The car pulled into the driveway of Harry's house. It was a bit smaller than the Dursley's but Harry thought it was perfect. The mere fact that the inside held his own bed made it perfect. Two empty flowerpots stood by the door. He imagined what the house would be like in the summer, he could see roses and daises in the four empty flower beds. The house itself was white, with a portion of it brown. Next to the brown portion lay a very tired looking paintbrush. Apparantly, the charm had worn off too soon. Harry stood there soaking it all in. Trying to memorize the house he had wished for all of his life. He could see little bits of the house through the windows. One room, his favorite so far, had a table with three matching chairs. Just looking at it got him excited, because tonight, he would have his first dinner with his parents.
The inside of Harry's house was even better. The halls were decorated with so many pictures of Harry, it made it look like the wall was moving, not the pictures. Dozens of pictures- family vacations, baby Harry, Harry leaving for Hogwarts, Harry in the park, Harry in the yard, Harry playing with toys…everything was thoroughly drenched in Harry. Harry wandered through the house, staring at the walls and seeing the life he had prayed for.
Whenever Harry stepped into a room, little floating globes of light turned on. The little globes would say "Welcome Harry, to the…" and would state the room he was in. This was beneficial to Harry, as he knew he couldn't ask where a room was or his parents would think he'd gone mad. He walked into the kitchen and sat down in a small, wooden chair. "Welcome Harry, to the kitchen" the little globes announced as they lit up. It was in the kitchen, that Harry found out about Voldemort.
Harry was studying the kitchen, when his eye caught the newspaper lying on the ground next to him. He picked it up, and scanned the first article.
"You know who" attack number 123
London, England: The 123rd attack has been reported. In the muggle world, the Surrain's house was found burned to the ground only two days ago, December 14th. The Surrain household consisted of Mr. George (accused of being a death-eater), Mrs. Katherine, and Miss Mia Surrain. The neighbor reported to have seen lightning hit the building causing it to combust. This lightning was planted into the muggle neighbor's mind after his memory of the attack was erased. The memory clearly showed Lord Voldemort waving his wand, and the house disappearing. The exact spell used is unknown. The Muggle Protection Force employees have gone on strike after being forced to reconstruct what a burned house would look like. MPF employee Scott Freedon explains, "The best excuse the MPF could come up with for the muggles is that it burned down. So us employees had to work all bloody night trying to make the site look realistic."
The article went on about the strike, but Harry hadn't even read past the 6th sentence. Voldemort was alive? And he had attacked 100 times? The article was so cavalier about the attack- it didn't even get more than a paragraph! The paper fell from his hands as Harry slowly got up from the chair. He was shaking. This world was good, his parent were alive. But was that worth living the rest of his life in fear of Voldemort? In fear of his own house disappearing, his family classified as missing? He had planned on staying in this world as long as he could, but now he saw this world from a whole new perspective. Every living creature has to die- but being murdered is a whole different story.
"Harry, come see your room, dear! It was such a mess when you left, we just had to fix it up for you. Hedwig's already settled in!" His mom's voice called from upstairs. Hedwig! Harry had completely forgotten about her! She had been with him the whole train ride, was she different? "Coming!" Harry shouted. He bolted up the stairs, taking two at a time. He saw his mother standing in a doorway at the end of the hallway. Globes flashed on and off as he passed them. He reached the doorway, took a deep breath, and walked in. He had posters of famous quidditch players from all different teams. The players waved to him as they caught snitches, hit bludgers, and threw quaffles. "Welcome Harry, to your room"
The room was gold with maroon stripes. "Mom and dad are apparently very proud I'm in gryffindor" Harry assumed. At least that was still the same- he could never have gotten used to being in Slytherin. There was an alcove in the wall, where Hedwig's cage slipped right in. She was sleeping, apparently still tired from the train ride (where she slept the whole ride). "Hedwig, isn't it beautiful?" Harry cried. The bird opened one eye, gave a coo of appreciation, and went back to sleep. Harry turned his attention back to his room. There was a little book shelf next to his wall, and Harry could see read some of the titles. How to be a keeper in 12 days, Potions for dummies, How to ace the OWLS and other exams and Harry laughed at the last one: Surviving Hogwarts. Harry saw a photo album and pulled it out. As he was skimming through it he heard his mother. "We're thinking of having dinner in about an hour- that should give you time to shower, right?" Harry nodded, and buried his nose into the album. Right now he didn't want to deal with the fact that he had no idea where the shower was.
Somehow, after roaming the upstairs portion of his house for what seemed like hours, Harry managed to arrive at the dinner table squeaky clean. He saw three plates piled with food. There was pumpkin juice in Harry's glass, and there were two smaller glasses with wine for his parents. His parents had been chatting and sipping wine while they waited for Harry. "There's my boy!" his father cried, as Harry sat down. His father asked him questions about how his classes were. Harry answered them as best he could, not sure what school was like in this world. "Whose this Ron you keep referring to?" His father asked. Harry was surprised, didn't Ron exist in this world? "Oh, uh…he's just one of my friends…I uh…never told you about him?" Harry asked. "Oh don't get all worried James, I'm sure he's a nice boy" His mom stated. Harry nodded and shoved a forkful of food in his mouth, so he wouldn't have to talk. He wished he knew what to talk about- all his life he'd wished his parents were alive. Now here they were, and he was avoiding them. Harry washed his mouthful down with the pumpkin juice. "Harry, don't eat so fast- you'll get sick!" He loved how mothers mock-scolded. Everyone's mum did it- Mrs. Weasley was constantly "scolding" Ron. Harry could tell she was happy to have him back. Lily beamed at her healthy son and Harry knew she was proud of him. Harry's heart swelled with happiness, he felt something he'd rarely experienced. Harry felt loved.
