A/N: Hello again, everyone! Yes, it's me, I'm still alive! Sorry it took so long to update... You know, persistent Real World and all of that :roll my eyes at the insanity of such a prospect: anyway, hope you'll forgive me, and those of you who haven't given up on this story: Thanks for staying with me! On with it, you cry. Al-righty then, says I. Here we go...

Summary: Harry is suddenly acting very weird – in both universes. Yeah, you guessed it. This is a parallell universe-fic, and the two Potters are switched, causing a lot of confusion, especially for Harry Potter himself.

Genre: Romance/AU – Rating: PG

Warning: apart from the AU and slight OOC, nothing major. This is obviously slash, but nothing graphic I think. At least not so far.

Pairing: Harry/Draco (also Hermoine/Ron, Ginny/Neville, Sirius/Remus, Narcissa/Lucius – but only in the background)

Change of Reality

Part Seven – Off to Hogwarts

"Oh for Merlin's sake...!" Remus muttered as Harry finally appeared at the top of the stairs, dragging his trunk along with great difficulty, and carrying Hedwig's cage under his arm, which meant that the poor bird was hanging almost upside-down. Remus quickly met Harry halfway and relieved him from the burden while huffing impatiently, "Trust you to take after your Daddy when it comes to time-keeping..." he muttered, "Twenty to eleven, I swear..."

"Oh, stop fretting!" Sirius called from where he was standing next to his motorbike outside on the pavement next to their house, "We have plenty of time!"

"You're not going to ride on that, are you?" Remus said, almost in panic as his gaze flickered between the bike and Harry and his muggle watch.

"What" Sirius huffed, "You never had any problem with me riding this thing before!" he countered, while hugging Harry back who'd put his trunk down and rushed over for a quick goodbye-embrace, before rushing back to Remus' side.

"Sirius, it's a Ministry meeting! What do you suppose they'll think of you if you show up on that thing?"

"They all know me, Moony, and they know I've been having this darling since we graduated from Hogwarts! Now, I clearly remember someone fretting about not making it to King's Cross on time... Shouldn't you be on your way?"

Remus jumped at that and immediatly looked around for Harry, then started as he found him standing right next to him, then he composed himself and retrieved his wand from his inside pocket and prepared to disapparate, "Hold on to me now, Harry..." he mumbled, "Have you got everything?"

"Yeah" Harry mumbled and awkwardly put his hand on the werewolf's arm.

"See you at Christmas, Harry..." Sirius said softly, "And I'll meet you in an hour or so..." he added to Remus as he straddled his motorbike.

"See you, Snu- I mean, Daddy!" Harry called, "I love you!"

Sirius tensed for a split second and paused, then looked up with a heartfelt smile on his face and nodded in reply. Remus mirrored the smile as he put his arm around Harry's shoulders and hugged him close, without taking his eyes off his husband.

"That goes for me too..." he murmured, and with a pop, he and Harry vanished.

"Five to Eleven, I knew we'd cut it close..." Remus muttered as he and Harry hurried into King's Cross. Harry tried to lift his trunk up so he could carry it under his arm, but it kept slipping, so he ended up dragging it anyway. He cast an appologetic look over at a conductor who seemed to object to the amount of scratches which trailed after Harry on the floor.

"Come on now, you might make it...!" Remus said hopefully, as he steered them into the platform and lead the way over to the right barrier.

"Dad..." Harry complained between wheezy breaths, "Stop... worrying! Of course... I'll... make it!"

"Only a couple of minutes now..." Remus said under his breath, not paying any attention to what the boy had said, and practically dragged Harry after him into the barrier, without a thought on their discretion.

As they stepped out onto platform 9 ¾ they saw the Hogwarts Express ready to leave, and hurried their pace up further. As they neared the train and the crowd of parents and siblings standing next to it waving up at the windows, Remus caught sight of the Malfoys and quickly made his way over. Lucius and Narcissa noticed his presence and politely nodded their greeting. Unlike others on the platform they weren't making a spectacle of themselves by jumping up and down and waving their hands in the air, but merely gazed at their son, who in turn gazed back from the window he was positioned at. Now that he spotted Harry however, Draco Malfoy's expressionless face lit up with a beaming smile.

"Lupin. Potter" Lucius greeted the two men with a slight smirk. Remus nodded quickly in reply and grinned briefly, still out of breath, then all but ushered Harry onto the train before handing over Hedwig's cage, "There you go, we made it... At the last minute, as per tradition!..." he muttered. Harry grinned back, and quickly leaned out of the door so he could hug the older man.

"See you at Christmas, Dad..." he murmured into the werewolf's neck.

"Yes, take care now, Harry..." Remus whispered back, reluctant to let go, "I love you, you silly boy..."

"Love you too" Harry murmured as he pulled back.

"Harry!" Draco Malfoy appeared in the aisle behind him, a frightenly huge grin on his face, Harry marked and felt very uneasy, but he had decided not to say or do anything that might worry or unsettle Remus in any way, so he decided not to react to this development of the situation until the train had left the station, so he simply nodded back and flashed the Slytherin a grin of his own before turning back to the werewolf.

"Okay, well..." Remus said, a slight twinkle in his eye as he glanced at Draco briefly, "I mustn't keep you...- Draco, will you be a darling and take Harry's trunk into the compartment? Thank you...-" he added as the blonde immediatly rushed to do as he'd asked him, the dazzling grin firmly in place all the while. Harry felt slightly dizzy.

"See..." Remus murmured as soon as Draco was out of sight again, "Told you it'd be alright... Now hurry along!"

The train started to put itself in motion, and Remus quickly jumped back onto the platform and joined the Malfoys again. Harry hurried into the compartment which he'd seen Draco disappear into, and quickly took the place next to the blonce in the window. He waved goodbye to his Dad, Remus Lupin - Wierd, Harry's mind stubbornly told him. Yeah, he answered it, but I could definitely get used to it – Remus waved back, and Harry got the impression he was trying to will tears out of his eyes again.

Narcissa had slowly raised her hand and now fluttered her fingers carefully in a wavelike fashion towards Draco, whose hand twitched cooly in reply. Lucius merely raised his head and gave a small nod, to which Draco nodded back.

"Take care now boys!" Remus called and kept waving as the train began to move away. He resisted the urge to run after it as many others did. Molly Weasley for one. Seemed her youngest boy had left his rat behind.

"Well, that's that..." Lucius drawled, "Peace and quiet ensured until Christmas..."

Remus chuckled and nodded faintly, still gazing at the shrinking red spot which was the Hogwarts Express.

"Oh, Lucius" Narcissa scolded lovingly, "That's absolutely horrid of you..."

"Well" Remus said, "I better get going. I expect Sirius' meeting's over by now..."

"At the Ministry, yes?" Lucius inquired silkily, "We'll walk with you then. I have some buisness with the Minister of Magic..."

"Oh, alright" Remus replied kindly, and all three of them began to make their way from the platform.

"Well, that's that..." Draco drawled in a perfect impression of his father, "Peace and quiet ensured until Christmas..." then he snorted and smiled at Harry, who carefully avoided his gaze, with a faltering smile of his own.

"Yeah..." he mumbled.

"Well" Draco said in his own voice, which was much softer Harry notcied, "I've never actually heard him say it, but I'd bet my wardrobe on it... Not that he really means it of course" he added in a hurry, "but he'd rather be hit with cruciatus than admit to missing me in public..."

"Yeah..." Harry mumbled again, and sat down on the nearest seat, his body relaxing for a brief moment before immediatly tensing up again when the other boy shamelessly took the seat right next to him, and pointedly leaving no space whatsoever between the two of them. In fact, Harry noticed, the blonde's squirmed into his seat so that their legs would connect from hip to knee, and then knee to foot. Harry swallowed thickly and willed himself not to do anything too rashly, and managed to pretend he hadn't noticed the contact, thinking it was an unintentional move from the Slytherin. That theory was stomped out rather quickly though, when Malfoy firmly nudged his knee with his own, and when Harry didn't react, leaned in even closer and reached his hand out and...

Harry jumped before he had a chance of controlling himself, as the blonde placed his hand on top of his thigh, and squeezed it gently murmuring "Harry...-"

Draco quickly retreated his hand again and sat back, staring wildly at Harry who had all but jumped out of his seat, "What? What?" he exclaimed frantically.

Harry glanced at the Slytherin qucikly, then his eyes darted all over the interior of the compartment, avoiding Malfoy's persistent gaze, "Er... Sorry! I... I'm a bit... eh-"

"Harry?" Draco murmured again, and Harry held his breath as he observed the other's hand through the corner of his eye, but this time, it settled on his arm instead, "Are you alright?"

Harry's gaze now darted between Draco's worried frown, his hand on his own arm, and floor in front of him. Draco's hand squeezed his arm a bit, and the frown on his face deepened, "Is... Is something the matter?" he asked carefully, and Harry even detected a streak of fear in his voice.

"Ehm... I'm... I'm not so comfortable with, eh... physical, er... contact..." Harry stammered, his hand figeting nervously in his lap.

"What?" Draco said, and sat back further. His hand retreated from Harry's arm, and his leg moved back to allow plenty of space inbetween it and Harry's, and after a moment's silence, Harry couldn't resist peeking over, and he saw the Slytherin in a much more familiar pose, with his arms firmly crossed and an almost-sneer on his face. His eyes gave him away however, because they were filled to the brim with tears.

"What exactly are you saying, Harry?" he murmured, his voice quivering with the effort of remaining steady and calm.

"I..." Harry frowned, and as he found himself looking into those grey eyes, silvery with tears, he realized he was unable to look away, "I..."

"You, what?" Draco demanded, and he lost a little of his control over his voice, as it cracked on the last note. Harry winced at the sound, and finally managed to tear his gaze away.

"I..." he repeated desperately, scanning his brain for the right answer. He felt his heart beating. He was sure it could be heard. All the way into the aisle outside. "I..."

TBC