Chapter 3

"Mum, I need to tell you something."

Lily looked at Harry incredulously. She'd thought he wasn't going to tell him what the matter was. He wasn't acting like himself, letting her hold him and hugging her like that. He was usually too busy trying to be 'cool' to let her mother him.

"I… I'm not who you think I am."

"What do you mean?" asked Lily, perplexed.

"I'm not your son."

What in the world... "Harry, I don't understand what you're saying. Of course you're my son!" Lily exclaimed.

"No… I'm…" Harry seemed at a loss for words. Lily looked at him expectantly. He took a deep breath.

"I think I… You see, I was walking by the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts – "

"The Room of What in Hogwarts?" interrupted Lily.

"Er- you see, I'm… I… Do you remember sixth year History of Magic?" asked Harry. When his mother shook her head slowly, he kept going. "Well, you see, I wasn't in that class, but Hermione was and she… well, she told me about Alternate Universes once, when we were discussing Voldemort… You see, she thought we could try to communicate with people from another reality, where Dumbledore was still alive, to ask him about the horcruxes, because we didn't get to before he…" Harry trailed off.

"Harry, I'm sorry, I didn't understand a single word of what you just said. What do you mean, Dumbledore was still alive!"

Harry took a deep breath. "I think I might've come here from an alternate universe."

Three hours, three butterbeers and many hugs later, Lily had come to understand that Harry was not, in fact, her Harry. He was an orphan. Lily shuddered at the thought. She hadn't completely understood everything about that Voldemort. When Harry had first started talking, she'd felt sure Sirius had done more than just confund him, but after trying every possible spell on her son, and trying revealing charms and even checking for the effects of polyjuice potion, Lily had come to the realization that the frightened boy wasn't affected by any trace of a spell. She'd listened to him saying something about her and James being killed on Halloween night, refused to believe it, and in the end had resorted to trying to find a bottle a veritaserum in one of the kitchen cabinets, ignoring everyone's questions about what was wrong with Harry, and snapping at them to let her deal with him. She found a bottle, threatened to hex Sirius and James if they went upstairs, rushed to the bedroom, and showed it to Harry, threatening to make him drink it if he didn't stop this mad talk right this moment. Only he hadn't reacted as she'd expected him to. He stood up defiantly and told her he knew he sounded crazy, and that he'd drink it, if that's what it took to make her believe him. Lily yelled at him that he wasn't being funny, and in her frenzy, she flung the bottle at him. He caught it with ease, looked at her determinately for a split second and took a gulp.

"Harry, no!" she gasped, terrified, rushing to stop him. But it was too late. Harry's eyes glazed over.

"Why'd you do that?" she shrieked at him. He answered her in a robotic tone. "To make you understand the truth."

"What truth?" she'd practically screamed.

"The truth that I'm not your son," he answered, making her gasp and clutch at her heart.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

"I'm Harry James Potter. I come from an alternate world. A world where there is a dark war going on."

"An alternate world?" Lily chocked out.

"Yes."

Lily's legs were quivering as she headed towards the kitchen, where her husband, Sirius and Mark seemed to be listening to the quiddich game on the wireless. She took a moment to observe them before entering the room. James and Sirius, she noticed, were only pretending, for Mark's sake, to be interested in the match. They kept on exchanging worried glances over the young boy's head and checking the time. Lily coughed to make her presence known. James got up instantly.

"Lily, what is it, did you find out what's bothering him?" he asked.

Lily resisted the urge to laugh bitterly. What's bothering him? It seemed like such a mundane question after all she'd heard Harry tell her about his miserable life in the other world. She hadn't understood most of it; she couldn't comprehend it, really. The enormousness of it all… Lord Voldemort, Sirius, Peter… Dumbledore…Lily shuddered at the thought. Coming out of her reverie, she noticed James and Sirius were looking at her inquiringly, waiting for an answer. She sighed.

"Mark, go up to your room, please, you can listen to the match from there."

Mark opened his mouth to argue, but sensing the seriousness of the situation, he obeyed grumpily.

"What is it?" asked Sirius as soon as Mark was out of earshot.

"I suggest you both sit down. This is going to take a while," said Lily, looking at them both very seriously, her green eyes wide open.

James lay in bed next to his wife. She was sleeping deeply. The events of the day had taken their toll on her. He, on the other hand, still felt too dazed to fall asleep. After much swearing, screaming and disbelieving gasping, Lily had managed to convince James and Sirius of Harry's story by telling them he was under the effects of Veritaserum. She'd seemed quite ashamed to reveal that bit of information. She hadn't meant for him to drink it at all, by the sound of it. James wanted to go up and question his son himself, but Lily had forbidden him to do so, telling him Harry had fallen asleep in her arms as soon as the effects of the veritaserum had lifted.

Where was their Harry? If what Lily was saying was right, he would be in the other Harry's world right now, where he would be in grave danger, what with this Voldemort person wreaking havoc and being after his skin. James planned to go to Dumbledore about this first thing tomorrow morning.

James twisted and turned, trying to find a comfortable position. He shuddered at the thought of what Harry had had to go through. Living with the Dursleys… And there was Sirius. Lily was barely whispering when she'd told them of Sirius dying in front of Harry. At this, Sirius had gripped the table so hard his knuckles had turned a disturbing shade of purple. And Peter… Peter was the saddest story of all. It was a good thing he was already dead in this world… James could not believe he'd shed so many tears over his friend when he'd died of a rare wizarding illness five years ago. Apparently, Peter had sold him and Lily out to Voldemort. He'd been the cause of their death, and of Sirius' imprisonment in Azkaban. And as if all of this weren't enough, Lily had said something about Harry having to be the one to finish off this Voldemort, being the 'Chosen One' or something… And to top it off, Dumbledore was dead.

James had never heard of a more horrible life than the one this Harry had had to lead. The things he'd had to endure… it was no wonder he'd gone pale like that, seeing his godfather.

Making up his mind about something, James got up and headed towards his son's room. Alternate World or not, the eldest boy in Godric's Hollow was technically his son.

Harry felt the hairs at the back of his neck rise. Someone was watching him. He opened his eyes abruptly and heard a sharp intake of breath. Before his eyes had time to adjust to the darkness, without even thinking, Harry reached under his pillow to grab his wand. Only it wasn't there.

"Harry?"

Harry started at the recognizable yet so unfamiliar voice, and suddenly the events of the past day came back to him. He'd told his mom… He could remember, through the haze the veritaserum had created over his mind, the way his mother had looked when he'd told her about his life and about how he'd gotten there. At first, she seemed disbelieving, but the more he told her, the more compassionate she became. When he'd told her about Sirius, she'd even shed a few tears and hugged him tightly, telling him everything would be alright.

Suddenly, Harry's thoughts were interrupted as he was blinded by a dazzling light.

"Ouch- gerroff me," he muttered, shielding his eyes with his arms.

"Sorry," whispered James, whispering "Nox."

They sat there in awkward silence for a couple of minutes. James looked away uncomfortably as Harry examined his face.

"People have always told me I look just like you," said Harry suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Well- er… they were quite right. You were the only Potter lucky enough to inherit my good looks, I'm afraid. Though Mark did get his fair share of my good looks, if you look past the awful red hair and lack of glasses," said James jokingly. Harry gave a shaky laugh.

"I've never had a brother or a sister before," said Harry conversationally.

"Yeah, I was an only child myself, so I'm afraid I can't give you any tips. My only valuable piece of advice: don't pick on Erin. She's got quite a temper on her, that one. Gets it from her mother," said James, a reminiscent look on his face.

"Yeah, I know, I saw this memory in Sn- well, in someone's pensieve once. You were dangling Snape upside down and mum showed up and started yelling at you," said Harry, laughing

"Aaah, I remember that day. I was quite a jerk back then, wasn't I?" said James, smiling.

"Yeah, I thought so at first, but now I suppose he deserved it," said Harry, a sudden murderous gleam in his eye. James started. Then he remembered what Lily had told him last night: Snape had killed Dumbledore. He still couldn't believe it. Alright, the boy had always seemed to have an interest for the Dark Arts, and he was a greasy git – but James had never thought of him as a murderer before.

Another long silence stretched between them, as James thought of Snape. Harry simply looked at his father, enjoying looking at him and feeling very much like a son for the first time in his life. It was a strange feeling. It definitely wasn't a bad feeling, thought Harry. He could get used to it. Harry shook his head quickly. He couldn't let himself think like this – he had to be realistic. The other Harry was probably frightened out of his wits in the other world. He had to start thinking about going back, now he'd gotten his wish of seeing Sirius.

"Harry- er- it's not that I mind having you here, I really don't, in fact, I wish you could stay along with Harry- that is, our son Harry- not that I'm saying you aren't our son, mind you – "

"I know what you mean. Dumbledore isn't even there to protect him. I think we'd better go to Hogwarts tomorrow. I can't stay here," said Harry, thought James couldn't help but hear the pain in his voice.

"I really wish you could stay, Harry. I don't feel right, sending my son back to a world where he's in danger," whispered James, looking into Harry's eyes.

"But I'm not your real son," blurted Harry.

"Yes, you are. Just like the man who died protecting your mother and you when you were one was me," said James fiercely. "Listen, I don't get this whole alternate universe situation, but I do get this – you are as much my son as our Harry is."

Harry's eyes stung and he hastily looked at his toes, pretending to find them interesting. But James didn't seem to be embarrassed to show his emotions at all. He grabbed Harry by the shoulders and looked into his eyes with the intensity of a thousand moons.

"Merlin, I don't know why you've head to endure so much in your life Harry, but know this – we've had the fortune to lead a war-free life for the past couple of decades, and thanks to you, I know your children will be able to say the same. I don't think I would've even been able to last this long if I were in your shoes. I'm very proud of you."

Harry screwed up his face. He wouldn't cry in front of his father. But before he could master his emotions, James swept Harry into a bone crashing hug, and Harry lost it.

Please review! I'm trying not to make it too cheesy or out of caracter, but I just love emotional Harry/James-Sirius-Lily moments. I'm an overemotional person.