ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE: A Harry and Ron adventure story
Nearly twenty years after the second wizarding war, Harry and Ron are auror's, both on top of their professional field, one night, a usual case turns sour when both best mates are killed, they wake up in their eleven year old bodies, only things are different, Neville Longbottom is the Boy who Lived, Lily Evans Potter is still alive, and lives her best friends; Sirius Black and Bellatrix Black, who is a kind hearted but powerful light witch, who never married and had adopted her niece; Dora Tonks, Gellert Grindleward is headmaster of Hogwarts, and by 1991, there has already been two wars with Voldemort who goes by his birth name Thomas Riddle-Gaunt.
Harry and Ron are bewildered by this parallel universe and with the help of old – and new friends who never existed in their old universe, they must discover why they were sent to this universe to their first year and prepare the world for the return of Riddle-Gaunt and the war to come.
December 2017:
Harry and Ron were sat in a muggle café in Central London, the two aging aurors were scouting out some rouge death eaters who had been causing trouble in recent months, even after twenty years there were still of Voldemort's old followers around.
"Bloody hell it's cold!" Ron said, Harry chuckled "that's the fifth time you've said that Ron" he said, grateful he was wearing his woollen jumper Mrs Weasley had knitted for him last Christmas.
"I can't wait to get home and have my favourite meal" Ron said, "Hermione said she's making me shepherds pie" he licked his lips, Harry did the same, Hermione had matched Molly in the cooking skills, Ginny had as well, but Molly was still the best cook in Harry's opinion.
"Tell her to save me some" Harry said "I can't wait for the kids to come home" he said "I just hope James and Al haven't killed each other" Harry smiled at the thought of his sons
"Don't worry I'm sure Rose has kept them apart" Ron said "How is Al doing in Slytherin?" he asked
Harry was about to reply when he heard a noise, Ron heard it too as he got his wand out, his expression changing from joviality to one of sensing danger
"Shit" Harry said "did you hear that?" Ron nodded in reply, the noise was coming from the alley way across the street, Harry was sure he could hear cries of help, Harry ran, Ron followed close behind, both had wands at the ready.
As they got to the alley way, they saw three wizards about to gang up on two muggle teenagers,
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted at one of the wizards, the wizard looked at Harry in surprise, the two teenagers were frozen still
"GO!", Ron yelled at them, and they ran off, as Ron took on the other dark wizard, all three worse masks, death eater masks, Harry groaned inwardly as he duelled two of them, Ron had stunned the third wizard and went to help Harry.
"You alright there mate?", Harry said to Ron, it was there thing to make light-hearted conversation with one another, Ron chuckled "Yeah not bad mate! Bloody hungry though, I will have worked up an appetite"
"Yeah same! Hope Ginny has something on the oven for when I get back", Harry said, feeling confident.
Both ex Gryffindors hadn't realised that the third death eater had woken up and had reclaimed his wand.
Never in Harry's imagine did he foresee that he would die at the age of thirty seven, not after everything he'd been through, he'd been fighting dark wizards since he was eleven, with Ron and Hermione by his side, Hermione of course was no longer on active duty but he and Ron couldn't stop, many had compared them to his father; James Potter and Sirius Black, yet today, fate had different plans for him and Ron, Harry only saw the flash of green as he turned and saw his best friend, his brother in all but blood fall, Ron's eyes were wide open, his mouth open in shock
"NO!", Harry roared going to his fallen friend, he was just here, just here next to him laughing with him, like so many times before, wanting Ron to wake up and tell him he was joking, but his eyes weren't joking, Ron was really dead.
Harry enraged got up but he too saw the flash of green, in the seconds before his inevitable death he thought only of four people; Ginny, James, Al, and Lily, then Harry knew no more.
The next moment, Harry woke up, in an unfamiliar room, did he survive that attack, was his first thought he got up and looked around, he saw himself in the mirror, and to his horror he was a child again! But how?
Oh no! He thought, can't I just die for fuck sake, he hit his fist on his wardrobe before realising one thing, He looked at the calendar on the wall and saw the date was June 1991….1991? He thought, but a moment ago it was December 2017, he frowned and looked at the room again, this did not look like the Dursley house at all he thought and in June 1991, he was still in the cupboard under the stairs…
He knew he'd gone back in time but there must be some mistake he thought wildly, he left his room and saw that the hallway looked far grander than 4 Privet Drive, he walked down it and saw a set of stairs, he walked down them, he could smell coffee and bacon, his stomach gave a small rumble at the smell, yet he was anticipating seeing his aunt Petunia at the oven tending to the bacon waiting to scold him he heard voices that sounded familiar, yet didn't belong to Petunia or Vernon.
He reached the ground floor and walked toward the kitchen, the smell of food and coffee was intoxicating, he opened the door and what… no it was who he saw made him say out loud "shit", In front of him were Lily Evans Potter and Sirius Black… In 1991, Lily had been dead for ten years and Sirius was in Azkaban, yet here they were.
They both turned around "Harry James Potter! Do not swear!" Lily shrieked, Sirius just laughed, and Harry saw a person by the oven, a woman with dark hair, she turned around and said, "Good morning to you too my mouthy little nephew", she smirked at that moment Harry fainted, because the woman making breakfast for a man who should have been in Azkaban and for a woman who should be dead as of 1991, was a woman he knew as Voldemort's right-hand woman, Bellatrix!
The next thing Harry remembered he was back in his bed, he blinked a few times then he saw the concerned faces of his mother, godfather and Bellatrix.
He screamed, his mother held onto him and hugged him, and he stopped struggling, he longed to be hugged by his mother, but he was also confused.
"Harry, Harry calm down", Lily soothed
"What's wrong Harry? You're not still sick, are you?", Sirius asked, but Harry could only look at Bellatrix with rage and anger, her face looked hurt at this
"Did I do something wrong Harry? You're looking at me as if you want to kill me", she said sadly, Harry's heart broke a little, somehow a voice in his head told him he could trust Bellatrix, but she killed Sirius, she was Voldemort's right-hand woman, yet here she was living with his mother and godfather, and possibly his father whom he hadn't seen yet
"Who are you all?", Harry asked backing into to a corner, searching desperately for his wand before realising that he wouldn't have his wand yet, Lily, Sirius and Bellatrix each gave him looks of concern and worry "should I get a healer?", Bellatrix asked, "he's probably delirious", "No not yet" Lily said let's see how he feels later
"No! Tell me who you all are and why are you all here?!", Harry asked fiercely.
"Look young man, you may be Ill, but you don't speak to us like that", Sirius said firmly, Bellatrix put a hand on his shoulder, "Calm down cousin", she said, Bellatrix sat on his bed and tried to reach out to him, but Harry recoiled "who are you all!?"
Lily looked sad "maybe he isn't better yet" she said "that Elf flu is still going around, Harry was lucky he woke up..."
"Elf flu!?" He said, "what is that?"
"You've been sick the last two months with it, you nearly died and last night you had a relapse, but we thought you would be better" Sirius said frowning.
"Well I feel fine now" he said, the voice in his head telling him to calm down, yet the voice wasn't his own, but yet it sounded like his own voice.
"We'll leave you to it" Bellatrix said lovingly it sounded alien to Harry "just rest today" and with that Harry passed out.
"Hello Harry," said a voice
Harry opened his eyes, he was in Kings Cross station, just like during the battle of Hogwarts but this time he saw himself or another version of himself.
"What!?" He said "what is going on?" he asked and in a panic he thought about Ron "Where's Ron? And why am I eleven years old, living with my mum who should be dead, Sirius who should be in Azkaban and Bellatrix who should also be there at this point? And more to the why am I talking to you… I mean myself?"
"You're not talking to yourself" other Harry said calmly "Not really, you're a different Harry from a parallel universe, I'm the Harry in this universe and for some reason, you're not done yet, but I guess it's my time to leave this life" other Harry said
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, Other Harry sighed, "I died last night of the Elf flu, it's a powerful disease in my world, probably not so in your own world, but it seems that you're supposed to reincarnate into my body in this world because you have unfinished business" other Harry said
"Unfinished business!?" Harry said incredulously "unfinished business is the universe actually kidding me!? I'm done! I'm out! I was killed by three rouge death eaters along with my mate Ron, and now I have to fight Voldemort again! Go to Hogwarts all over again!? It was hard enough the first time" Harry said, other Harry remained calm
"It's clear things were different in your world, tell me about it please" other Harry said calmly, which frustrated Harry, who then told him a shortened version of his life in his old world, about Voldemort, being orphaned, his time at Hogwarts, marrying Ginny and having children, other Harry listened and by the end of the story other Harry only said this
"Wow, so you're actually a thirty-seven-year-old? With kids, you say. James, Albus & Lily and you were married to Ginny Weasley too?" Other Harry smirked "I get that James & Lily are named after mum and dad, but why is your son named Albus? Not many people called that these days, not since..."
"Yeah, what happened to our dad?" Harry asked, Other Harry looked sad "He died just before I turned two" he said, Harry sighed, no matter what universe he was in he would never get to have his dad alive, but at least he would have his mum and Sirius. "How did he die? Did Voldemort kill him?" he asked, other Harry frowned in confusion "Who is Voldemort again? You kept mentioning him".
"The dark lord, fought two wars against the wizarding world of Great Britain, I'm or rather, we are the boy who lived"
Other Harry laughed out loud, Harry was frustrated with this, as a thirty-seven-year-old he didn't appreciate being laughed at by a ten-year-old, even if this ten year old was himself.
"We're not the boy who lived mate, at least I'm not, you were in your old universe, I should have told you sooner".
"Then who is then?" Harry asked but he had a feeling he knew the answer.
"Neville Longbottom" other Harry said, "was he in your world?" He asked, Harry nodded "yeah he was and a damn good fighter!" He finished "he stood up to Voldemort and…"
"Sorry to interrupt but I need to ask again, who is this Voldemort you keep mentioning?" Other Harry asked.
"He's the dark lord, but is there a Voldemort in your world? His original name was Tom Marvolo Riddle"
"That sounds very familiar, the man you're referring to is actually a man named Thomas Riddle-Gaunt, does that sound familiar?"
"Yeah, it does, he's son of Thomas Riddle and Merope Gaunt" Harry said "what else is different in your world? So far Neville is the chosen one, Voldemort kept his name, What happened in the war?"
"Which one do you want to hear of first?" Other Harry asked, Harry was dumbfounded "there was another war? When? In my world, the was the war with Grindleward but that never effected Britain so that doesn't count, there was Vold War 1 which was in the seventies and early eighties, then the war I fought in the late nineties" Harry said, other Harry frowned "You mean to say that there is going to be another war in the years to come?" he asked, Harry was about to answer when at that moment, the two Harry's heard a train whistle in the distance.
"Look there's not much time, but basically there was a war in the late fifties and early sixties, it ended with the defeat of Riddle who faked his death but caused the death of Albus Dumbledore"
"Dumbledore's dead?" Harry said dumbfounded "he was my headmaster and died in 1997, but he was the only one Voldemort feared, that's why Dumbledore doesn't mean anything to you then, he's been dead for thirty years in this world" Harry said then he thought of Albus, his son, he would never see him or his other children ever again, unless he fell in love with Ginny again, Harry was grateful when other Harry interrupted his thoughts.
"Well our Dumbledore died in 1961, in a duel that destroyed most of the city of Edinburgh, that war also destroyed the North-East of England, Voldemort used a nuclear weapon in 1959, that whole area is out of bounds" other Harry said, Harry was about to interrupt but other Harry spoke first
"I've got to tell you this otherwise you'll be at a loss in this world, and I'm afraid it's all I can really tell you, as I have to go soon Riddle returned in 1973, he adapted muggle technology with dark magic and pretty much took over everywhere, he killed loads of families, the MacMillan's the Dumbledore's, the Tonkses except for Nymphadora who lives with us as she was adopted by Sirius and Auntie Bella, and a faire few other families as well" he finished.
"Auntie Bella?" Harry said, other Harry smiled "yes auntie Bella, she was expelled from the Black family as she refused to join Riddle, she lived with Auntie Cassiopeia and Uncle Alphard and then they gave her loads of money, she later took in Sirius and when Andromeda and Ted Tonks were murdered in 1978, she and Sirius took custody of Dora"
"What about my…I mean our or actually your mum and dad" Harry asked
"Our mum and dad" other Harry corrected him, "well they joined they both joined the League of Light after Hogwarts and when Riddle killed Neville's parents and grandmother, he was destroyed by some unknown power, well Riddle's most loyal followers tracked our parents down weeks after the war ended in 1982, mum and I were away at the time visiting Auntie Petunia, but dad was home, mum won't talk about it but Sirius said that they tortured and killed him in the most brutal way, he had to identify the body"
"Who killed dad" Harry said with a lump in his throat, once again he was robbed of ever getting to know his father, "The Malfoy's" other Harry said bitterly "and what's more is that they're free!" He said, Harry was angry, he hated the Malfoy's in his old world but now he wanted to murder them all!
Other Harry said, "Auntie Bella hates them all, Narcissa is the worst of the bunch, Sirius called her a sadistic rabid bitch once, she and Lucius also murdered Dora's parents, but you'll have to deal with Draco, my only regret is that I can't!" He said savagely, Harry agreed
"What about Snape?" Harry asked "was he still friends with mum?"
"For a while yes, but after mum was sorted into Ravenclaw she became friends with Sirius in first year, then he joined Riddle, and to this day he still claims that he was impurised, but mum says that's rubbish" other Harry said, "Mum was a Ravenclaw? In my world she was a Gryffindor" Harry said
"And Sirius too, dad was a Gryffindor though along with his best friend Frank Longbottom"
"Sirius in Ravenclaw? Neville's dad and his dad being best mates? Did dad and Sirius know one another?"
"Yeah, they did, they were rivals, both top of their year along with Snape, the three of them hated each other only dad and Sirius became friends once dad realised that Sirius saw mum only as a best friend, but they never got over their feud with Snape" he finished, Harry then though that somethings will never change.
The train whistle grew louder "other things from the past, I could tell you, but I think you should know more about the future, since for whatever reason, you're here to take my place, you were the chosen one in your old world, there must be something you have to do here"
"Great, I'll have to fight a giant snake again, participate in the Triwizard tournament all over again" Harry said unhappily other Harry shook his head
"The chances of you doing that are minimal, don't you see, things are already different, your Bella was a psychotic murderer, but my Bella is head of Slytherin and one of the best potioneers in the country, but there's obviously something you've got to do to assist Neville Longbottom"
"Well maybe I have to tell him where the philosophers stone is when we get to first year?" Harry suggested but other Harry shook his head.
"I don't think so, remember your Dumbledore brought that stone into the school, but on my side, he's been dead for thirty years and I doubt the head would bring something like that to the school" other Harry said.
"Who is the head of Hogwarts?" Harry asked, but at that moment the train pulled in, and other Harry started to drift toward it, "You'll have to find out for yourself, I've got to go to the next world now" other Harry said sadly "hug mum for me, you've been given a chance with her now, and try not to tell anyone your secrets, just keep your head low and study, oh and play quidditch!", Harry nodded, feeling sadness and guilt at the same time, he shouted to other Harry "say hi to dad for me" and Other Harry, and in a flash of light he had gone and Harry knew no more.
Harry woke up in his bed again, he looked at the clock and found only a few minutes had gone by since his mum, Sirius and Bellatrix had left the room.
Harry looked around the room and saw various photos of himself and of his family, there was one with him and Dora outside Zonkos, other Harry looked like he was about six at the time and Dora looked around thirteen, Harry looked at the date, it read 7/31/1986 – Harry's sixth birthday, Harry remembered his own sixth birthday, which was spent cleaning the Dursley house then being locked in his cupboard while Dudley had been given loads of presents.
He saw a picture of his dad holding him, even though it wasn't Harry's dad of his world Harry was saddened that he wouldn't get to know him, Harry then realised one thing, He'd been given a second chance, with his mum and Sirius at least, and maybe even one with the Weasleys, Hermione, Luna and Neville, but then Harry thought sadly what other Harry said, about the two wars wiping out big families, the Weasley's could already be dead for all he knew, and Hermione may not even be a witch! Then he immediately thought of Ron, what if he hadn't crossed over? Harry felt a gut-wrenching sadness, what of he and Ron were never to become mates in this reality? Harry made his mind up to seek Ron out when they got to Hogwarts, he didn't care if it was a different Ron, Ron was Ron as far as Harry was concerned, he was his best mate and the two were brothers, he felt the same about Ginny, he was going fall in love with her all over again.
But he still had to get used to his new life and try to work out how things would occur in this worlds future, So far Thomas Riddle-Gaunt was different from his own Voldemort, this version of Tom embraced his muggle heritage, so that in itself was a game changer, there had been two wars before Harry's time and Dumbledore was taken out pretty early on, which meant that this Tom was far more powerful than the Tom in his world.
Then there was the fact that Tom in this world used muggle technology, so this meant that the wizarding world in this universe was still behind technologically, however he still must have used horcruxes if he was wiped out in 1981, but what puzzled Harry was how did he come back after being defeated in the early 1960s? Was it horcruxes then as well? In his old world Tom rose for the first time in 1969 or 1970, the war his parents fought in this universe began again in 1973 but who lead the light side? McGonagall? Flitwick? Shacklebolt? These were things Harry had to find out.
But for now he had to get himself used to his new family and hopefully be able to prepare for Hogwarts and learn more about the new world he was in.
One good thing was that he wasn't the Chosen one, so that was one pressure off his mind already, he could coast along the next seven years if he wanted to, but if this new world was similar to his old world then it was very likely Tom would return at some point within the decade and that could be as early as next year or ten years away, Harry had to be prepared, he wasn't truly prepared for what was to come in his old world, Dumbledore royally fucked everything up with his manipulations of people.
Harry decided to go downstairs and find a library so he could be up to speed with this world's history then apologies to his family and get used being around his Aunt Bella.
Meanwhile downstairs, Lily, Sirius and Bellatrix were sitting at the table talking, "I was so sure he was getting better" Lily said sadly "I really must get a healer".
"I don't know Lily I don't think it was Elf flu that was effecting him...". Bellatrix said, "How so?" Sirius asked, Bellatrix pondered for a moment before speaking.
"He didn't seem feverish, his temperature was normal, and when does Elf flu effect memories? It doesn't, Harry seemed positively terrified and he looked at me….he looked at me as if he hated me" Bellatrix finished sadly, "That's not true Bella" Sirius said comfortingly, "it's just.."
"No Sirius he looked as if her wanted to murder me! I've seen that look; I fought in the second war too remember! I've seen the look of the enemy and Harry looked at me as if I was his enemy, but why though?", She said.
"He probably had a nightmare" Lily said, trying to reassure her friend, "don't worry Bella, Harry loves you, you're his favourite auntie, I'll speak with him later when he's awake" she touched Bellatrix's hand comfortingly and smiled, which Bellatrix returned.
Harry had managed to find the library, it was a library that would make Hermione want to move into, he thought fondly of Hermione, his Hermione, his sister from another mister, what if Hermione was different to the Hermione of his old world, he thought sadly, if the Bellatrix was on the side of light in this world and if his dad wasn't best mates with his godfather then there could be many differences.
Harry shook the thoughts away and started searching for any history books, preferably Hogwarts a History, He finally found it a while later, and he decided to look up the 20th Century.
It turned out that Dumbledore was a bit more of a grey wizard in this world, he became headmaster of Hogwarts in 1950, but was much darker, he amassed an army of Gryffindor students to attempt a take-over of the muggle world, the first war started in 1955, Dumbledore and Tom were rivals who wanted to take control over the wizarding community of Britain then muggle Britain, Dumbledore had his own army that took over the ministry in 1957, which was seized by Tom and his followers in 1959, the Great Duel of Edinburgh in 1961 ended the war when Tom murdered Dumbledore but not before destroying most of the city, killing thousands of muggles in the process, Dumbledore's body was found at the ruins of Edinburgh castle while Tom's body wasn't found, it was rumoured he changed into an animagus form, which differed from the Tom in Harry's old world.
To Harry's shock he found out that his grandfather; Fleamont Potter succeeded Dumbledore as headmaster of Hogwarts and was the head there from 1961 to 1975, after which to Harry's horror; Gellert Grindleward succeeded him and was still headmaster to this day, this was another big change and it left Harry worried as Gridleward was the dark lord before Voldemort, Harry would have to keep an eye on Grindlewaerd when he finally got to Hogwarts, he read on further and found out that Fleamont was murdered by Tom Riddle, this made this personal for Harry even more.
The war in the 1970s was far more violent than the war in his world, Harry thought, Tom had managed to create a spell which wiped out Bristol off the map in 1974, like a nuclear weapon has hit it, similar to what other Harry had told him about the North-East of England and how that became a quarantine zone.
Harry skipped a few pages to October 1981, where it seemed a prophecy had been made about two boys, Harry wondered if it was him? It was no guarantees his mother knew, especially as Tom had decided to target the Longbottom's anyway.
In much the same way, Tom attacked the Longbottom family, he killed Frank and his mother; Augusta first then he got to Alice – Neville's mother, who refused to move out the way, much like Lily in his old world, he killed her anyway then when he tried to kill Neville, the same thing that happened to Harry happened to Neville, Tom disappeared and no one knew where, but Harry wondered if Neville was the Horcrux? How could he persuade Neville to walk to his death when the time came? Harry thought, Harry put the book away and looked for more things to learn about, He found an old yearbook, the Hogwarts class of 1971-78, Harry smiled, he saw the people in the pictures move around, He saw Lily and Sirius in what seemed to be the Ravenclaw common room in one photo with a blonde couple who looked familiar.
Harry turned the page and saw his dad and Frank Longbottom, standing shoulder to shoulder with an arrogant smirk on both their faces, Harry smiled at this, then he turned the page again and saw Snape, this Snape looked arrogant and haughty, unlike the Snape in his old reality, this Snape appeared to be rather wealthy as he looked very well cared for, He was standing next to other Slytherins, and next to Snape was a person that Harry knew to be one of the kindest men he ever knew, with an expression of equal haughtiness and extreme arrogance, but this had an undertone of something sinister, the man was Remus Lupin adorned in the Slytherin uniform, and in the background was one Peter Pettigrew, but instead of looking pathetic like in Harry's old world, he looked sinister and evil himself.
He turned the page again not wanting to see Lupin looking like a junior death eater member and standing shoulder to shoulder with Snape.
He saw another photo of the blonde couple he saw earlier and saw why they were familiar, the man was Xeno Lovegood; Luna's father and the woman who was named Aurelia Crouch must be her mother, she did look like her daughter, Harry hoped that Luna would still be his friend.
So in this world Lily and Sirius were Ravenclaw's and were best friends with Luna's parents, and there were no marauders it seemed, as they were all in different houses, he then saw another yearbook that looked older, the years on it said Hogwarts class of 1962-69, this must be Bellatrix's yearbook, He saw many people dressed like hippies of the era, he saw Bellatrix looking absolutely beautiful, with long dark hair, she was in Slytherin it seemed, but she was surrounded by others as well.
He saw another photo which made his eyes widen, Bellatrix hugging Molly Weasley who was then Prewitt, and next to them was Arthur who looked a lot like Percy here.
The caption read Bella and Molly with their best friend Arthur, May 1967, in his old-world Molly killed Bella and were never ever friends, yet here it seems that until the 1970s friendships between Slytherin and Gryffindor seemed common.
At that moment he heard the door go, he turned around and saw Sirius, Sirius looked at Harry in surprise, "hello young man! You are feeling better I hope?" He asked with concern and love in his voice, Harry felt tears in his eyes and ran to his godfather and hugged him! Sirius returned the hug "hey there young man, what's wrong?"
"Nothing" Harry said "I just love you that's all" then Harry allowed the tears to flow, Siris hugged him tighter
"I love you too" he said "you had us worried mate! You are being sick all these months, then how you were earlier, it was like you didn't know us, and now, you're hugging me as if you've not seen me in years" Sirius chuckled, Harry hugged him tighter, in his old reality he hadn't seen Sirius in over twenty years.
"I'm sorry for this morning" Harry said sincerely, Sirius nodded then said "you should apologise to your Aunt Bella, she loves you like a son, she'd do anything for you kids" Sirius said in a serious tone.
"Can you tell me things about my life" Harry blurted out, Sirius looked at him with curiosity, but Harry added "I feel I've missed out on so much", Sirius nodded "what do you want to know?" He asked smiling.
"My mum and dad" Harry said instantly, Sirius smiled "You've been told about their story a thousand times, so let's make it a thousand and one shall we" he chuckled, "Brilliant!" Harry said, he was genuinely curious as to how his parents in this world had met.
"Your dad was after your mum for years, fancied her right from first year, but your mum thought he was a prat, she was a studious Ravenclaw, and he was your typical brash Gryffindor, both were seekers for their respective Quidditch teams", Harry gasped at the thought of his mum playing Quidditch, Sirius continued.
"Your mum and dad were the best seekers of their day, could have gone professional, anyway it was during fifth year when your mum was cornered by a few Slytherins, Snape, Dolohov, Lupin and Pettigrew, the gang of thugs who became followers of Riddle, your dad and Frank Longbottom saw she was in trouble and they duelled them, 2 against 4, then it was between James and Severus, and Severus lost, and at that moment Lily fell hard for James and they started dating not long after, of course in those days your dad hated me, he thought I wanted your mum, but your mum was and still is the best friend I ever had, I never looked at her romantically but James only saw that she and I were best of friends, eventually we became, close though, close enough for James to pick me over his best friend Frank to be your godfather" he smiled.
"Wow, so dad was a hero even in school" Harry said in awe "dad was never a bully, was he?" Harry asked, Sirius looked at him strangely "No, absolutely not, your dad was arrogant sure, he and Frank played pranks on people, but I never saw them bully anyone".
Harry was a bit relieved at this, he was even relieved that Snape really was evil in this universe, he had complicated feelings toward his former potions teacher upon hearing he was a spy for Dumbledore, and while he admired it, he still couldn't help but think that had Neville been a target instead of him, Snape still would have been happy to see a baby get murdered, heck he never even cared that he and his dad would die, only that he wanted Lily as some prize, the thought of this sickened him and he now found it easy to hate Snape again, if ever he got with Ginny, Albus would have a different middle name, he thought.
Harry and Sirius spoke a little while longer when the doors burst open, Harry saw three people, one of whom he recognised to be Tonks, known as Dora in this world, the other two were unfamiliar, behind Dora was a boy about his age with dark hair who looked a lot like a younger version of Sirius the other was smaller girl of about nine with dark red hair.
"Harry!" She said, "you're better! Oh I'm so pleased" the girl hugged him; Sirius could see Harry was panicked, "Okay you guys let Harry breathe, Daisy come away now" he said
"But mum said I could find Harry!" The girl said "he's my big brother and I've missed him so much!", Harry felt a jolt in his stomach, he had a sister in this world? Harry was envious of Ron who had six brothers and one sister and all he wanted was a sibling and now he had one.
The dark haired boy spoke "mate it's been hell these past few weeks without you!" The boy said, Harry simply smiled but Sirius looked at Harry and knew he was struggling with the names.
"Well don't worry Serpens, your cousin is back now, all healthy too" Sirius said, he was now concerned about his godson "You remember Serpens right Harry? My nephew, Regulus's son" he said, Harry nodded, having some of other Harry's memories leaking through helped, he recalled he and Serpens were best friends and he loved his little sister, Harry wished other Harry told him about this
"You can't have forgotten me" Dora said and at this Harry hugged her tightly, he wanted to cry again but thought better of it, "Wotcher Harry" Dora said smiling.
Sirius watched this scene, Harry didn't appear to remember Daisy or Serpens, yet he seemed to remember Dora rather well, the way he hugged her and him earlier felt and now looked like he hadn't seen he or Dora in years, he looked at Bellatrix with hatred, now that Harry was awake he wanted to see how he reacted to Lily, when he was telling the story of his parents Harry looked joyful but also he saw sadness, a sadness he'd never seen on the boy ever in his life.
Sirius was going to keep an eye on Harry for a while, a while later when Harry had apologised to Bella, Harry hugged his mother for the longest time, Lily held him as he sobbed, the adults didn't know why Harry was so tearful, Sirius at first put it down to the fact that Harry had gotten over a very bad illness, Bellatrix also thought this.
Over the next few weeks, Harry was getting used to the new world, he had received his Hogwarts letter and was shocked to see that Hagrid was the deputy headmaster along with McGonagall, this development was a shock to Harry as it meant a number of things, either Tom had opened the Chamber in the 1940s and framed someone else or he never opened it at all, either way Hagrid was allowed to finish his education and after doing some research he found that Hagrid was far more intelligent in this reality than in Harry's old one.
It was coming up to Harry's eleventh birthday and to his happiness he found that his new family were close friends with the Weasley's, which Harry should've guessed since Bella and Molly were best of friends, on the subject of Bella, Harry had gotten used to her, thanks to some of other Harry's memories filtering through he found that this Bellatrix and the Bellatrix of his old world wouldn't even recognise one another, His aunt Bella was a kind, loving woman who was extremely brave, she had fought in the second war against Riddle-Gaunt, and was an extremely powerful witch and spell inventor, she was also an award winning potions mistress, Bella was one of the few people to fight Tom one on one and survive to tell the tale.
Bella was expelled from the Black family but was adopted by her relatives aunt Cassiopeia and uncle Alphard, who apparently lived with them all, they were away in Italy for the moment, and Harry looked forward to meeting them both, she took in Sirius after he was kicked out, Bella was also still saddened by the deaths of her sister Andromeda and her husband Ted, Bella and Sirius both decided to take a more back seat role in the war to take custody of Dora.
Bella never spoke of Narcissa, who seemed to be the Bellatrix of this world, he also learned of Regulus, who was not only a fellow fighter against Riddle with Sirius, his mum and dad, but Regulus had also been married to his aunt Petunia, who had been a witch in this reality, and also a Ravenclaw, Serpens was their son, it was bizarre to Harry that Dudley was never born, sadly Regulus was murdered in 1979 and in 1980 after Petunia had given birth to Serpens, she was tortured badly, so much so she ended up in a coma, to which she was still in that state to this day, Harry was saddened by this, he had to separate this Petunia from the bitter woman from his old reality, meanwhile Harry's relationship with Bella had gone from mistrust to a loving one, he could see why other Harry favoured her as his aunt, Bella had been working at Hogwarts since the end of the last war as the potions mistress and head of Slytherin.
As for Daisy Potter, Harry's sister, he learned that she was born three months after their dads murder in April 1982, it was after her birth that Sirius and Bella invited Lily and the babies to live with them permanently, Sirius was after all godfather to both Potter children, so it made sense.
Lily had never remarried and was content with living with Sirius and Bella co-raising the children together, he also learned that Lily owned a bookshop on Diagon Alley called Evans & Potter.
Harry loved this new world, even though he knew he'd have to fight Voldemort again someday, or at least assist Neville, he wondered where Neville had been raised, he knew in the old reality Neville had great aunts and uncles along with his grandmother raising him, but his grandmother was also dead in this reality, Harry would have to learn more about Neville when they got to Hogwarts.
Harry was excited because he would see the Weasleys again, he'd see Ron and Ginny, but he also realised that they could be completely different in this world, Harry had braced himself of this, the Sirius of this new world seemed more academic than he would be a prankster, he still had his motorbike and had a rebellious streak but he wasn't as reckless as the Sirius of his old world, Harry hoped that Ron wouldn't be that much different, he missed his humour and jovial nature, and with Ginny he missed her strength, what if Ginny never loved him in this world? Then there was Hermione, he wouldn't know until September about what she could be like what if she wasn't a with? Petunia had been a witch in this reality but a muggle in his old reality, then there was Luna, well one difference he knew of with her already was that her mother was still alive.
The Day of Harry's eleventh birthday came, the family had already bought his and Serpens supplies at the day before, Harry's wand was different, Oak with unicorn hair, this wand felt more natural to him than his old one, it was amazing how not being the chosen one was so much better, but he couldn't help but pity Neville for having this burden, at Diagon Alley they bought their pets, Serpens bought a rat, which reminded Harry of Pettigrew, before remembering that the marauders friendship never happened and therefore there was no reason why Sirius, his dad and Pettigrew would ever need to transform to help Lupin.
Harry at the pet shop felt wings on his cheek and a familiar peck of a beak, he looked and saw it was Hedwig, the snowy owl remembered him, Harry immediately asked his mother to buy it for him, to which she did, This was positive for Harry, as somehow another creature had slipped through to this universe, it gave him hope that Ron had also made it through.
On the day of Harry's birthday party, he was nervous, nervous at seeing the Weasley's again, Serpens broke his thoughts, "Can't wait to see Ron again! It's been ages, we haven't seen him since before you were ill" he said excitedly.
"Yeah, I can't wait to see him either and Ginny too" Harry said to which Serpens smiled, "Yeah well Ginny has a crush on you, always has" he said wryly "mind you Elizabeth also fancies you" he continued, "Who's Elizabeth?", Harry asked, Serpens looked at him in shock, "The youngest Weasley daughter!" He replied, Harry looked up from his book "The Weasley's have another daughter?" He asked, Serpens looked at him as if Harry was losing it "yeah in fact they have two more daughters, Henrietta is the oldest daughter, so three altogether" he said, "Henrietta? Elizabeth?" Harry asked, "Yeah Henrietta or Etta as she prefers is going to be a seventh year and Elizabeth is three years younger than Ginny" he said.
"So Henrietta is born in between Charlie and Percy then?" Harry assumed, Serpens raised his eyebrow, "She was born after Charlie and before Fred, who on earth is Percy?" Serpens asked, "Percy Weasley, quite pompous and clever" Harry said, but Serpens now had a concerned look on his face.
"Harry, Aunts Bella & Lily and Uncle Sirius are worried about you, ever since you've been better it's like you've forgotten parts of your life? You sometimes talk of people who don't exist, and I've heard you speak in your sleep" Serpens said worriedly.
"I talk in my sleep?" Harry asked, hoping he hadn't revealed too much from his old life.
"Yeah, you do, you mostly talk gibberish, you say Voldemort a lot, what does that mean? Is that a spell?" He asked, to Harry, it was strange to hear someone say the word Voldemort with tone of questioning rather than fear or disgust
"No it's not a spell, but maybe I could check with Aunt Bella to see if it is" Harry lied, Serpens continued, "It's like you aren't yourself at times, you play quidditch, which you never did before your illness, and you fly really good, Uncle Sirius says you're better than Aunt Lily, then you seem to start off into space", Serpens said sounding concerned, "Harry are you okay?" He asked, Harry nodded
"Of course I'm fine, I'm just getting better that's all" he reassured his cousin, but Serpens looked unconvinced, luckily for Harry, his mother came into his room and told the boys that the Weasley's had arrived, Serpens ran out the room, but Harry braced himself, he had to remember that this Ron and Ginny weren't his Ron and Ginny, Harry walked out the room and went downstairs.
In the living room he saw the Weasley family all gathered, Harry took deep breaths to prevent himself from getting emotional at the sight in front of him, he saw Mrs Weasley, as warm and as kind as ever chatting with Bella and Lily, he saw Dora chatting to a red headed girl of about seventeen, this must be Henrietta, at that moment Sirius announced Harry's arrival.
"Ah here's the birthday boy!" His voice boomed loudly, as Mr Weasley next to him gave him a smile, Mr Weasley looked different, he was wearing a pin stripe suit and a bowler hat, he looked very smart, obviously Mr Weasley was working in the ministry in a higher ranking capacity in this world.
"Happy Birthday Harry!" Mrs Weasley said as she embraced him in a hug, "Ron, Ginny come and say hello to Harry, my goodness Harry they have both been eager to see you! Of course we all were but with your illness recently we couldn't visit dear" she said, Harry only smiled "it's okay Mrs Weasley I understand, I'm glad you're here now" he said, Ron walked up to him Ron had a strange expression on his face, "Harry" Ron hugged his mate, then let him go "I'm craving a shepherds pie" Ron said in a meaningful tone of voice
"Ron?" He said uncertainly "don't be silly we won't be having that here" he smirked but wanting to be fully sure that it was the Ron from the old reality, Harry knew that Shepherds Pie was the last thing they had spoken about in the old universe before their deaths, "I guess you could get your wife to make it for you!" He said knowingly but in a humorous tone of voice, "It's really you mate!" Ron said, both boys hugged each other.
"Of course it's him" Serpens said, he was standing next Ginny and a smaller girl of about seven who must have been Elizabeth, the new youngest Weasley girl, "Hello Harry" she said, "Hello Elizabeth" he said, she giggle "I prefer Lizzie" she said, and she ran toward Daisy.
"Is there a way we can talk Harry" Ron asked, "Yeah, my room, but let's go when Serpens isn't looking" Harry said then he grabbed Ron in a big hug "I'm so glad you're here" he said, "Me too mate" Ron said, and they joined the rest of the party.
The room was full of laughs and happiness and love, as the time Went on, Harry could feel more of other Harry's memories filtering through and he was a bit sad to see that while Fred existed, there was no twin called George, so Henrietta and Elizabeth took the place of Percy and George in this world, the Fred was still a bit of a prankster.
Harry was also shocked to learn that not all the Weasley's ended up in Gryffindor, so far only Bill and Henrietta had been sorted into Gryffindor, Charlie had been a Hufflepuff, and Fred was a Slytherin! It was weird not seeing Percy or George, the latter was especially hard for Harry as he was close to both twins in the old universe.
A while later, Harry and Ron went up to Harry's room, leaving Serpens to talk with Fred, when they got to Harry's room, they put a muffollo spell on the room so they could talk freely both boys let out a sigh of relief.
"Bloody hell mate! How on earth did you get here? I just woke up in this body weeks ago, I can't believe we have to go through Hogwarts again and imagine my face finding out I have two extra sisters in this world!?".
"Same here and I had a shock finding out that I was living with Bellatrix!" Harry said, Ron laughed then said "You know, now that she's not some scabby looking death eater, she looks really hot mate!" he said, Harry punched him in the arm
"Watch it you!" Harry said "she's my aunt!" both boys laughed, Harry was relieved that Ron was going through the same bizarre experience as he was, it would have been much harder doing it alone, for whatever reason, he and Ron ended up in this world together.
"But in all seriousness, what do you know about this world? When I got here I met my other self's soul before he went onto the next world, other Harry, the Harry in this reality, told me that Voldemort here goes by his old name; Tom Riddle-Gaunt, he started his campaign for supremacy much earlier in than in our world, there's already been two wars here and from what I can gather the wizarding population over here is much smaller than on our side, Dumbledore is dead and was a dark or at least a grey wizard, there was still a prophecy and Tom chose Neville and not me" Harry finished
Ron was silent for a moment "That's a whole different ball game, anything else that's different over here? I didn't want to ask mum and dad in case they got suspicious, I never had your experience of meeting my alternate self, all I know is that Dolores Umbridge is minister and has been since 1980" Ron said
Harry's blood boiled at this though, it would certainly explain why the Malfoy's were still walking around free as birds, Umbridge was most likely on their payroll
"Great and I thought Fudge and Scrimgeour were bad enough" Harry said, Ron nodded the continued "My worry is that when we get to Hogwarts will we still have to go after the Stone? Or how about the Chamber of secrets?" he asked
"Good question" Harry said thoughtfully "We know last time Dumbledore had the stone under his protection away from Gringotts, but we're dealing with Grindleward as the headmaster now, plus we're dealing with a very different Voldemort here, he's embraced his muggle heritage for one thing" Harry said
"Grindleward is the headmaster of Hogwarts?" Ron asked in shock "You never said that before, wasn't he the dark wizard years before Voldemort in the forties?" he asked
"He was, but I don't think he was a dark wizard in this world, I've read the history books and there's no mention of a war with him in the nineteen forties at all, it does say that after he was expelled from Durmstrang he transferred to Hogwarts and graduated in 1901, he became headmaster in the nineteen seventies, after teaching at Hogwarts since the nineteen fifties"" Harry said "Anyway, we still need to figure out why we were sent here, it seems that other Harry was supposed to die of Elf flu and I've taken his place, how you slipped through is a mystery since it seems like you weren't supposed to die" he said
"Well there was something, I woke up in bed and mum said a bludger hit me in the head" Ron said with a realisation coming to him "so maybe I've taken other Ron's place as well" he said
"That could be true, so in that case then, we're both here for a reason, and maybe I'm the other boy prophecies and I'm supposed to help Neville" Harry said
"Well that explains the reason why you're here, but it still doesn't account for my being here" Ron said "There must be something else and for some reason I get the feeling it has something to do with this world's future" Ron said
Harry frowned "Why's that?" he asked, Ron continued "Since I got here I've had dreams, at first I thought I was dreaming about the battle of Hogwarts, but there are different things happening, for starters, I see Hogwarts getting completely obliterated and I see a battle in Diagon Alley, and also all over London I see Riddle's army flying and battling against planes, I don't see faces in particular I just see bodies fighting but never who they actually are" Ron said "I can't be dreaming about the past – our past in our old reality since the Battle took place at Hogwarts only, it can only be the future .. but the thing I always see is Voldemort – I mean Riddle winning" Ron said, both he and Harry shuddered.
Harry pondered this then a dark thought crossed his mind, even though he'd spent the last few weeks trying not to think of his children and his old life he had a sense of dread and worry "Ron, what if it's the future of James, Al, Lily, Rose, Hugo and all the other nieces and nephews we have? Teddy and Victoire, Luna's twin boys?" Harry could feel himself getting emotional "And we're not there to help them" he finished
Ron looked worried but then said "Nah mate, it can't be, It has to be this world's future, it's a reality in which we can make a difference" Ron reassuring Harry, but he himself had the exact same thoughts.
"Well there's nothing more we can until we get to Hogwarts" Ron said "Harry, do you ever think about your old life" he asked
"All the time, I try not to, but I can't help it, if I'm going to die, I can accept that but to start an entirely new life in another reality where there are no guarantees you and I will end up with Hermione and Ginny respectively and therefore never see my kids has pissed me off" Harry said "but at least you're here mate, it would be a thousand times worse otherwise" he finished, "Also at least you get a second chance with Sirius, and you've got your mum alive" Ron said.
"And I hope I never lose them again" Harry said "Voldemort robbed me of my family in the old reality and I've already been robbed of my father, but regardless as to why we're here, I won't ever lose a loved one ever again" he said determinedly, and with that both boys re-joined the party where Lily was bringing out the cake.
Harry had to say that Lily was a great cook, perhaps even better than Molly, though he'd never say it out loud, it was a great 11th birthday overall, much better than his first one, which depending on ones logic had either occurred many years in the past for Harry or was happening right at that moment in parallel universe, either way, Harry was having the time of his life.
A few days after the party, Harry, Serpens, Daisy and Dora had gone to visit the Weasley's at the Burrow, Harry was pleased to see that it hadn't changed one bit, still as homely as ever.
As soon as he got there, Ron had given Harry a broom, and the two boys formed a team with Serpens, Henrietta and Ginny while Fred, Charlie, Bill, Dora and Daisy formed another team, Elizabeth had to sit out as she was too young to play, Harry and Charlie were the seekers of their teams, Harry missed flying, he was doing tricks on his broom that he hadn't done in years, before he and Ginny had James, Harry used to play quidditch a lot and go for long broom rides, when he became a father and as work got more on top of him, it was a pastime that he would do maybe once a year, he had no idea how much he would miss it.
Harry's team won and with the exception of Ron, the others looked at him with bewilderment on their faces, Harry wondered why they were looking at him like that "What's up" he asked.
"Harry where on earth did you learn to fly like that?" Fred asked "You fly like you've flown all your life" he continued, the others nodded in confirmation.
"What are you on about I love flying" he said but Serpens said "No you don't mate, I told you this when we spoke weeks ago, you fly only when we pressure you if we need an extra person to make up the numbers, and even then you're rubbish, Lizzie could fly better than you" he said, the others laughed.
Ron gave Harry a knowing smirk, so this was another difference then, and it explained why other Harry wanted him to play quidditch, maybe this was his regret before he departed.
"Well life is short and after my illness I was determined to play" Harry said.
"Yeah, but Harry how on earth could you have learned to play like that?" Ginny asked looking impressed.
"I mean you've been laid up these past few months, and its no way you can fly like you've been flying for years" Dora said.
"Harry's mum and dad played quidditch at school though" Ron interjected.
"Aunt Lily has been trying to get Harry interested in Quidditch for years to no avail" Serpens said
"Well it doesn't matter" Henrietta said "maybe Harry's been learning in secret before his illness and he wanted to shock you all by trying out for a spot" she said, smiling at Harry "after all that's how I learned, because Bill and Charlie wouldn't let me play when we were younger, good for you Harry" she said, Harry was grateful Henrietta interjected, he got the impression that they were close in this reality, she was after all Dora's best friend.
"Yeah well, we should've listened" Bill said as you're going to go pro soon" Bill said, Ron gasped "Really?" he blurted out, Fred whacked Ron at the back of the head to which Bill did the same to Fred in retaliation for Ron "ouch" he said, but Bill gave him a stern look "Yes Ron I am, for the Chudley Cannons" Henrietta smiled, of course mum still wants me to complete my seventh year, after all I am head girl this year and that's important for mum" she finished, and with that Molly called them all in for lunch.
After a feast of Molly's delicious cooking, the Potter-Black children went home, but not before Harry and Ron making arrangements for Ron to come over so they could study the history this reality a bit more so they could be better prepared, both boys had been paranoid that Serpens was following them around, it wasn't that they disliked him, on the contrary all three were very close, it seemed that they had always been best friends in this world, but how on earth could they open up to Serpens about the fact that the Harry and Ron he knew were technically dead? Even though Harry and Ron were getting their other selves memories, they still had their own personalities that obviously differed from the Harry and Ron, Serpens or anyone else knew, Harry and Ron were conscious of the fact that they could be leaving Serpens out and they didn't want that.
Then there was Sirius, Harry loved his godfather and found him to be more or less the same aside from trauma of a decade spent in Azkaban but they were still close, but Harry couldn't help but notice that Sirius would look at him intently at times, Harry and Ron both knew that sooner or later they'd have to be honest with Sirius, they both felt he was suspicious of them, and it would be better to have an adult to talk to about this and Harry and Ron agreed that Sirius was probably the best person to talk to this about, but not until they were at Hogwarts.
"You know I'm looking forward going to Hogwarts again" Ron said to Harry one day when they were in the library, "The great feast! And the sorting all over again" he continued, Harry smiled, he had to admit now that he wasn't the boy who lived in this reality, he was looking to having a full, partially Voldemort free time at Hogwarts.
"Yeah, me too", he said, "What house do you think we'll be sorted into?" Harry asked "my mum was a Ravenclaw in this world, and your siblings are everywhere" he continued.
"Yeah, there's no guarantee we'll end up in Gryffindor this time". Ron said, "As long as I don't end up in Slytherin!" he said, Harry rolled his eyes "my Auntie Bella was a Slytherin and in this reality she's one of the kindest people I know" he said "I know there are some bad Slytherins but let's not forget that a fair few Gryffindors joined Dumbledore in his quest for domination thirty-odd years ago" he finished, smiling at Ron.
"I guess you're right, and plus Fred is a Slytherin, and he's actually a lot nicer here than he was in the old reality" he said "is it wrong that I'm technically speaking ill of the dead" Ron asked, Harry gave a chuckle you're not speaking ill of our Fred, he'd laugh along with you, shame there's no George here though, even after all this time I still can't get used to one twin without the other" Harry said.
At that moment, Lily came into their room and said that Ron had to go home, Ron left to use the floo and Harry stayed in the library after bidding farewell to Ron, next week they would be off to Hogwarts and they would be busy, it would be a bit harder for them to do their research with all the lessons in between.
Serpens came into the library "Ron gone then?" he asked "Yeah he just left" Harry said.
Serpens entered the room and sat down opposite Harry "Harry have I upset you or Ron?" he asked, Harry looked at his cousin "No, why would you think that?" he asked, "Oh I don't know, maybe it's because you both leave me out these days" Serpens said with an edge to his voice "All you two do is sit here and read or you both play quidditch, but you never ask me to join you anymore" he said, his voice cracking, Harry could see Serpens was getting upset "I know you've been sick, but it feels like you don't want to be my friend anymore, before you met Ron, it was always us, then Ron joined our group and we would hang out, but now you don't want me around!" Serpens said letting tears fall, Harry felt immediately guilty, he and Ron hadn't realised they had been shutting Serpens out.
"Serpens, I'm really sorry, of course we're still mates! We're cousins after all!" Harry said to reassure him.
"Yeah, sure we are" Serpens said sarcastically "Ron passed me and didn't even say bye to me" he said wiping his eyes "you both talk and whenever anyone enters the room you both shut up and change the subject, you've changed Harry, you both have" he said.
"I'm really sorry Serpens" Harry said, "Ron and I have just been through a lot".
"I know, everyone has noticed how you've both been acting so strange lately, like the quidditch match a few weeks ago, you played as good as Charlie and Henrietta, and you beat me!" he said "then he said "you talk in your sleep, which I told you already, you say Voldemort a lot and other things", Serpens finished, Harry frowned, "Like what?", Harry asked.
"You call out random names, you say names like Hermione, George, Luna, I know who Luna is, she's the Lovegood girl whose neighbours with the Weasley's, but who's George and Hemione?" Serpens finished, Harry remained silent "Harry talk to me mate!" Serpens demanded.
Harry felt he had no choice, he had to talk to Serpens "Okay, I do have something to tell you and it'll be unbelievable but you want to know the truth" Harry knew he was taking a gamble, even though time travel was possible, even in the wizarding community the concept of alternate timelines and parallel universes was considered impossible, the muggle world ironically had considered this possibility in the twenty-tens, Harry and Ron hadn't found anything about it in all the books they studied.
"Serpens, mate, what I'm about to tell you cannot, and I mean cannot be repeated to anyone else, at least not for a while and we're talking years here, you got that? Not a soul, some day I'll tell mum, Sirius and Auntie Bella myself okay" he said, Serpens nodded "Ok I'll keep it to myself" he said nervously.
Then Harry had an idea "Do we have a pensieve?" he asked, Serpens shook his head "No, we don't, do you even know how to use one?" he said sceptically, Harry nodded, the only way he would get Serpens to believe him is if he had a pensieve.
"Do you know where is one?" he asked, Serpens frowned "You're not trying to get out of telling me something important are you?" he said
"No its just I need to show you my memories" Harry said resigning himself to having hope Serpens would believe him, then at that moment, Serpens clicked his fingers "I know who does have one, Aunt Cassiopea and Uncle Alphard at their house, they're away still, but we could go tomorrow with Dora! She's house-sitting for them as its her turn" he said happily
"Won't she get suspicious if we go off somewhere?" Harry asked, but Serpens shook his head "Nope, she's already invited Charlie over, they'll be distracted for hours" he said smirking, Harry wondered why at first but then remembered that Dora and Charlie were dating, Charlie in his old reality never had any romantic relationships, he had one night stands but he never married and he was certain that he and Dora in the old reality were just friends.
"Okay, tomorrow it is then, and I expect and explanation" Serpens grinned "and sorry about earlier mate" he said.
"No mate I'm sorry and the same goes for Ron" Harry replied, Serpens then left the room to tell Dora of their plan to join her.
As Serpens left, it dawned on Harry to do one important task before he showed Serpens his memories, to remove the memories of Petunia from his old reality, he didn't want Serpens to have his love for his mother in this reality diminished by the actions of a different Petunia from a parallel universe.
LONDON, 1941:
In the streets of London, people were out celebrating, some had been celebrating for days, and for good reason, by some miracle the war was over.
Hitler and his Nazi's were found mysteriously dead all over Germany, nobody knew how they died, there were no markings on them, but at this moment, no one questioned it.
Winston Churchill was astounded himself, he had expected and prepared himself that the second world war as it came to be known would rage on for years and years, he was sure they would be fighting until the nineteen fifties at the earliest, he sat in his office, preparing himself to meet the King for a formal meeting, Churchill was happy, but he was worried that while Hitler maybe gone who could take his place, it had to be someone very, very powerful to take out Hitler's entire cabinet and liberate the Jews and other persecuted minorities at the same time, whoever had done this also scared the Japanese as they surrendered, Churchill was certain they were going to bomb an American air base to bring them into the war.
Churchill was preparing his speech to the nation when he heard a loud crack in the room, he stood up immediately, and saw a blond man in his late forties or maybe fifties, he was handsome looking, and very tall, Churchill was about to call out to his secretary
"I wouldn't do that if I were you Winston" he said in a German accent, that put Churchill on edge
"Who are you? And the devil do you think you're doing here?" he said.
The mand pointed a stick at him, "I do not want to use this on you, since we're on the same side but I won't hesitate if I feel threatened, and I am not here to harm you, surely you'd want to know how I ended Hitler's life along with those other scumbags of my homeland" he said savagely, Churchill looked at the stick and was about to laugh, but he was more intrigued by what this man had to say and he sat down, he invited the man to do the same
"Thank you, I thought that should pique your interest" the man said "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Gellert Grindleward" he said, smiling at the prime minister
"Thank you for introducing yourself, but what are you doing here and how did you get in?" Churchill asked
Grindleward smiled "Magic" he said simply "you must know that there is a secret magical realm that exists in parallel to your world? Dear me I'm afraid the minister must have forgotten to introduce himself, he's supposed too really"
Churchill frowned, he wasn't a man easily scared "Magic you say, prove it" he said defiantly, Grindleward smiled "Expecto patronum" he said with a flick of his wand and a beam of light filled the room and out came an eagle as it flew out the room, leaving Chuchill dumbfounded
"That spell only works if you have a really good memory, and the memory I used, was of me killing Adolf Hitler and the look of surprise on his face, an empire for a thousand year they hoped for" Grindleward chuckled, disregarding Churchill's shock
"I heard rumours, but I never believed them.." Churchill said trailing off "where is your world?" he asked
"Never mind that now, I just killed a man who was going to kill millions more people and stopped this war from being prolonged any further" he said "I couldn't stand by and watch a fellow countryman, albeit a muggle, carry on doing what he was doing" Grindleward said in a saddened tone, Churchill understood this and stood up "Well whoever you are, I on behalf of the British Empire thank you, the public must know of you" he said, Gindleward shook his head, "No, no other muggle must know of me or my world, seeing the world in peace is enough for me" he said, standing up, holding out his hand
"I'll get the minister to speak with you" he said as both men shook each other's hand, Winston Churchill understood and was eternally grateful "If there is anything you ever need, it is at your disposal at any time.
Churchill turned around and was about to offer Grindleard a brandy, but he heard a loud crack, and Churchill turned around and found that he was once again alone in his office
"What and extraordinary fellow", he said to himself, before pouring himself an extra-large brandy.
Harry and Serpens were waiting for Dora to take them to Cassiopea and Alphard's house, Harry, had yet to see them but according to Bella, Cassiopea and Alphard loved them like their own grandchildren, to the elderly cousins, Bella and Sirius were the closest thing they had to children so their offsprings, adopted or otherwise were seen as grandchildren to them, they themselves were cousins, and were also the best of friends, they had never married but were life partners in the platonic sense, but outsiders thought they were married, they were currently in Italy on holiday in one of the Black properties they owned, Harry had seen photos of him being there but while he had some snippets of memories, it was like looking at a photo of a stranger, he hoped more of other Harry's memories would slip through.
Serpens was waiting impatiently, "what is it with girls" he said exasperatedly, "Dora is taking forever!", Harry chuckled "we'll be there soon enough, by the way you'll have to show me where the pensieve is when we get to the house", Harry said, Serpens smiled "No problem mate, I just can't wait for you tell me what's been going on, has it got anything to with something mysterious, like what Uncle Sirius does?", he asked, Harry had learned that Sirius was working in the Department of Mysteries, this made him realise he could probably talk to Sirius soon, he wanted to do so with Ron before they went off to Hogwarts, Harry had been thinking that there may be a way for him and Ron to return back to their own reality someday, to just before they were killed, Harry accepted that there was a reason why he had to be here, what reason he was yet to learn of, but he missed his old life at times, and he wanted to see his children grow up and have children of their own, Harry felt guilty for thinking this because he had his mum alive in this world and Sirius was much happier, but he was completely home sick at times.
"Harry, are you okay mate? You didn't reply to my question about Sirius", Serpens interrupted his thoughts, "Oh yeah I'm fine, just wondering how long Dora is taking that's all", Harry said.
At that moment he heard a crash and tumble in the hall and someone swearing, Harry and Serpens ran outside to the hall to see Dora face down on the floor and the umbrella stand toppled over, Bella also ran out, "Dora! Do not swear in front of the children!" she said, Harry burst out laughing, it sounded alien hearing and seeing Bella act so maternal, he loved it.
"Oh don't mind me Aunt Bella, I could've only died and the only thing you're worried about is me swearing", Dora said getting up, with Harry and Serpens helping her up
"Oh you're alright", Bella said, but she went to hug her niece all the same, smiling at them all, "now you all have a good day boys and be good for Dora and Charlie, and Dora I was thinking maybe it'll be a good idea to bring Kreacher and Mindy back here, between me going off to Hogwarts soon, Lily running the bookshop and Sirius doing extra hours at the Mysteries department, there'll be no one to run the house or to look after Daisy" she said, Harry noted the name of his former house elf; Kreacher and wondered what he would be like? If Bella was suggesting that Kreacher come back to the same house as Sirius then perhaps his godfather and the house elf had a better relationship in this reality.
"I'll do that Bella, but as for Daisy, I'll be here to look after most days", Dora said, Bella shook her head, "No, you'll focus on your studies at the Auror academy, I don't want you to have extra responsibilities, plus you won't always be living here, I'm sure Charlie and you will be moving in together very soon", Bella said knowingly, smiling, Dora returned the smile, "Yes auntie Bella", and the aunt and niece hugged each other, Harry smiled at the scene, it was hard to think that in his old reality, Bella hated her niece enough to murder her.
"You boys ready then?", Dora asked, Harry and Serpens nodded, Bella smiled at all three "Have a good day you all", she said kissing both boys on the forehead, Harry hugged Bella tightly, "I love you Auntie Bella" he said, and he meant it too, Bella was a remarkable woman and somehow he felt safe around her, Serpens pretended to puke, but Bella blinked back tears "I love you too Harry, and you Serpens even though you never say it to me", she laughed, "Now off you go", she said and with that, Harry, Serpens and Dora went to the floo, Harry hated this form of travel so he was nervous about the transportation, Dora went first, "Nightingale Court, Hampstead" she said clearly and she was gone, then it was Harry's turn, he repeated the address Dora said and found himself sucked through the flames, Harry would never, ever, ever get used to this form of transportation, he much preferred Apparating to this or the Portkey, a few seconds later he found himself in a ornate looking room, Harry was impressed
"You alright there Harry?", Dora asked smiling, Harry nodded and a few more seconds, Serpens fell into the living room, Harry was a little bit pleased to see that his entrance was far more graceful than Serpens, Harry laughed a little.
"Charlie should be here soon lads, so you can do whatever you want, I've got to look over any letters Cassie and Alphard would have received and answer them, then we can have lunch okay" Dora said, the boys nodded and with Serpens leading the way, Harry followed him upstairs to the attic, the house was large, much larger than his house he lived in and that was big enough, this was a mansion in comparison.
When they got to the attic, both boys looked around in wonder, the room had telescopes and the ceiling was painted blue with all the constellations, Harry also saw the Black family tree, he looked at it and saw some differences, Dorea and Charlus Potter had a son named Joshua Potter born 1953, he had married a woman called Marlene McKinnon and had a daughter named; Serafina Potter, who was born in 1971, and a son named Nicholas Potter who was born in 1974, these would be Harry and Daisy's second cousins, Harry was shocked because that side of the family had been killed early on in the first wizarding war in his old reality and Marlene McKinnon had been murdered along with the rest of her family in 1980, Harry was amazed to see that he and Daisy were on there, listed as ward's of Sirius, with a gold line linking them with Lily and James too, Harry also saw that the Malfoy's had two children, Draco being the obvious one and apparently he had a brother named; Abraxas, born in 1982, this was an interesting development, but Harry wondered why his mother, Sirius or anyone else had told him about the other Potter relatives? Harry paid no more attention to this when Serpens interrupted his thoughts.
"So are you going to show me what's going on with you and Ron?", Serpens asked.
Harry got out a vial of fluid, he had made sure to separate his memories of Petunia form the memories he was going to show Serpens, he went to the door and made sure the door was locked, but he knew Dora and Charlie would probably be making out in between answering letters, then he went back to the pensieve.
"Before we do this, I have to give you the background, this will explain why I am different to the person you remember, it will shock you but it's the only way I can tell you what Ron and I have been doing and why we're studying all the time, you cannot tell anyone, I mean if I have to make an unbreakable vow I will" Harry said sternly
"You won't have to", Serpens said, "but I must admit I am a little scared" he confessed, Harry decided to give Serpens context, "You know about time turner's, right?" Harry said, Serpens frowned "Yeah I do, but they no longer make them, you should know this, Bella was one of many who voted to have all time turner's destroyed in 1983 or 84, to prevent any Dumbledore's or Riddle-Gaunt's followers from going back in time to change the outcome of those wars they waged, there are no more time turners" Serpens said, Harry noted this development and carried on "Well what I'm about to tell you will shock you", he said, Serpens nodded for him to continue.
"The reason why Ron and I are different, is because we're not the Harry and Ron you remember, I'm really a thirty-seven-year-old father of three from the future, a future that exists in a parallel universe, the year 2017 to be exact, Ron and I were aurors and we were both killed in action and we were sent here", Harry finished, Serpens looked enraged "You must think I'm stupid, this is a trick" he said angrily, Harry grabbed onto Serpens' arm "I'm telling you the truth mate", he said, "You want to know or not", Harry as being firm and Serpens scowled but nodded
"Here goes", he said, grabbing Serpens arm and they stuck their heads into the bowl and felt themselves falling, they stopped and everything around them materialised. The first memory was of Harry and Ron meeting on the Hogwarts Express, Harry turned around and saw Serpens looking confused "Mate, how is this a memory? You haven't gone on the Hogwarts Express yet?", he said, Harry only said "this will explain what I told you just now"
At that moment, Harry showed Ron his scar, Serpens looked confused "What is that scar and why is Ron amazed by it?", he asked, "Neville has one on his forehead…", Serpens trailed off, the realisation dawning on his face "You're the boy who lived!", he said sounding amazed.
Harry only nodded as they got to the next memory, it was of Harry's sorting, Serpens watched in amazement, as the hat finally shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and the whole of the Gryffindor table erupted in applause, the next memory was one of Harry, Ron and Hermione facing Sirius for the first time in the Shrieking Shack, Remus was there too at this point with Snape unconscious.
"I DID MY WAITING! Sirius roared "TWELVE YEARS OF IT! IN AZKABAN".
"What!" Serpens said "Uncle Sirius in Azkaban? What for? And why on earth is that scum Lupin here?" he asked, but Harry remained silent.
That memory faded into the graveyard battle at the end of Harry's fourth year during the Triwizard tournament, Serpens almost yelped in horror when he saw Voldemort
"Who the hell is that?" he asked fearfully, Harry turned to look at him "You've heard me call out the name Voldemort in my sleep haven't you?" Serpens nodded, and Harry turned away, Serpens gasped "That thing is Voldemort? Is it a monster?" he asked
"No, worse" Harry said "he is indeed a human, but he delved into some of the darkest magic, this man was once known as Tom Riddle" he said.
"Tom Riddle? As in Thomas Riddle Gaunt? He never looked like that. Uncle Sirius showed me a photo of him, and he had dark hair, and looked human" he said.
The memory changed again, this time to the Battle of the Department of mysteries, Harry debated to himself as to whether to show Serpens this or not, but this would be the only to prove to Serpens that he and Ron were from a Parallel universe
Harry looked away at this memory "Come on you can do better than that" Sirius said those final words, then Bellatrix killed him
Serpens screamed "NO!" he screamed again "What is this, Harry? Bella looks mad and she just killed Sirius!" he turned to see Harry crying "I didn't want to show you this mate, but if nothing could convince you of my story then this will, Bellatrix was Voldemort's right-hand woman, she tortured Neville's parents after the first war with Voldemort" he said, now you know why I was scared of her and angry at her" Harry said
The memory changed and this time it was at Godrics Hollow, with Hermione, having gotten over his shock and upset Serpens asked "Who's this young lady then" he asked smiling, Harry smiled too but then stopped, his loyalty to Ron made him want to punch Serpens for fancying Hermione
Harry then took Serpens to look at the graves of Lily and James: 1960-1981, Serpens put his hand on Harry's shoulder in sympathy.
The memory changed again to the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry and Serpens saw snippets of it, until they stopped at when Harry walked to his 'death'
"Harry Potter" Voldemort said, "The Boy who lived … come to die…", Serpens gulped and looked over at both Harry's in wonderment and amazement and admiration, Harry looked over at himself as he looked twenty years in the past, forgetting how terrified he was at the time
"AVADA KEDAVRA" Voldemort shouted as the area flashed a bright green and the Harry in the 1998 memory fell.
The memory changed rapidly from Harry defeating Voldemort for the last time, to happier memories, Harry marrying Ginny, Ron marrying Hermione, the births of James, Al and Lily, the finally to the deaths of Harry and Ron in the old reality.
Then Harry and Serpens found themselves back in the attic room, both boys were silent for several moments, Serpens looked shocked, and he hadn't even seen half of the memories had, the rest would be told by Harry and Ron
"Harry" Serpens said "What happened to the old Harry?" he asked, Serpens looked nervously at him, Harry had to tell him the truth "his soul departed this life and I reincarnated into it, I have his memories, and I do feel this Harry is different from my old body in the old reality" Harry said, Serpens looked neutral, "I understand if you don't trust me, you grew up with your Harry for eleven years, but I hope we can be friends" Harry said, feeling sad as he didn't want to lose Serpens, even though he never existed in his old reality Harry felt a kinship with him, they were cousins, and he was a massive upgrade from Dudley.
"Mate, it's fine, I'm just in shock, but I don't hate you, I know there have been differences but you're still Harry, you both have a wicked sense of humour, you're still my best friend, and you're loyal, what is different is how you play quidditch, and how confident you are, then you used to be a Gryffindor", then he hugged him, Harry returned the hug, relived.
"I'm glad you don't hate me" Harry said, then they released each other.
"By the way, where was I in your reality? Serpens asked, Harry was unprepared for this question, but he answered honestly.
"Unfortunately, you didn't existed, Aunt Petunia was a muggle in my old world, and she never met Uncle Regulus, she married a muggle called Vernon and they had a son called Dudley" he finished, Serpens frowned "Dudley?" he mocked "who calls their son Dudley? What kind of name is that?", he said smiling, Harry looked at him in disbelief "I tell you that you never existed and all you can focus on is the name of my now, non-existent cousin?", he said, Serpens nodded and then smiled.
"Look there's probably loads more things you want to ask me" Harry said, "I'll need your help too, things are different in this world than in mine, other Harry told me a few things and Ron and I have read the history books too", he finished, Serpens nodded, "I'd be lying if I said I am one hundred percent okay with this, I need to grieve the old Harry, if you understand what I mean, and it's a lot to get used to, but I'll be happy to help you and Ron, one thing though, why were you reincarnated here?", he asked, Harry shrugged "We don't know, but Ron and I reckon it has something to do with the future of this world, your Voldemort – or Tom Riddle, seems more powerful and more intelligent than the Riddle in my old world, he's waged two wars here already, but the outcome of October 1981 was still the same except he marked Neville as the boy who lived instead of me, so I reckon he made a couple of Horcruxes", Harry said.
"Horcruxes", Serpens said, Harry nodded "you ever heard of them?" he asked, Serpens nodded "Yeah, Auntie Bella spoke to Uncle Sirius and Aunt Lily about them years ago, with each one you make you lose more of your humanity, the Tom Riddle I've seen in pictures looks human still, but your Tom Riddle looked like a snake with limbs, he looked positively terrifying", he said, "How many must he have made to look like that?", he asked
"Seven", Harry said, "Seven horcruxes including me accidently when he tried to kill me", he said, Serpens looked ashen, to which Harry said "yeah I know"
The boys decided to go back downstairs to join Dora and Charlie.
They didn't see Sirius stepping out from the dark corner of the room, looking more ashen than Serpens looked, Sirius saw there was still residue in the pensieve and decided to see the memories for himself.
1st September 1991:
It had been a week since the pensieve and Harry, Ron and Serpens had been hanging out together, Ron was first a bit annoyed that Harry had told Serpens the truth, but Harry pointed out that they had to as they need someone in this world to help them in the future and for now Serpens was the best person to do that, and now it was the day they would go to Hogwarts, Harry had been up since four am, for some strange reason he was nervous, and he knew it was ridiculous, he had been in this exact position before, in fact it was worse the first time around, The Dursley's mocked him for about platform nine and three quarters and left him in the middle of Kings Cross station, this time around he would have his mum with him, and not just her but an entire family.
He was still nervous though, and he guessed that was just normal, he looked at the clock and saw it was 6:45am, Harry decided to get up and get ready, he showered then changed into a t shirt and jeans, he was ready by seven, and he went downstairs, where he smelt sausages and bacon, he went to the kitchen and saw his mother.
"Good morning sweetheart, you, okay?", she asked, Harry nodded as he sat down, Lily smiled "You nervous?" she asked kindly, Harry thought for a moment and replied "a bit" he confessed, she finished serving the breakfast and sat next to him.
"You'll be fine sweetheart, I know you will be, whether you're a Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, or even a Hufflepuff or Slytherin", she said "you're very talented, and you've improved your quidditch skills too" she finished "I hope you'll win a few awards for Ravenclaw if you get on the team" she smiled as she went to the fridge to get pumpkin juice, Harry started eating then paused "Ravenclaw? You said I'll be okay no matter what house I'm in" he said, smiling at his mother's not so subtle hint, to which she smiled innocently "did I dear?" she said too innocently "oh well old habits die hard" and they both laughed, at that moment, Sirius entered the kitchen "morning all" he said, ruffling Harry's hair as he sat down to pour himself a cup of coffee, "morning" Lily and Harry said, Sirius sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee "Thanks Lily" he said, she nodded and smiled at him then went back to her cooking, Sirius turned to Harry and watched him eating, Sirius smiled, even though he now knew the Harry he helped raise was technically dead, this Harry shared many similarities with the old Harry, at first Sirius was unsure how to act with this Harry, he had known something was up, ever since Harry miraculously recovered from Elf flu, or rather ever since the Harry from a different reality had come through and reincarnated into this body, Sirius had mixed emotions but after seeing this Harry's horrific memories he cast those feelings aside and saw that this Harry in front of him had been through more than anyone he ever knew, now he knew why Harry reacted to Bella the way he did, even Sirius was shaken to see that his other self had been murdered by her, but to see Harry battle that monster called Voldemort from the age of eleven, was too much for Sirius, all he wanted to do was to protect Harry now, he knew he wasn't the boy who lioved in this world, that was Neville's cross to bear, but there had to be a reason as to why Harry and apparently Ron had been sent here, Sirius, having worked in the department of mysteries since his twenties had studied along with his colleagues, regarding the possibility of parallel universes and alternate timelines, and the fact that as of this moment Harry and Ron were supposed to be dead in this reality and now weren't, meant something terrible years from now would be altered, Sirius, wanted to know how – or who had performed such powerful magic to have brought two souls from a parallel universe to this one, and for what purpose?
"You okay Sirius?" Harry asked, Sirius was shaken out of his deep thoughts, "Sorry, yes I'm fine Harry" he said hurriedly, Harry smiled and drank some pumpkin juice.
"Nervous about the sorting?" Sirius asked casually, Harry nodded, "Yeah, a bit, I'm hoping for Ravenclaw, but I wouldn't mind Gryffindor either" he said, Sirius decided to drop a hint that he knew the truth about Harry, it was now or never and he wanted Harry to know that he was on his side, it was no way three eleven year boys would be able to keep such a big secret
"No need to be nervous Harry" Sirius said airily, then he looked over to Lily who was still frying the bacon and eggs, and in a low tone he said to Harry "You've done this before, and why be a Gryffindor again?" he said smirking, Harry paused his eating, gulping the last of his bacon down before trying to act casual by draining his pumpkin juice, he looked at Sirius and saw him smirking, Harry gulped again, why would Sirius say something so strange, Harry sighed and in a whisper he said "you know don't you?" he asked, trembling slightly, Sirius nodded, but then grabbed his shoulder and said "I do know, and I'm here to help" he said reassuringly, Harry gave a sigh of relief.
"What are you two whispering about" a voice behind them said, it was Dora, she reached for the coffee jug and pured herself a cup, Sirius smiled "Oh nothing, just asking young Harry here if he's nervous" he said.
At that moment, Serpens and Daisy also entered, Sirius gave Harry a reassuring pat on the shoulder as he got up and left the kitchen, Dora got up to help Lily as Daisy began drinking her pumpkin juice, Serpens saw Harry looking ashen.
"Mate are you okay?" he asked, Harry only replied, "He knows, Sirius knows".
Serpens eyes widened, "How could he know?" he asked, Harry shrugged "I'll have to ask him, I feel relieved, but I didn't want him to know yet, I don't know how he feels ... about, well, the fact …", Harry paused then lowered his voice, "The fact I'm not the Harry he raised" Harry said, Serpens furrowed his brow then said, "He didn't look angry, in fact he looked at you like he always does; he loves you Harry, you're the nearest he has to a son, I'm sure he's glad you're here" Serpens said, Harry could only feel uncertain.
"How am I going to tell Ron about this?", he asked, Serpens smiled kindly, "Harry, its not your fault Sirius found out, and maybe it's a good thing, Sirius works in the Dept. of Mysteries, maybe he can find out why or how you and Ron got here?" he said.
Harry smiled at this "Yeah, that's true and maybe … "he lowered his voice to a whisper "Maybe he can find a way for me and Ron to get back to our own universe to just before we were killed when we're finished doing what we need to do here" Harry said, Serpens face fell, "Oh" he said sadly "So you don't want to stay here then?" he said sadly, Harry wanted to slap himself, how could he be so insensitive he thought, "Mate I'm sorry, I should not have said that, it's just … well Ron and I have lives over there, in our 2017, Ron and I had already been through Hogwarts and fought in the war and won, plus we have our children over there, our wives" Harry looked around and saw that his mother and Dora were still over by the oven, far away enough that Harry knew they couldn't hear their conversation, "You understand don't you?" Harry asked Serpens, he nodded but then said, "I do get it, I mean technically you are thirty-seven years old, but if you and Ron do go back, I'll be alone, and you do know Ginny is here as well, she might be quite like the Ginny you knew but she's still here and maybe you'll fall in love with her?" he said hopefully, Harry could only sigh.
"You okay sweetheart?" Lily asked, as she was serving breakfast, Harry nodded and started eating, Harry at that moment realised that his life here, much like in his old universe was going also have its own complications.
