AN: Sorry for the wait! That wasn't two months already, was it? I sure hope not. Anyway, thanks to all reviewers! Your comments and criticisms were great. To those of you who suggested yet another world where this and that happen, that won't be happening anytime soon, if ever, because Harry needs to return to his world for my story to finish off, whenever that may be. Thanks for the suggestions anyway! I'm glad most of you liked the last chapter and that you can relate to my whacked sense of humour.
Brenna8, SiriusAboutMarauders (I did okay in my exams, thanks!), SilverKnight7, HarryGryffinGirl (I'll take that as a compliment ^^), Authoress, Solaris Isa, Realm of darkness, Sweet A.K, Mark Evans, supernova8610, sarcastic spastic, Harriet Jamina Potter, Kateri1, Potter-Freak123 (I laughed when I read your review!), risi, Spellman, jasmine2003, ananova, ping*pong5, Acacia Jules (I sent you an email regarding your criticism, hope you've checked it! Thanks for the review too!), Space Density, incoherentdozyprat (just checked my mail the other day, haven't had a chance to reply yet though, sorry!), Avestia, Romm, and Torri
Disclaimer: anything you recognise belongs to JKR! Did anyone actually think I owned it!?
~*~
It was 10:45am, and Harry was waiting on platform 9¾ for the Hogwarts Express. He was fifteen minutes early and no one was there yet. Although he was alone, it was the first time he did not feel alone at all as he waited and thought about his holidays and all the people who were out there who actually loved him. It was a nice feeling to know that during the holidays he could return to people he loved.
After leaving the twisted world in which his father was married to one of the worst people ever and Snape was in a rock-band, the Marauders had hurriedly made copies of the bands' album and sent them to the band members' counterparts. (Chapter 12, for those of you who skipped it, is not really important to the continuation of this story).
Several days before the 1st of September, Harry had even helped in a prank by helping deliver a letter bomb to the man who did not let Magnolia use the phone in his house (chapter 10). Upon opening, the blind bomb would explode and leave him blinded for several days, while the stink pellets rocketed throughout his house and paint bombs decorated the exterior some very bright colours. Although Harry was not usually one to play pranks on people, he really felt this man deserved it for not letting Magnolia use a phone in a time of need, and especially for being rude about it.
Two hours ago, Harry had been at Hogwarts with his luggage and new books that one of the staff members had kindly purchased for Harry during his absence. He had also been in the presence of not one, but two of the people, or person, that he hated the most…
~*~
About two hours earlier at Hogwarts (in Harry's world)…
"…my, that is most fascinating," Dumbledore commented as he rested his chin on his steepled fingers, looking at Harry over his half-moon glasses.
Harry transformed with a 'pop' back into human, as he pushed his glasses up a little on the bridge of his nose and looked out at the bright sky outside. His father and oSirius had left half an hour earlier back to their world for some 'order business', they had said cryptically, after dropping Harry off at Dumbledore's office.
"I am sure you will find some information on your form in the library, and such a beautiful form it is! As the school term has not yet officially begun, I can tell you that you can do quite a bit of rule-breaking with your form! Although in several hours I'd be telling you not to break any rules!" Harry laughed at Dumbledore's humour, "Not only was that a wonderful tale of your adventures, you also bring me a souvenir of your journeys! I am very grateful for that," a copy of 'The Teachles- Number One Hits' was on Dumbledore's desk, and Dumbledore merrily waved at the band members on the cover, who waved back, looking as out-of-character as ever; Snape was smiling, Filch was downed with jewelry, McGonagall was beating furiously at the drums, and Dumbledore was most thrilled that his counterpart was wearing leather.
There was a knock on the door, and the album disappeared with a wave of Dumbledore's wand.
In walked Snape, cloak billowing in all his bat-like glory. Harry and Dumbledore made eye contact for a brief moment, both obviously thinking of the album that Dumbledore had just hidden, and stifled their laughter.
Snape ignored it, knowing Dumbledore's eccentric tendencies, and just asked, "you asked to see me, Headmaster?" he gave Harry a dirty look as though to say what have you done this time, Potter? Harry wondered again what Snape was asked to do at the end of the Third Task, but really doubted he would get an answer if he asked.
"Severus, if you could stay with us for a few moments, our guests should be arriving shortly," Dumbledore answered, and conjured a comfortable looking cushioned chair next to Harry's, across from Dumbledore's desk. Snape shot Harry a quick look and sat down.
"And who might these guests be?" Snape asked curiously.
"Once they arrive, it'll be easier to explain things," Dumbledore said.
As if on cue, there were three quick raps on the door and in came the dimension travellers, plus their passenger.
Snape stood up quickly and looked to Dumbledore.
"What is the meaning of this!?" he snarled as he looked from James, to oSirius, and then to oSnape, a slight glint of fear in his eyes. Harry wondered if Snape was more fearful of seeing James alive, or of seeing another Snape. Harry laughed within himself at the thought of Snape realising just how scary he could look.
Dumbledore looked quite amused at Snape's reaction, and said in a polite voice, "Severus, meet some people from another dimension. I am sure you recognize some of them for their counterparts…"
Snape suddenly rounded on Harry, who took a surprised step back, "did Potter have something to do with this?"
Seeing this, James and oSirius stepped in front of Harry in defense, "don't you go picking on him!" oSirius yelled.
"Pick on someone your own size!" James poked Snape in the chest, and Snape looked too surprised for words at James.
Harry looked shocked, and oSnape sneered, "it would seem that your Potter is as much of a troublemaker as ours."
Ignoring oSnape, Dumbledore explained, "you are mistaken, Severus, you see, James and Sirius have done some research…"
It took merely half an hour for Dumbledore to recount James and oSirius' adventure, and Snape nodded understandingly, although eyes still wide.
"Now," Dumbledore said, "Severus, I would like you to take, ah, Severus, with you and explain to him what our Voldemort situation is like here." He then turned to oSnape, "thank you, Severus, for helping us."
oSnape declined his head politely, and followed Snape out of the room, but not before giving Harry and the Marauder's identical death glares.
"Happy people, aren't they?" oSirius commented as soon as the door closed.
"Happy person, Sirius, they're two of the one and the same," James muttered under his breath.
"I still can't believe we were just in a room with two of them!" oSirius exclaimed.
"They really do look the same don't they? As greasy and sallow-skinned…" James began.
Harry remembered the message that was to be given to Dumbledore, "Professor Dumbledore, the other Dumbledore said that for you to be able to lock Voldemort's powers, you need to create a spell from one that you can find at 'In our volt, Aberforth's candles right'." Harry looked at Dumbledore expectantly, expecting an explanation.
Dumbledore chuckled, "I see, that is most helpful."
"But what does it mean?" James asked.
"In our family, when it is our birthday, the number of candles on the cake is usually our favourite number that year, which is usually the score of the winning Quidditch team when it's my birthday. Aberforth, however, always stuck with the same number, which was the number of people in a Quidditch team, plus the number of people in our family, plus the number of bedrooms in our house, plus the number of owls our family owned, plus his birth date. So whatever it is must be in that volt number in our family volt," Dumbledore explained, and Harry wondered if everyone in Dumbledore's family were as strange as Dumbledore himself, and how the other Dumbledore could make up such a clue, "thank you for relaying that information Harry, I will see to it as soon as possible."
"So where is your volt?" oSirius asked curiously.
"That is for me to know, and for you not to know," Dumbledore answered him mysteriously, with a twinkle in his eye, and Harry wondered briefly just how Dumbledore made his eyes do that and wondered if he could learn that trick as well. Dumbeldore suddenly turned towards Harry with a gentle smile, "Harry, it is time you go to the station."
The sudden change in topic surprised him, "what?"
James chuckled at the disbelief on Harry's face, "it's a tradition to go on the Hogwarts Express, you can't miss it. Your luggage can stay here, but you have to go on the ride."
"But…" Harry began to protest, wanting to know when he can see them again. Dumbledore spoke up.
"Your godfather is waiting in the Entrance Hall and will escort you to the station, and you will see James and Sirius again in the near future. Also, everything that has happened is to remain a secret, I believe Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley are eager to keep your secrets also. And one more thing, when you tell them that you have met people from another world, then you are not to say how it is done, but only that James and Sirius are the only ones who can do it, lest they try to find a way themselves and attempt to travel across dimensions."
James patted Harry on the shoulder, "we have some Order business to attend to, we'll see you soon."
"Don't try to stay out of trouble," oSirius said with a straight face, and waved solemnly.
~*~
So Sirius, in dog form, had trotted happily alongside Harry out of the Hogwart's grounds and apparated both himself and Harry to a place near the station. Harry was left waiting on Platform 9 ¾, and Sirius had left on the cryptic 'Order' business. No one had explained to him what this 'Order' was yet, and he promised himself he would get some answers next time he saw James or Sirius.
"Harry!"
Harry turned to look for the source of the voice and was bombarded with a mass of red.
"Oh Harry! How are you?"
"I'm fine thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said into her shoulder as she hugged him. Ron snickered, and although this was supposed to be an embarrassing scene, Harry did not feel embarrassed at all, being hugged was quite a nice feeling, "and how was your holiday?"
"It's always great to have the children back, although it can be a little too noisy sometimes," Mrs. Weasley shot Fred and George a quick look, who smirked in return.
"Hey Harry, did you like our presents?" Fred asked, a huge grin on his face.
"Were they useful?" George added. Harry raised an eyebrow, and wondered if they really believed Harry would use such things on his cousin, keeping in mind the punishment that Uncle Vernon would have given him.
"I'd hope not!" Mrs. Weasley huffed. Although she was not aware of what Fred and George had been doing over the holidays and what they sent Harry, she was aware that anything from them couldn't be anything other than prank-ware. The platform was starting to become more crowded and noisy as more families arrived with their pets. Seamus arrived and waved at them, and Harry saw further along the platform Neville looking flustered with his grandma; Neville must have forgotten something again.
"They were, thank you," Harry smiled, and he turned towards Ron with a grin, "and thank you for your present too Ron, very… subtle, it was."
Ron grinned back, "it does get boring winning in chess all of the time, some of you really do need to improve," Ron said pompously with an air very similar to Percy, "oh and you wouldn't believe this!"
"What?" Harry asked curiously, wondering what had gotten Ron excited. Was it the new dress robes the twins had promised to buy him? Or did they get him a new broom?
"I'm a Prefect!" Ron exclaimed, pointing excitedly to his shining Prefect badge that Harry hadn't noticed before, "I mean, I wasn't excited about it before, because Fred and George were being kinda nasty about it, but think about all the things I can do now that I'm a Prefect!"
"Ronald, you will not abuse the status that you have been given!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.
"Yeah mum, I know. And Hermione's a Prefect too!"
"I didn't expect any less," Harry was happy for Ron. He had such a great holiday that he did not even give a thought about who would be Prefect in their year.
"And I got a new broom from my parents…" Ron continued.
"And we bought him some dress robes for the occasion," Fred added.
Ron gave the twins a skeptic look, "yeah, the twins bought me some new robes, I haven't tried them on yet though…"
"He's afraid we jinxed them or something," George explained to Harry with a wink. Harry knew that the twins would keep their end of the bargain.
As Harry exchanged greetings with Ginny, Hermione appeared through the wall, and behind her were her parents, who Harry had only seen before on one or two occasions, with Mr. Weasley.
"Dad wanted to escort the Grangers with the Knight Bus," Ron explained to Harry, as Hermione saw them and rushed over, Prefect badge gleaming in the sun.
"It is wonderful to see you all again! How were your holidays?" Hermione gave them quick hugs.
"Hello children, hi Harry! I was just showing the Grangers some ways that wizards travel…" Arthur began to say, and Harry noticed how pale the Grangers looked, especially Mrs. Granger, the pale face really brought out her freckles. Even Mr. Granger's bushy brown hair looked wind-swept.
"Yes Arthur, now the children need to get on the Hogwarts Express before it leaves," Molly interrupted, well aware that Arthur was in 'lecture mode' while the Muggles were still present.
Arthur looked at his watch, "oh my, it is almost time! And I'll be late for work!" Arthur exclaimed, "Molly, can you take the Grangers back…"
"That is fine Mr. Weasley, we can get back to our place from here by our own means," Mr. Granger said, a little hurriedly. The Weasley children obviously noticed, as they grinned at each other. Mr. Weasley, however, was oblivious to the Granger's discomfort with travelling by Knight Bus.
"I need to get going, remember to write! And I'll see you sometime, Mr. and Mrs. Granger," Mr. Weasley called as he apparated away.
"Now children, behave yourselves this year!" Mrs. Weasley said pointedly, giving Fred and George long hard looks, while Hermione was saying her good-byes to her parents.
"Yes, mother!" They both said at the same time. Mrs. Weasley suddenly had both of them in a hug, and they both struggled to free themselves from their mother's iron grip.
"Mum, please let go," Fred said a little urgently, as two Ravenclaw girls walked by and giggled at the scene.
She let go, and the twins stepped back, looking very embarrassed with faces to match their hair. Ron stepped back from Mrs. Weasley as she advanced on him.
"See you in the holidays mum," he said quickly, and began to take his luggage to the train.
Looking not the least bit put-off, Mrs. Weasley gave Ginny a hug, who accepted it warmly. She gave Harry another hug, and then stood their watching them make their way onto the train with their luggage.
Ron quickly found an empty compartment, and stored his luggage.
"Hey Harry, where's your stuff?" Ron asked.
Harry stepped out of the way of the twins moving towards the front of the train, obviously seeking their next victim, as he said, "it's at Hogwarts already. I've got so much to tell you, but we gotta wait for Hermione as well…"
Hermione walked up to Harry from behind, "Ron, why did you put your stuff here? We have to be in the Prefect compartment to discuss the schedule for meetings and the rules we are to uphold as Prefects," she said bossily, then turned to Harry, "Harry, I'd love to catch up with you, but as Prefects, we need to…"
"It's okay Hermione," Harry cut her off, slightly disappointed that he couldn't share his adventures yet, "we can talk tonight." Even as he said it, he felt a pang of sadness, "I can catch up on some sleep while I'm here."
"What's your stuff doing at Hogwarts?" Ron said, while Hermione was pulling on his sleeve.
"We can talk later, we'll be late for the meeting!" She exclaimed, as the two of them left the compartment with Harry inside all alone.
Harry looked at the spot where the two of them were. He was happy for them, but he felt a little bit left out. Why wasn't I made a Prefect? He wondered, and realised he was being a little big-headed, it's a good thing I wasn't a Prefect, think of all the responsibilities on top of being The-Boy-Who-Lived, and Ron would have been livid!
Yawning, Harry decided that sleep was indeed a necessity, and found a comfortable position to rest in.
Just as Harry was about to doze off, Ginny entered with another girl Harry had never met before. Harry was split between wanting them to stay for company, and wanting them to leave so that he could sleep.
"Hiya Harry! Did you see where Fred and George went?" She asked; Harry noticed she no longer became red in the face when speaking with him, and he was glad. At least now he could have some conversation with the girl.
"I saw them going that way," Harry pointed towards the front of the train.
"Thanks. Oh, I'm sorry, I should have introduced you. Harry, this is Luna Lovegood. Luna, Harry Potter," Ginny said, and Luna gave Harry the quick once-over, and Harry was glad that she didn't stare at his scar. It wasn't the nicest thing, to be introduced to a person, only to have that person stare at your forehead.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Luna said dreamily, "I don't believe what Rita Skeeter wrote about you last year."
"Thank you, nice to meet you too," Harry said, there was something strange about this girl, "so what do you need the twins for?"
"They haven't returned my quill," Ginny said.
"You can borrow mine…" Harry began.
Ginny waved him off, and grinned evilly, "nah, that's fine! I wanted to show Luna a spell I read about during the holidays that could forge people's writing. I wanted to try to forge mum's writing to scare my brothers…"
Laughing out loud, Harry said, "you are truly your brothers' sister!" And Ginny beamed.
"I'll take that as a compliment! Well, I wanna get started on that spell, so I need to look for my quill, I hope they haven't done anything silly with it…" Ginny said as she left, waving behind her.
"Good-bye, Harry," Luna said softly, and left after Ginny.
Harry waved after them, and then dozed off.
~*~
"Well, well, look who we have here! It's Potty, all by himself!"
Malfoy looked at the sleeping form of Harry with disgust, "where are your friends, Potty? Has Mudblood and Weasel abandoned you? That's no surprise, they wouldn't want to be in your presence if it's going to get them killed…"
Harry snored loudly then, and Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle in confusion, then slowly took out his wand, "look at that," he sneered, "he's so scared of us that he's feigning sleep, hoping we'd just go away. We don't go away that easy, Potter…" Malfoy moved forward to attack Harry when an explosion went off in the compartment.
There were shouts and screaming, and Malfoy's screeches could easily be heard down the whole train, "my eyes! My eyes! I can't see!" People in other compartments would have thought it was a girl screaming.
"That's okay Malfoy, we'll see to it that you are safely delivered to where you belong," said one of the twins. And they bodily hauled the blind boys off to the toilets and locked them in there. There were heads poking out of compartments to see what the commotion was about, and as most of them were Gryffindors in that area, they all laughed along at the sounds that beheld them.
"That was brilliant!" Lee Jordan exclaimed, listening to the Slytherin's cries to be let out, "I didn't know Malfoy could scream like a girl!"
"Too bad we don't have one of those Muggle recording things…" George laughed.
"A success! Our Blind Bombs are a blast!" Fred said as they walked towards Harry's compartment.
"Hey Harry, did you see that? Maybe you didn't 'cos you were blinded as well, but still, their screams will reach us in our dreams…" George said, but stopped abruptly as he noticed that Harry did not wake up in the commotion, but was still snoring softly in his sleep.
"Look guys, he's still asleep! Should we try one of the new…" Lee began, but George cut him off.
"We're not trying anything on Harry," he said firmly.
"Let's look for Neville, he has a toad we can try it on…" Fred said. And the three boys left Harry's compartment.
~*~
"Professor! We've tried everything and he just won't wake up!"
Professor Sprout and Professor Vector were scheduled to take the students to the castle by the horseless carriages that day. Professor Sprout turned around as she heard the voice.
"Mr. Longbottom, who won't wake up?" She looked a little surprised at the sight of Neville and the bright yellow and red toad on Neville's shoulder.
"It's Harry! We told him to wake up, and shook him, Fred tried yelling in his face, Lee tried some explosions, and then Dean got some cold water and splashed it on his face, but he just won't wake up!" Neville was in a panicked state and began to babble, "he just kept on snoring, and even the twins tried some spells but…"
"Mr. Longbottom, where is he?"
"In compartment, uh, number 34!" Neville pointed to the carriage.
"Go and alert Professor Vector to the situation, I will take care of this," Professor Sprout hurried into the Hogwarts Express. Even without knowing which carriage Harry was in, she could have found it anyway with all the people surrounding the doorway trying to get a look.
"Harry mate, come on!" One of the Weasley twins yelled.
"Please wake up, Harry!" One of the girls begged, and as she moved closer Professor Sprout saw that it was Ginny.
"Students, out of the way!"
The crowded students all moved apart as the professor came. She made a brief medical check on Harry and then tried several spells on him, but Harry was still snoring away.
"Students, you are to go to the castle, I will handle the situation," she commanded.
"Is he okay?" Seamus asked quietly.
"Is he… dead?" Lavender asked, horrified, and Parvati let out a cry.
"Of course he's not dead, stupid," Dean said, "he was still breathing."
"But Professor Trelawny…" Lavender began fearfully.
"To the carriages, all of you!" Professor Sprout exclaimed as she lifted Harry's light weight into her arms. As the students all left reluctantly, Professor Sprout practically ran outside and apparated to a point closer to the castle, and ran all the way to the castle with Harry in her arms.
~*~
The room was dark with but a candle resting on the floor that exerted the dimmest of light. From what he could see of the dark room, it was empty except for a chair, a person in it, and a person kneeling in front of it, who was visibly shaking.
"You question why I would go to all the troubles of doing this?" a voice hissed from the chair, a voice Harry knew too well.
"I am merely worried that the powers might affect you, My Lord…" a voice Harry did not recognise answered, trembling, "we could have abducted him just before…"
"You heard the Lady, we need him to succeed, and if he does not remember anything, he will be easier to obtain and manipulate. Just before, he had too many protections," the cold hissing voice explained, "and we can do that with this in our hands," a skeletal white hand held up a beautiful blue stone, and Harry thought foolishly that the stone was the same colour as Sirius' eyes.
Harry then looked at the person holding the stone, and saw two red orbs glaring at him, and then the voice whispered, "oblivio…"
~*~
AN: I know, I know, I had to stop there otherwise the next chapter will be short. To me, that chapter was hard to write, it's just so difficult writing in all the usual Weasleys/Hermione/Harry interaction as they meet on the platform.
Some questions: should the two Snapes get along or not? I mean, it'd be amusing if they didn't get along 'cos they couldn't stand each other (I mean, who could stand being in the presence of our esteemed Potions Master?), but it'd also be amusing if they got along 'cos they understood each other so well. Suggestions?
Those of you who've read OoTP will notice I stole the idea as having Ron for Prefect, sorta. Well, Ron can be brave, and he is loyal, and I think that if Harry was Prefect then Ron would be spewing blood, if you get my meaning (it's an expression I've picked up somewhere that means he'd be really angry). It's obvious that Ron would be really jealous of Harry and it would affect their friendship. And no doubt Dumbledore wouldn't want to see that happening, so he chose the second best option for Prefect, and when Ron's serious he could be a really good Prefect. Also, gives Gred and Forge the chance to give Ronniekins his new dress robes.
Although I may include some elements from OoTP, this will NOT be a rewrite of OoTP (for one, you-know-who, and I'm not referring to Voldemort, will not be dying. I can go off on a rant about this topic, but will not spoil it for those who have not read it) there will be NO Umbridge, I can't stand her! And none of that Department of Mysteries stuff. I have already decided on who the new DADA professor is, and you'll see in the next chapter. Ginny will not be in love with Harry anymore, I've also stolen that from OoTP, it'd be a little difficult to write scenes where she's always running away!
I just had to have a Malfoy interaction in this, and I just had to have the 'my eyes, my eyes…' part in it as well. It's a bit of an obsessions stemming from 'Raputa' when my friend pointed out the humour in it, if you've seen it you'll understand… "me ga, me ga!"
As always, if you have any comments, suggestions, critiques, please leave a review or write to tonderumushi@yahoo.com.au. Cheers!
~ultrasoul
