Broken this fragile thing now

And I can't; I can't pick up the pieces

And I've thrown my words all around

But I can't; I can't give you the reason

Chapter Six: A Stranger's Heart

Harry stared down at the sink after looking steadily at his reflection as he slowly realized that he wasn't the same person as he was when he had fallen upon this world. He was different, somehow, confused more than ever, yes, but somehow willing to let go of the one thing he had thought he'd needed. He looked up at his reflection carefully clenching and unclenching his hands into fists as he tried to ebb away the rage that had been induced by Sirius' daughter.

He would always need Sirius, but ultimately, he did not want to stay here. It was too odd to see his parents alive. And the idea of Sirius having a daughter was much too confusing for him to deal with. He sighed deeply as he began to pace back and fourth in the small bathroom. How would he get back?

"You can't." He muttered to himself after his mind could find nothing clever to come up with. Oh, how he needed Hermione's brains and Ron's over reactions, he needed his friends.

He'd have to wait it out until he was sent back to his dimension. "Or something." He mumbled to himself as he turned the golden doorknob and turned it slowly. The door opened and Harry stepped outside into the hallway. The house was completely silent. Eerie almost. He had expected yelling, screaming from all parties at the confusion of his knowing. He stood in the hallway waiting for some sounds to escape from the depths of downstairs but nothing came. So he waited, in the hallway, for something, anything. Some kind of sign that would show that there was some form of life within the house to show that he wasn't as alone as he felt. He sighed deeply and took a few steps towards his bedroom. When he had reached his room and he reached for the handle the screaming began. But rather than it being both Sirius and his daughter it appeared to be his own father screaming at everyone out of pure frustration. Harry hung his head down as he heard "Dumbledore told him" being screamed continually in disbelief.

Harry knew exactly why his father was acting like it, he probably would too if he were in his position. With that announcement it meant that Dumbledore had taken away "Harry's" innocence. He could never just be a normal kid; he was prey. Prey, that would have to fight back, and maybe even die for the greater good. Whatever that meant, Harry didn't even know anymore. He felt the hot tears start to roll down his cheeks as he felt the pain of his impending doom start to dawn upon him, yet again, since Dumbledore had told him in his own world. He opened the door, stepped in side, and shut it behind him as he let himself slide down the frame, yet again the day. Once he had hit the floor he curled himself up into a fetal position and just cried over every pain and broken dream he had had in the last few years.

"Harry." A cautious voice quivered slightly as the bed creaked and he heard footsteps coming towards him.

He looked up and saw Reign coming towards him. She knelt down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. He resisted the urge to swat it away and scream obscenities at her, knowing that it would only make things worse for him in the long run. He wiped the tears away, finding that he was suddenly embarrassed by them and just stared at her in hatred as she made herself comfortable beside him.

"Sirius wanted me to apologize. And he's right, I owe you an apology... and I am sorry." She looked at him as her blue eyes dimmed slightly as she saw the glare she was now receiving. "I really am, I should have just held my tongue."

"Yeah, you should have." Harry spat out.

She poked at the mesh sleeves on her undershirt and sighed under the sting of those four words. "I deserved that. But you know you weren't exactly kind either." She said quickly but then stopped. She sat quiet for a while before she laughed slightly at the thoughts in her head. "You opened Pandora's box, I do hope you know that."

Harry looked at her suddenly seeing her in a slightly different light, yet still disliking her at the same time, as the tale of Pandora came into his mind. Such an odd myth Pandora's box was. A woman blessed with curiosity opened the box, which happened to let chaos and all bad things escape from it to make the world a terrible place. How true it was, how true Reign's statement was; he'd shattered everything about this world. He sighed deeply and muttered. "Let's just pray there was 'hope' at the bottom of it."

Reign looked at him. "I think with that comment we can be assured that it was." She said with a slight smile that practically begged him to like her. Then she hugged him gently rather unexpectedly. Harry felt odd, having just threatening to kill her, that he didn't really mind the gesture at all. Something about her just then, offered not only forgiveness but acceptance also, towards the both of them.

He patted her on the back not wanting to let her get too close to him. "You're bi-polar."

She laughed and swatted him on the shoulder. "You sound like my dad now."

"He's right then."

They then fell into an awkward silence as the yelling from downstairs filtered through the hardwood door. This time they belonged to Sirius and it seemed to be trying to tell Harry's parents that it might actually be better than it seems. Apparently, Harry's parents begged to differ. Harry felt so torn as he listened to the voices. His parents had valid points about the death and war part but it wasn't like he could be so out of it sot that he didn't even know that there was a war going on around him. Ultimately, Harry had to admit that the idea of him not knowing that the ware was over him made sense, considering that he knew so little about his own life in the first place, but not to see it at all was just a bit overboard. As he listened for the reply, Sirius pointed out his assertions, and Harry found that they were everything that he had just thought. There was silence for a while before Harry's father stepped in and said that he only felt worse about the way they had to live knowing now that his son knew that he was being, in affect, hunted.

Harry's attention was drawn away from the discomforting voices as his eyes were drawn back to the notice board in his room. He looked at the picture of Reign with Bill and he suddenly wanted to understand why that had made so much sense to tell Sirius. And, more importantly, how it had actually wound up being true. He would most likely never understand the primary, let alone the latter, but at least he could probably figure out where they had met. As he turned to Reign he heard his parents and Sirius now screaming about Remus Lupin's loyalties and now finding that, in this case, he agreed more with his parents, who had seemingly chosen his side over Sirius', and were now actually supporting Lupin for the first time in who knew how many years.

"How'd you meet Bill?"

"Hmm?" Reign asked now being drawn away from the argument her father was losing.

"How'd you meet Bill?" He stated again now seeing why this would be weird. He probably already knew the answer, or at least he was supposed to anyway.

"Harry," Reign said as she stared at him in disbelief. "God, you've been acting strangely." She stated more to herself than to anyone else but continued with an explanation anyway. "He's your Defense teacher. He started there during my seventh year. He's twenty-seven, so I refrained from telling everyone but you because I knew that they wouldn't be able handle the news too well." Harry stared at her blankly trying to figure out this timeline now. She was about eighteen he'd figured that much out. So Bill was the Defense teacher; that made sense as to how she would have met him. But he knew that Bill loved working at Gringott's. So, why would he leave his job in Egypt?

"But Egypt, I thought he worked at Gringott's."

"He did, but he left to be closer to his parents." Once she had seen the confused look on his face she knew that he probably figured she was lying so she continued. "He's been there for the last two weeks because he's visiting with some of his old friends from work."

Harry looked at her and sighed deeply, all right, fine, that worked too. Then he smiled slightly at the thought of how Ron would handle having one of his older brothers actually teaching one of his classes. Oh, that would definitely be interesting enough to see. But then, again, when he pondered more on the subject, what had happened to the teacher before that, and would he even know them? Harry's mind reeled as he suddenly realized that each answer he received would ultimately lead to more and more questions. This was a road that was going to lead him to a dead end, but he had to know the answers, otherwise, things could only get worse for him in this world, and he didn't want that. He didn't know how long he was going to be stuck here so why should he make it more miserable than he had just made it for himself.

"So, who was the Defense teacher before that?"

Reign laughed a bit at the absurdness of the question but again tried her best to answer it. "Quirrell. He 'quit' because he apparently just was ready to retire from the whole teacher thing. But everyone knows that he just ran off to join up with Voldemort. He's probably dead now the stupid git." Harry thought about it and found that this too, worked quite well with everything else. It made sense. Finally, things were beginning to make sense! "Harry, did you bump your head or something this morning, and lose your memory?"

Harry winced a bit at the half-heartedly asked question. He didn't want to tell her anything about himself. He just wanted to get as much information out of her as he possibly could. She didn't need to be brought to the level of confusion he was in right now. It wouldn't really benefit anyone, but then again, she did ask. He sighed deeply, silently debating whether or not a lie would be better than the truth in this instant. He could still hear his parents debating over the benefits and definite cons of Harry knowing the truth about his life. He shifted his eyes so he was now staring down at the carpet and suddenly knew that in all actuality a lie was never really better than the truth, as cliché as that statement was. He then, turned over to look at Reign, who was waiting patiently for an explanation for his increasingly strange behavior. He stared at her for a long while noticing that, from the expression on her face, she didn't expect anything from him aside from an explanation, whether the explanation was for better or worse, all she wanted was a reason for his actions.

Harry sighed deeply. "I'm not exactly the Harry you know." He looked her straight in the eyes as she laughed openly at his statement and wiggled her fingers in feigned fright. When her eyes finally met his, her laughter dissipated and her smile faded greatly.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know you, I don't know my parents, and Sirius," He took a deep shuddering breath before he continued as the image of Sirius falling back into the curtain resurfaced in his mind, "is supposed to be dead." He looked down at the ground as he felt Reign move her feet underneath her body so that she was more comfortable. He could tell by the silence around him that his parents had most likely refrained from screaming and were now just talking over what they were going to do with him, and that now, before him, Reign was trying to understand what he had just said all on her own.

"I don't understand." Reign, wanting this to be a sick joke but ultimately picking up on the vibe that it wasn't, just asked instead of furthering her futile attempts at comprehension. Harry just looked down at the carpet as he poked at a few of the fibers, unable to look this bi-polar punk in the eyes, and told her everything.

Everything he had ever felt in the last five years leading up until that very morning, the back story about how his parents had died, how Sirius had been accused of murder and how he had escaped from Azkaban, how Sirius had died last year trying to save his life. He told her of Lupin, Snape, and Pettigrew, and how the Weasley's were basically his family where he came from. About the prophecy and everything Dumbledore had told him about it. All in all, his tale took nearly an hour and a half to tell and when he had finished he suddenly became worried by what her opinion on the matter would be. Would she think it was a joke, or would she take him seriously, and most of all, now that he told someone could he go home? For after he had told his tale he realized how much he actually missed everyone.

"That's quite the story. You should put it down on paper and get it published." She said finally. Then she placed her hand on his shoulder once again, silently asking for him to look at her. He did what the silent voice said and looked at her to see her smiling slightly despite the obvious oddness of what he had just revealed. "So what are we going to do?" She asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, wait for a portal to open up so I can go back home I guess."

She squeezed his shoulder and chuckled. "I guess that's about all we can do, I certainly don't know where to find the Mirror of Erised to send you back with."

He nodded in agreement slightly shocked that he was getting on so well with this girl considering he still wasn't entirely sure if he liked her or not. She was still self-centered, but obviously she had a caring side. They were silent for a long while as Harry watched Reign in silence as she began to dig deeper into her own thoughts. He was almost positive that they had everything to do with what he had just told her but her face was so blank that he couldn't be entirely sure. It was amazing to him how she seemed to hide everything away. It definitely wasn't healthy because it made it so that one would never know when she would blow up next. She was a pillar of emotions of which removing one stone could change the way it would crumble. Suddenly, a tear rolled down her cheek and she spoke suddenly. "Sirius died?"

"Yeah, and I miss him terribly. He was the closest thing I've ever had to a father."

She gently wiped away the escaped tear and hung her head in shame. "I've been horrid. I don't mean half the things I say, I just get so mad. He always either ignores me or yells at me." She fell silent as she thought on what she had just said and then continued with the truth rather than her deluded self-tales. "And even then that's not entirely true, he does things with me like take me to the mall. Stupid stuff like that when he can because he's so busy protecting you, but I do appreciate it." She sighed. "I guess I should give him more credit, huh?"

"Yeah you probably should. Granted he's a bit broody at times but it's one of the things you just get used to. You can't really knock him for it, though."

"Yeah, one of the many qualities I happened to inherit." She said bitterly, and Harry found him roll his eyes at her.

"Maybe." He stated with a shrug.

Reign laughed. "So, do you want to go downstairs and face the wrath of our parents, or would you rather stay right here?" She hoisted herself up off of the floor and let out a huge yawn as she stretched her legs.

"I think I want to stay here." She nodded her agreement as Harry got up off of the floor too and walked over to his bed. He sat down and yawned also.

"Alright, well, I'll be in the other room if you feel the need to tell me more about peacock-like Professors and brooding almost-fathers." She winked at him before she opened the door and stepped out and left his view.

He sighed deeply and laid down on his bed. How was he going to face the people downstairs? He couldn't tell them what he told her, he knew that he wouldn't be able too. He was brave enough to do many things but that certainly was not one of them. He shut his eyes letting images of his threat and Reign with her dad fighting, knowing now that the situation between them was far too complex for him to even comprehend because he would never have to be stuck in that situation in any sense. He opened his eyes and rolled over on his side so he could see the dark night sky and the gleaming half-moon in his window. It was a beautiful sight, so calm compared to the way he felt. He sighed and closed his eyes trying his best to fall asleep for the night, for if he woke up and was still in this room, he'd face the storm, if not, then he'd simply spend Christmas with his mates. Both he was prepared to do, but the latter seemed more important than ever.