame it on writers block.
Cherry's A/N: Thank you thank you thank you!!!! At least I'm helping you...kinda...ahem. Your doing wonderfully with this story and you can write it as long as you want, and I hope it helps with your writer's block.
Immediately all three occupants of the living room rushed towards Harry's room to see what could cause him to utter such a terrified, heart-wrenching scream. They entered his room to find him asleep, tangled in his blanket, lying in the fetal position. Harry was mumbling quietly, most words indiscernible. Every once in a while a word or phrase such as 'no' 'please' and 'don't' could be made out
Cautiously J.T. approached the bed to wake Harry from what was undeniably a horrible nightmare. He placed his hand on Harry's shoulder to shake him awake and Harry's reaction was both swift and violent. With a yelp Harry shot awake and moved far away from the offending hand, causing himself to fall off the edge of the bed and land with a muffled thump in a pile of blankets.
"Potter?" Draco asked.
"No...no, please no...I'll be good! I promise!" Harry pleaded desperately, scooting away from the others to huddle in the corner, obviously disoriented from his dream.
"Harry? It's us, J.T. and Xander and Draco." J.T. said in hope of getting through to the distraught boy. Harry seemed to calm slightly, his tremors ceasing as he lifted his face to look out from between his arms which had been brought up to protect his face.
"What's wrong?" Xander asked.
"J-just a nightmare. I'm fine." Harry said, untangling himself from the blankets and standing up.
"You're shaking." Xander observed. "What was the nightmare about? You seemed so scared." He asked.
"Nothing." Harry said.
"Harry, please tell us what's wrong. That couldn't have been a normal nightmare." J.T. said.
"Yeah, well I'm not exactly normal." Harry shot back.
"Understatement of the year, Potter." Draco said.
"Harry, we know nothing of this world, of your life. We have to live together until Xander and I can get back to our world. It would be nice to know about this world." J.T. said calmly.
"No one knows." Harry said, curling up on his bed. J.T. moved to sit beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Harry flinched at the touch, and he removed his hand.
"No one knows what Harry?" Xander asked. Harry shook his head and remained silent. J.T. sighed.
"It's late. We can talk in the morning." He said. All three left to find their rooms. Draco had the room next to Harry's. J.T.'s room was across from Harry's and Xander's next to his. J.T. frowned at the arrangement and went into Xander's room with him instead of his own room.
"How did we get here?" J.T. asked Xander as they lay together in bed.
"I don't know. All I remember is suddenly falling into Dumbledore's office. We didn't do anything, we were just in our room." Xander said.
"Maybe there's a reason we were sent here." J.T. said. Xander kissed him lightly before replying.
"Like what?" He asked.
"I don't know, it could be anything. Our counterparts in this world don't seem to like each other very much. Maybe we were sent to get them together. Or maybe it was to help Harry, he seems to have a lot of problems and secrets." J.T. said. Xander nodded his agreement.
"I'm sure if we were sent to do something, it will become apparent in the near future." He said. "Let's get some sleep, it's been a long day." Xander said, kissing J.T. again. J.T. wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and pulled his body close, relishing in the warmth he gave off. The two soon drifted off to sleep.
Sleep didn't come as easily for the other two occupants of their new quarters. Draco was pondering over all the new information he had learned about the Golden Boy in only a few short hours. First of all the revelation that his relatives didn't care for him as everyone had always thought. Seems his life wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Draco could sympathize with the feeling of being unwanted. He was little more than a trophy for his father to show off, along with Narcissa, his trophy wife. Probably the only reason he even existed was because the Malfoy line needed an heir.
And then their was Ha – Potter's reaction after his nightmare. The trembling, the pleading, the flinching. It all pointed to one thing. Abuse. Draco knew all the signs, had seen them in others. Many Slytherins did not have happy home lives. But the Boy-Who-Lived couldn't be abused, it just wasn't logical. He was a hero, a savior, a Gryffindor, not a poor abused orphan.
As Draco's thoughts kept him awake, Harry lay in his bed praying not to succumb to the darkness of sleep again. Sleep was dangerous. Sleep was the place dreams lurked. Sleep was the place where memories twisted together into horrific visions that left him terrified and vulnerable. Sleep was the place Voldemort lurked, sending him visions of pain and death. Sleep was somewhere he wished never to visit again. And so he lay awake, forcing himself to keep hie eyes open, to remain in the realm of the living.
Harry was one of the first up in the morning. He decided he couldn't lay on his bed any longer without falling asleep so went to sit in front of the dying fire in their common room. After a while he was joined by Draco who sat as far away from him as possible. As J.T. and Xander joined them a letter appeared on the small coffee table accompanied by a small pop. Carefully Harry picked up the letter to find it was from Dumbledore. He read it out loud.
Dear Harry, Draco, J.T. and Xander,
I trust this letter finds you well. As you know, today is a Hogsmeade trip day, and J.T. and Xander need to buy new clothing and supplies. I want all four of you to go together. I would like it if you would spend the day getting to know each other better. And yes, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter, this is part of your punishment. If you would please report to my office before leaving, I would like to disguise J.T. and Xander so as not to raise questions as to why there are suddenly two Mr. Potters and two Mr. Malfoys.
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"I suppose you could borrow some of our clothing for now, seeing as we're the same sizes." Draco said, leading Xander and J.T. to his room. Draco ended up supplying both boys with clothing as all Harry had were his cousins old cast-offs.
"Is this all you have for clothing Harry?" J.T. asked. "Why is none of it your size?"
"They're my cousins hand-me-downs." Harry answered, hoping they wouldn't question him about it too much.
"We'll just have to go shopping for you too then." J.T. said.
"What will you pay with?" Draco asked. "You obviously haven't got any money."
"I'm sure Dumbledore would have thought of that." Xander answered. Indeed Dumbledore had thought of everything. He supplied the two boys with a potion to change their appearances. Both Xander and J.T. now had dark brown hair that was slightly wavy. J.T.'s eyes became a pale grayish-green color and Xander's eyes changed from their normal stormy grayish-blue to a bright sky-blue.
"The potion will wear off in six hours, so please be back in your rooms by then. As I had been telling Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy before you two arrived, they are confined to their rooms for a month except for quidditch as a punishment. You will join them, though you will be allowed to venture outside the rooms, if you change your features. We do not want you getting mixed up with our own Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter." Dumbledore explained to them.
"You will receive all notes and homework assignments from your classes and work from your rooms. House elves will bring up your meals. You do not have a strict schedule for classes, though you will be expected to keep up with your other classes. If there are no questions, I will let you go enjoy your Saturday." Dumbledore finished. No one had questions.
"Harry!" a voice shouted from behind them as they were in the entrance hall. Immediately Harry was engulfed in a sea of fuzzy brown hair.
"Where have you been?!" Hermione demanded.
"My punishment, remember? I'm sorry 'Mione, I'm confined to a room with Malfoy for a month. You can see me during Quidditch though. And don't worry, I promise to keep up with classes." Harry said, laughing. Hermione playfully hit him on the arm.
"Are you allowed to go to Hogsmeade?" she asked.
"Yeah, but I've gotta stick with Malfoy." Harry said, motioning vaguely towards Draco.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't notice you." Hermione said, noticing J.T. and Xander. "I'm Hermione Granger, I don't believe I've seen you around before."
"Ve are new. Je m'appelle Xander et il s'appelle J.T. Ve are 'ow you say...staying vith ze Draco and 'arry, to get used to ze English language." Xander said, using a French accent not unlike Fleur Dealacour.
"Of course." Hermione said, smiling. "I'll let you get going, I've got to go meet Ron. Bye Harry. Don't forget to study, we take the N.E.W.T.'s this year. Try no to let Malfoy get under your skin too much." She said, whispering the last part in his ear.
"Brilliant Xander. Thanks." Harry said once they were out of earshot.
"She's a lot like the Hermione in our world. Is she obsessed with books?" Xander said.
"Yes." Harry said.
"What about Ron Weasley? is he your friend? Are he and Hermione going out?" J.T. asked.
"Ron is my friend, but no they aren't going out. Though everyone in the school besides them know they like each other." Harry said. "What house are you two in?" he added as an after thought.
"Gryffindor." J.T. answered.
"Slytherin." Xander said. "You?"
"The same. I guess our two worlds aren't that different. With the exception of Voldie." Harry said. The other three stared at him.
"What?" he asked, unnerved by the staring.
"Voldie?" J.T. croaked.
"Oops, did I say that out loud?" Harry asked, turning red.
"Yes." Xander said. "You've got some guts kid, calling him that."
"Just what I'd expect from the great Harry Potter." Draco sneered. "Nothing scares you does it? No, you're a brave Gryffindor, everyone's Golden Boy. Something as simple as the Dark Lord doesn't scare you, does it Potter?" he spat, walking faster to get ahead.
"I'll go after him, you talk to Harry." Xander whispered into J.T.'s ear.
"Harry?" J.T. asked the sullen boy beside him.
"He's wrong." Harry whispered.
"What?" J.T. asked.
"I am scared. Sometimes I just can't take it anymore. I'm no one's savior, I'm scared and I'm weak." Harry said, rushing off as well.
A/N: Well, another chapter done! And it's helped my writers block. For those who know my stories, I posted the seventh and last chapter of Down With the Sickness and am working on the next chapter for all of my fics.
'Je m'appelle Xander et s'appelle J.T.' is French for 'I'm Xander and he's J.T.' (Literally it means "I am called Xander and he is called J.T.')