A/N: Hello! I have to be honest and let you know that I can make no promises about the frequency of updates and lengths of chapters going forward. Just please know that I am working on it and doing my best! (But at the same time, I am also busy with work, school, and life.) I know what it is like to be waiting in limbo for updates, so I will do my best to minimize the wait. This chapter turned out quite long, and I would image that might be the case for many of them going forward as the story picks up. I also wanted to thank everyone who followed/favorited/reviewed! Thanks for the support and I hope you like how the story continues :)
Warnings: some description of injuries/illness
Chapter 3 - John Doe
Perhaps "familiar" was not the correct term for how it felt. Because this was 100 times worse than any portkey travel he had ever encountered. This was reminiscent of that portkey feeling, but instead of the sensation of a fishhook behind his navel, it was more like a meat hook in his intestines. The squeezing sensation was similar, but again way more intense. It felt like all of his insides were actively exploding. He couldn't even think straight enough to wonder if he was still breathing. And it lasted infinitely longer. How long? He could not say, but too long that's for sure.
When he finally slammed into the ground, it felt as though he had fallen off of the astronomy tower, not toppled over from where he had been crouched, as his body was flung, rolling across the forest floor. As he came to a stop, he distantly wondered if he would ever be able to move again. Then the nausea hit him with such an intensity that he was not even aware of his body as it rolled over so that he was on his side as he threw up.
Harry layed there not daring to twitch even a muscle for fear that it would further anger his aching and upset body. Eventually, he began consciously relaxing each individual muscle, as they had all seized up, until he was able to roll onto his back with a thump. He breathed deeply trying to quell the nausea that made a reappearance at the movement, but he was eventually able to shove it back with a great effort.
With a steadying breath, he cracked his eyes open. And immediately snapped them shut against the blinding light. Wait- light? It has to be almost midnight… Never one to let logic overrule his curiosity, Harry braved opening his eyes again, very slowly. And sure enough, there was undeniably daylight filtering through the branches above him. Huh. I must have been out of it a lot longer than I thought, he mused. It was this thought that seemed to suddenly jumpstart his brain. Oh shit! They must have realized that I'm missing by now. Ron and Hermione must be worried sick! He snorted to himself, every Gryffindor's worst nightmare- disappearing after a detention with Snape, never to be seen again. He distantly wondered if Snape had gotten in trouble for losing Harry. Unlikely, unfortunately, he had to admit to himself.
With his new-found motivation to reassure his friends that he was fine, Harry sat up slowly. He was a little dizzy from the effort, but seemed otherwise no worse for the wear. With a jolt, he realized he had no idea where his wand had ended up. He just prayed that it had come with him to- wherever this was. A wave of relief crashed over Harry as he spotted his wand right next to him where he must have dropped it when he landed. He quickly snatched it up. He did not want to be without his wand wandering around in the Forbidden Forest.
But this train of thought came up short at one question- was he even still in the Forbidden Forest? It seemed unlikely that a portkey would not take you to a different location. But then again, it would have seemed unlikely that someone would just leave a portkey laying around in the Forbidden Forest. While eerily reminiscent of the Tri Wizard Cup fiasco, this incident did not feel quite the same. As odd as it may sound given what just happened, Harry did not feel particularly targeted at the moment. How could anyone have planted that portkey for him? It was in such an unlikely place for him to come upon it. And there were far too many opportunities to attack him earlier in the night if someone had wanted to do him harm. Heck- if someone had intentionally brought him here, they should have grabbed him while he was laying on the ground completely out of it. This one just didn't feel like Voldemort. He of all people should know.
That being said, constant vigilance is not to be tossed aside based on 'feelings'. Harry turned a critical eye to the woods around him. It definitely looked a lot like the Forbidden Forest. He did not see his moon grub tin or the weird stone anywhere nearby, but that did not mean he could not still be in the Forest. Sighing, he began to stand up. This was a bit of a process that involved a couple of breaks to let the dizziness and nausea pass, but eventually he was on his feet and it only felt like the ground was moving under him a little bit. Having assessed the situation all he could from where he was, he concluded that 'out' was his only option. If he was still in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts, the fact that no one had found him yet meant that it was unlikely that they would any time soon. If he wasn't still at Hogwarts, well, being a sitting duck was rarely a good plan.
So Harry unsteadily set off to enact step 1 of his master plan: figure out where the heck he was. He picked a direction where the trees looked to be slightly thinner than in the others and walked. Well, 'toddled' may have been a more accurate verb, but Harry was not about to admit that to himself. He kept stumbling, his sleeves and hair getting caught on branches and tripping over rocks and tree roots. Despite his slow pace, Harry was surprised at how quickly the trees were thinning out. He must not have been that deep into the forest. Soon enough he was seeing more daylight than canopy overhead and he saw a break in the trees denoting the forest's edge. Beyond the shadows of the branches, Harry could see a group of people, and beyond them he saw the looming shape of a castle. With a huge sigh of relief Harry was able to confirm that he was indeed still at Hogwarts.
That meant that the group in front of him was probably this morning's Care of Magical Creatures class. With even more relief washing over him, Harry realized that that meant Hagrid was there. He just had to make it to Hagrid and everything would be okay. He'd help Harry sort- whatever had happened- out. Gathering a little more of his energy, Harry pushed the last bit to the edge of the forest and towards the class.
Just as he reached the shadows of the treeline, his foot caught on a root and he pitched forwards. Harry threw his arms out to catch himself on the grass. He made a small Oof noise as he landed. Scrambling unsteadily to get back to his feet, Harry looked up to see if he could figure out which class Hagrid was teaching.
But when his eyes fell on the first student in front of him, his brain shut off. He was looking up at the spitting image of Lily Potter. Unwittingly, one word tumbled out of his mouth- "Mother?"
Lily Evans had decided that today was going to be a good day as she strode down the sloping lawn towards her first class of the new term. What a lovely morning, she thought, taking a deep breath of the cool morning air. The warm sun hitting her face made it feel the perfect temperature outside.
Lily's good mood could be attributed to more than just the weather though. Over the summer holidays she had decided that 6th year was going to be her year. She was taking control of her life- she was going to do what she wanted to do and do it well. Gone were her typical first day jitters. They had never done her any good. Gone was her usual anxiety for her reintegration into the magical world after her summer in the muggle one. Hogwarts was her home away from home just as much as it was for any other student here. If anyone disagreed they could kindly stuff it and get out of her house.
And, to top off her high spirits, James Potter and his merry band of troublemakers had gotten detention during breakfast! While she could admit that watching all of the silverware jump up and begin dancing to a symphony suddenly echoing through the Great Hall was amusing, she also could not help feeling rather satisfied when an irate Professor McGonagall stalked down from the head table, dripping in pumpkin juice, to berate the boys who were doubled over in laughter. Apparently one of the spoons had gotten a little too into the routine and had kicked Professor Dumbledore's goblet at her resulting in her current soggy and sticky state. A small smile still pulled at her lips recalling the incident as she made her way down to Care of Magical Creatures class.
She still was not sure what career she wanted to go into after school so, in an effort to keep her options as open as possible, Lily opted to continue on in all of the subjects she had received the appropriate OWLs in. Her NEWT years would be busy, but she was determined to make the most of it. Unfortunately, none of her other Gryffindor friends in her year had chosen to continue on in NEWT level Care of Magical Creatures, so Lily kept to herself as the rest of the class slowly gathered in the normal spot waiting for Professor Kettleburn. She noted, only slightly disappointedly, that the 'merry band of troublemakers' (minus Remus Lupin) did not seem to be letting their detention dampen their spirits as they too joined the crowd of waiting students.
A few minutes later, a whistle was heard and many curious heads whipped around looking for the source. Professor Barlow, a tall, broad witch with a stern face, kind eyes, and plenty of strawberry blonde hair piled haphazardly atop her head, was waving them over to the edge of the forest. They were only a little surprised that it was she and not Professor Kettleburn that greeted them that morning. With the number of injuries and probations he had received over the years, it was really a tossup on any given day whether they would be instructed by him or his regularly scheduled substitute. Professor Barlow was also the flying coach, so she was often able to fill in for their incident-prone professor at the last minute. Many of the students wondered what the old nutter had done this time to miss the first class of the term as they ambled over to their awaiting professor.
As the class reformed around Professor Barlow, she began, "We will be starting off this term with a little review. No sense in teaching you NEWT topics if you don't have your OWLs straight. Though it may not seem the case on the surface, this class is cumulative like everything else. It is not merely about the 'creature of the week'."
She appraised the class in front of her, taking a mental attendance. By 6th year, these were all students she knew well, but with the smaller class size of NEWT years, the houses were all mixed up now and she contemplated the new dynamic that may emerge. Internally, she admitted to being relieved to not see a few faces in the group. Ernville Nash for one, while a lovely, intelegent young man, was a terror around anything smaller or more skittish than a mule and was responsible for more injuries (for both the students and the creatures) than the rest of his year combined. Put him and Kettleburn together and you had a situation on your hands. She was not at all surprised to see Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Petigerew- those three had a natural way with animals that could just not be taught.
"Why did I call you over here?" asked Barlow. The class just stared at her. "Really, there is not enough logic between the lot of you to come up with one intelligent guess? This class is in more trouble than I thought…" she trailed off, her voice thick with mock concern.
"To show us something, ma'am?" Peter piped up cheekily.
"Two points to Gryffindor! Thank you Mr. Pettigrew. Now, what am I going to show you?" she proceeded.
"A magical creature?" Peter hazarded.
Barlow threw him an unamused look, "Cute only gets you so far in life." Peter blushed slightly- if it was due to being called out for his cheek or called 'cute' by his much older professor, that was anybody's guess. "What am I going to show you?" she asked again. When again no one responded she sighed, "It is safe to assume, as Mr. Pettigrew did, that I am going to show you a magical creature. But think beyond that. Look where we are standing. What do you see around? I already gave you the hint that we will be reviewing OWL content today. Use a little critical thinking!" she said exasperated.
Lily, trying to get the ball rolling, decided to do a little thinking out loud. "Well, you specifically called us over, so I would assume it would be related to the Forbidden Forest." She paused, looking around with a more critical eye before continuing, "And I don't obviously see any creatures, so it is likely small. And seeing as how you don't seem worried about how long this is taking, it is likely not a very fast creature or a dangerous one. Assuming, that is, that it is loose and not just in a cage, hidden."
"Thank you Ms. Evans. That was well reasoned and a good place to start. 5 points to Griffyndor." Barlow complimented.
After thinking on this for a minute, people started throwing out potential creatures.
"A clabbert?" someone guessed.
"Pixies?" another offered.
"No, pixies would not hang around like that- they would run away or cause some chaos."
"Woodlice?"
"A good guess," interjected Professor Barlow.
"Wood nymph?"
"Colder," she added helpfully.
"Stick bugs?"
"Those aren't even magical!"
"Bowtruckles!" came a victorious cry.
"5 points to Hufflepuff. Very good Mr. Smithely. Although I had hoped you all would not need to be led there like a herd of concussed hippogriffs." She turned around and strode to a nearby tree, gently scooped something from one of its low-hanging branches, and rejoined the class. "With a keen enough eye, you would have seen him hanging out behind me." The class gathered in a little closer as Professor Barlow began the lecture.
It was only a few minutes later that a rustling of leaves caught Lily's attention. She cautiously peered around, not sure if the professor might have more tests up her sleeve and not wanting to be called inattentive again. Shifting a little away from the group in order to look farther down the treeline, Lily let out a small gasp as a boy tumbled out of the forest. He landed ungracefully on the ground. He raised his head as he attempted to right himself and Lily caught sight of large, round, green eyes hidden behind large, round, wire glasses. His jet black hair was disheveled, with twigs sticking out of it, and there were scrapes all over his face. She heard him say something. Mother? And looking into those eyes she could not help but feel for him. He just looked so lost.
Time seemed to catch back up with her as she blinked, breaking eye contact. As her brain attempted to make sense out of what she was seeing, she opened her mouth to say… something! But all that came out was, a very confused "James?"
This caught the attention of the rest of the class, and in particular one James Potter. His head whipped around towards her. "Yes, Lily dear?" he asked eagerly. But when she did not turn to face him and continued staring, open-mouthed in front of her, James looked to see what had captured her attention so thoroughly. And then he too stood gaping at- himself? Sprawled on the ground.
By this point, the rest of the class was staring too as the other James managed to clamber to his feet, standing on shaky legs.
Sirius whistled softly. "Wow James. Impressive. How'd you do it? Though, I think you missed the mark a little," he said, stepping forward and inspecting the James look-alike before them. "The eyes are wrong. And I think you forgot to feed and water it- he's about a foot too short!" Turning from the look-alike to James, Sirius took in his gobsmacked expression and his smile fell a little. "What? Not how you meant for it to happen?"
James did not respond at all. Professor Barlow was also looking between James and the boy with a disgruntled expression.
"I think he is looking for his mum." Lily said softly, still not having looked away from the new arrival.
The boy, for what it was worth, looked just as shocked to see them as they were to see him. His eyes moved from Lily and over the rest of the class, somehow managing to get even wider than they were before. His gaze had snapped to Sirius when he spoke, but at Lily's words he looked somewhere between stricken and panicked and began trying to back away from the class. After a few unsteady steps, he almost fell over again.
Sirius, smile gone, rushed forward, "Woah there Bambi. Careful." He caught the boy's arm and steadied him. He could feel the limb trembling beneath his grasp.
Professor Barlow stepped forward too. Seeing that no one was laughing or even smiling she all but dismissed the possibility that this could be some kind of weird prank. The look on Jame's face told her clear as day that he had no idea who this boy was. Even he was not that good of an actor. Slowly, she approached Sirius and the boy. The boy looked terrified- or maybe traumatized? Even at this closer proximity, it was hard to distinguish what was caused by injury versus emotional reaction.
Taking a knee to be more on his level she said, in the calmest voice she could muster, "Hello. My name is Professor Barlow. Can you tell me your name?"
The boy blinked at her for a minute, but then managed to get out, "H-Harry."
"Hi Harry." She gave him a small smile. "Can you tell me what you were doing in the forest?"
The boy- Harry- started shaking his head, but then pitched to the side and likely would have met the grass again if Sirius had not already had a hand on him to hold him up. He abruptly stopped the motion, closing his eyes tightly.
Reaching her own arm out to help steady him, she pushed, "Were you looking for your parents?"
After a few deep breaths, "No," came the reply.
Searching the boy's face, she could see that they were not going to get very far continuing on like this. "Evans!" she called, making the girl in question jump. "Go get the Headmaster and tell him to meet us in the infirmary." After a second's hesitation, she began hurrying back towards the castle. "Class dismissed!" she announced. "Potter, stay behind." As the rest of the class began very slowly gathering their things and breaking off in muttering groups, the professor turned her attention back to the boy in front of her. Sirius had made no move to leave from his position next to Harry when she had dismissed the class and Peter had hung back with James.
"Harry, do you think you can come with me to visit the school healer?" He nodded his head once with a wince. "Good lad. We'll get you sorted out." She rose back to her full height and weighed her options. It was a long walk to the hospital wing… She could levitate the boy, but she's never known a student to enjoy that experience and it was usually reserved for the unconscious. She was confident she could carry him given his small stature, but, again, she did not think he would take kindly to a stranger scooping him up and whisking him off somewhere. He seemed to be tolerating Black's presence, but whether that was out of comfort or necessity it was not clear. Sighing, she resigned herself to a very slow journey. "Mr. Black, are you willing to accompany us as well?" she asked, hoping he would catch her underlying question.
Without missing a beat, he said, "Of course." Readjusting himself so that he was supporting more of Harry's weight. He leaned in a little closer and whispered, "You ready?" to Harry who gave a tiny nod in response. Allowing Sirius to guide him, as his eyes were still closed, they took a step towards the castle and Harry's ankle gave out on the side Sirius was not supporting. Without a second thought, Peter took up a mirrored position to Sirius supporting basically the rest of Harry's weight and the three started off again for the castle. Professor Barlow took the lead, making sure the boys had a clear path and James trailed behind them all, still looking a bit dazed.
He must have hit his head a lot harder than he had thought. Because why else would he be hallucinating his mum in Hagrid's class? But even knowing that she wasn't real, he could not help but stare. Every second that he got to look at her, even this hallucinatory version, was paid towards the lifetime's worth of debt he was owed. And then she spoke.
"James?"
She sounded confused. Well, since she was a manifestation that kind of made sense because he was confused.
"Yes, Lily dear?"
Now that did not make sense, even in some convoluted, subconscious kind of way. Harry would never call his mom 'dear'. Bleh. No. This thought snapped him back to reality (if where he was could be called that). Realizing he was still on the ground staring at his 'mom', Harry clamber to his feet, hoping his shaky legs would hold.
"Wow James…" Harry's head whipped around. He knew that voice. What was undeniably a young, handsome Sirius Black stood off to the left. Everything about him was more lively than Harry ever remembered seeing. His face was rounder and amusement danced in his eyes. But, to be fair, a Sirius this young would not have spent over a decade in Azkaban. As those wonderful eyes ran over him, the small boy inside of him wanted nothing more than to meet the standards of any version of his godfather that he could.
"The eyes are wrong. And I think you forgot to feed and water it- he's about a foot too short!"
Those words felt like a kick to the gut even though they didn't really make sense. A distant part of him even scoffed- he had his mother's eyes and everyone liked them. They were just about his only feature that he ever got a genuine compliment on. His eyes dared to travel around the rest of the people gathered. He realized that besides his dead family members, he did not recognize a single one of them. Even who he assumed was the professor was most definitely not Hagrid.
"I think he is looking for his mum."
His eyes went wide at that. He most definitely was not looking for his mum, despite the fact that it seems he had found her. He could feel himself beginning to panic. This was not good. But neither was panicking, he reminded himself. Panicking wasn't good for anything unless it was your enemies who were doing it.
Trying to gain some distance between this weird situation and himself, he began to back away from 'Lily'. Maybe if he had some time and space to clear his head he could reason out what was going on. But the movement reminded him about every ache and pain in his body that the last few shocking minutes had managed to drown out. He stumbled in his retreat.
"Woah there Bambi. Careful."
And young Sirius was there catching him. He was shaking. This couldn't be real. But the hand on his arm steadying him could not be a hallucination. He could feel it. He would have fallen over without it. How was this possible?
So caught up in his own thoughts, Harry did not notice the professor's approach until she was kneeling in front of him.
"Hello. My name is Professor Barlow. Can you tell me your name?"
Could he? I don't think she knows how loaded a question that is, he thought. Scrambling to figure out what is going on, his brain only came up with two options. One, he had his head really hard and was probably still laying somewhere in the forest and dreaming this whole thing. Or two, he had somehow gone back in time and was crashing his parent's Care of Magical Creatures class. Rationally, he was leaning towards option one and started trying to think of a way to wake himself up. Pinching himself seemed unlikely to work seeing as his whole body already hurt. Wait- his whole body hurt. There was a reason for that and it wasn't tripping over a tree root. How had he forgotten about that weird stone?! He had portkeyed somewhere! No. He had portkeyed somewhen.
Why not? Magic was real and his life was already so inexplicably crazy, even by wizarding standards. Face it Potter, we are rolling with option two. With that thought, Harry realized a few things. He was in the past. These were his real parents. And godfather. And he had actually successfully completed step 1 of his master plan: figure out where the heck he was. He was at Hogwarts circa 1970-something. Now he needed step 2 of his master plan: figure out what the heck to do about where the heck he was. Oh yeah, and not screw up the timeline. No pressure! But if his past experience with time travel could be extrapolated from, then time was a closed loop. If he was in the past now, then that meant that he was in the past, well, in the past too. In theory, the future he knows should not be able to be affected by anything he does while here because it had already happened. That makes sense, he assured himself.
Blinking to try and refocus his runaway thoughts, he was reminded of the professor looking at him awaiting a response. Coming full circle he wondered- could he tell them his name? Well, it seemed more trouble than it was worth to give them his surname given that he wished to avoid as many questions as possible. But was there any danger with giving out his first name? They had to call him something and with the way his head was hurting right now, he was neither creative enough to come up with an alias or confident he would be able to respond to it even if he did.
With that decision made, he choked out, "H-Harry."
"Hi Harry." She gave him a small smile. "Can you tell me what you were doing in the forest?"
Nope. That was not on the list of approved questions he was willing to answer at this time. Next! He began to shake his head 'no' but that just threw off his already precarious balance and invited the dizziness back with a vengeance. But then Sirius was there, catching him as he listed and keeping him upright. He closed his eyes to the spinning world around him.
"Were you looking for your parents?"
After a few deep breaths to make sure he was not going to throw up again if he opened his mouth, he figured this one wouldn't hurt to answer. "No."
"Evans! Go get the Headmaster and tell him to meet us in the infirmary. Class dismissed!" he heard the professor say to the class. His ears were ringing a little bit now, so he ignored the shuffling around him and focused on Sirius' firm but gentle grip on his arm grounding him. He refused to pass out. Unconscious people do not have a say in what happens to them. The last thing he needs is to wake up in ministry custody (be it with the aurors or wizarding child protective services) because he knew his sudden appearance did not look very good.
"Harry, do you think you can come with me to visit the school healer?"
Very rarely did Harry Potter willingly visit the infirmary, but given his current predicament, he figured seeing the matron could help him clear his spinning head. Maybe if he could think straight and see straight everything would make more sense. Plus, a trip to the hospital wing would buy him time and help push off any unwanted questions. Weighing his options- to speak or to move- he opted to nod his head with a wince.
"Good lad. We'll get you sorted out. Mr. Black, are you willing to accompany us as well?"
Harry gave an internal sigh of relief. He knew this was not his Sirius, but his presence was still comforting.
"Of course." Sirius gently pulled Harry's right arm over his own shoulders and wrapped one of his arms around his back for support. Harry felt him lean in a little and warm breath tickled his ear as he whispered, "You ready?" Harry gave another small nod, trusting even this version of Sirius to get him where he needed to go. But with their first tentative step together, Harry's body chose to remind him again that it hated him for all he put it through. His left ankle gave out. Damn that tree root! He hopped a little in a feeble attempt to remain standing, eyes clenched even tighter against the pain. And then there was someone else gently taking his arm around their shoulders and taking his weight. He gave a little sigh of relief as they started off, he assumed, towards the castle again.
It took an eternity to reach the hospital wing. He had to admire the patience and stamina of Sirius and his other helper as they were essentially carrying him the entire way. He did his best to help, but there was only so much hobble/hopping he could do and he honestly wasn't even sure he was helping in their effort rather than getting in the way. But there was not a single complaint or exasperated sigh as they made their way across the grounds and through the halls. Harry colorfully cursed whoever invented stairs as they finally arrived on the 4th floor. They were sadistic deathtraps made to be the bane of his existence and he took that very personally.
Finally, they made it to the doors of the hospital wing and Harry thought he may pass out with sheer relief. The professor (Harry had long forgotten her name) held open the door for them and he was dragged through into the large, gleaming white room.
"What have you boys gotten into so soon? This just might be a record," tisked Madame Pomfrey at the sight of Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew supporting a mop of black hair that could only be Jame Potter. "What happened?"
"We don't know," Jame said in a small voice as he entered the ward trailing the group. It was the first time he had spoken since laying eyes on his look-alike.
The matron's eyes darted from James, to the boy hung between two of his best mates, then back to James. It took her a moment to stop staring and compose herself, but then she turned to Barlow and inquired, "Professor?"
"I would like to know as well, if you would be so kind as to enlighten us as to this morning's events, professor." Albus Dumbledore strode into the room, his twinkling eyes following much the same path as Madam Pomfrey's but all within a mere instant before settling on the young men before him.
"Yes, well, I had my NEWT 6th year class first thing and we were studying bowtruckles down on the forest's edge when this young man," she gestured toward Harry, "quite literally fell out of the forest and into my class. At first I thought it was some odd joke as he bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Potter, but it soon became clear that that was not the case. He told me his name was Harry, but that was just about all I could get out of him in his current state."
At this reference, Madam Pomfrey jumped into action internally chastising herself for having gotten so caught up in the events that she neglected her patient. "If you could lay him on the bed here," she said gesturing at the bed nearest the trio.
Sirius and Peter carefully lowered him onto the mattress and Harry let out a low groan. Now that he was laying down, everyone in the room took a proper look at the newcomer. For one, he was filthy. Dirt was all over his hands, streaking his face and any other exposed skin. Small abrasions littered him as well. There were sticks tangled in his messy hair and his robes were tattered. Blood dripped slowly from a larger cut on his cheek. And laying there with his eyes closed he was the spitting image of James Potter.
"Harry, can you tell me what hurts?" Pomfrey asked, coming up beside his bed.
What was up with people and all their questions today? Harry thought ruefully. Gritting his teeth he bit out, "Everything."
Sirius, trying to help, supplied, "His ankle gave out on the way here. He seemed really dizzy and looked like he was going to throw up earlier."
"Thank you Mr. Black. Anything you would like to add or correct Harry?" she asked her patient.
He couldn't very well tell them what happened, so he considered what the next closest thing would be to cause how he was feeling. "I think I fell," was all that he could come up with. It would have to do.
"Did you hit your head?"
He thought back and answered honestly, "Don't remember."
Sighing, Pomfrey raised her wand. "Can you open your eyes for me Harry?" Slowly he did and she shone her lit wand tip into each one in turn. As she lowered her wand to palpate his head, she heard him mumble, "Gonna be sick," and had just enough time to conjure a basin and get him on his side before he was vomiting. It did not last long until he was just dry heaving a little and soon he rolled back over. She vanished the basin and continued her exam, feelling around his head. "Well, I don't see any obvious signs of a concussion or head trauma, which is good. But I don't like that nausea and I imagine you don't either," she said, glancing down at her patient and summoning a small vial. "Here you are dear, drink this. It will help." Harry dutifully took the potion and thankfully noted that his stomach did indeed calm a little with it.
She moved on to his ankle which with a quick diagnostic charm she was able to conclude was sprained and not broken. This got some healing balm and was wrapped up. "Now, Harry, I can only give you a pain reliever once I am confident that I have treated all of your injuries. I could go body part by body part, casting diagnostics, but it would save us all some time if you told me where to look." She said slightly more sternly than before.
Having had a little more time to self-assess and now being able to think past the dizziness and nausea, he listed, "My head hurts, but you already checked that, my back, and all of my joints are sore."
She conjured a privacy curtain around the bed so that she could examine his back and almost gasped at the dark bruising there. "Must have been a hard fall," she commented, wondering if she should double check his head again given how deep these bruises were. He just gave a little shrug. Once the bruise balm had been liberally applied, she set to work washing off the blood and dirt, dabbing dittany on his many scrapes and finally healed up the cut on his cheek. Satisfied that he looked much more like the child he was than some feral forest imp, Madam Pomfrey banished the privacy screen. She summoned two more vials and passed them to Harry. "This one is for your ligaments- it will help your joints and ankle- and this one is a general pain reliever, though I should warn you it may knock you out."
"Ahh, I am afraid I must request that you hold off on that second one for a few minutes more," interjected the Headmaster. "While I know rest is important, if you will be resting here we have a few things to discuss."
Pomfrey made him drink the first potion before the interrogation could begin. Harry pulled himself up a little further in the bed, not liking the idea of facing off with the Headmaster laying down. Dumbledore had conjured a garish armchair next to the bed and settled himself in it. The Care of Magical Creatures professor and the other boys were lurking a few beds down. Giving his attention to the Headmaster, Harry almost snorted a laugh. While the Dumbledore he knew bore his iconic half moon spectacles, this Dumbledore apparently had not yet traded in for those and wore a pair of small, round, pink-tinted glasses. He looks like John Lennon's granddad. And on top of that, his robes reminded Harry of the Mystery Machine in Scooby-Doo- borderline neon blue and green with designs in bright orange. It was all very… Yikes. If this was how people dressed in the 70s, Harry wanted the first ticket back to the future, thank you. He was not sure his eyes could take it.
Seeing Harry looking over at him, Dumbledore took it as his invitation to begin, "My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the Headmaster here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I understand that your name is Harry?" With a slight nod of confirmation from the boy he continued, "Very good. As you can imagine, as the Headmaster of this school it is my duty to protect it and all of its inhabitants. With times being as they are, I hope you can understand and bear with an old man's paranoia. We don't have people falling out of the Forbidden Forest every day you know. How did you come to be there?"
There were many potential answers to that question- all of which were true in their own right. He walked in. He was late for school. Fucking Snape. A half giant told him he was a wizard and whisked him away. In the end, he opted for the simplest answer- Occam's Razor and all that, "I don't know, sir."
Dumbledore hummed a little, but continued, "You said you fell. How did that happen?"
Given that those were the same event, that was a useless question, though the Headmaster did not know that. "I don't remember."
The Care of Magical Creatures professor piped up from where she was observing to throw in, "Evans thought he was looking for his mum."
Taking up the new lead, the Headmaster pushed on, "Were you looking for your mother?"
"No."
"Do you know where she is?"
"No." And that was true enough. He hadn't seen her since they left the grounds. Although he hid it well, Harry could tell that Dumbledore was getting a little irritated that he was not answering any of his questions. It then struck him that he had wandered into the perfect cover!
"I'm really sorry sir, but I just don't remember. I found myself on the ground in the woods- I don't know how I got there or what I was doing there. I couldn't very well sit there forever, so I started walking and, well, tripped over a root and fell into her class." Harry turned towards the other professor and added, sounding a little embarrassed, "I'm very sorry for interrupting your lesson like that. But thank you for helping me." If he was going to play the blushing amnesiac, he was going to give them a good show.
"You don't remember anything before then?"
"No."
"How about your address?" Harry shook his head. "What you ate for dinner yesterday?" Another head shake. "Your parents' names?" Shake. "The date?" Shake. "Your last name?" almost pleading at this point. Another firm shake was given in response. Harry was careful to keep his eyes downcast to not only play the part, but also to keep Dumbledore from using legilimency to verify his claims. "Well, it seems we have a real John Doe on our hands."
Pomfrey jumped in, "You know Albus, he is more bruise than boy at the moment. It is entirely possible that he will recover his memories with some time and rest."
"Indeed. And in the meantime, I would think someone might be missing you. I will have one of my contacts at the ministry keep an ear out for any missing persons reports matching young Harry's description." He gazed down at Harry, and then turned to the others in the room. "James, I am assuming that you do not know who he is? The resemblance is a bit uncanny."
"No sir. He is not any Potter that I have met. And I am the youngest in the tree as far as I am aware, so there is no one his age that could be missing." He stated confidently.
"Hey!" Said Harry petulantly. "I'm 16. How old could you possibly be?"
"You are 16?" He replied with a note of disbelief.
"I'm short- it's not a crime. And it's not like I can help it." He huffed.
"Boys." Dumbledore called. "I think we ought to leave Harry to his rest. And I believe that the rest of you have classes to attend. Madam Pomfrey, I will leave him in your competent hands. Do alert me if anything changes." And with that he ushered the others out of the wing.
Three days. That is how long it took him to break Madam Pomfrey. It was a new personal best. Though, he had to admit, this Madam Pomfrey was not as experienced and therefore not as thick skinned as the one he was used to. Nor was she wise to any of his tactics.
He slept most of the first day, the potions knocking him out. But by dinnertime he was already bored. Dumbledore returned that night to check in on him and see if he could remember anything else, but their conversation was much the same as it had been that morning. On day two Harry began to truly mount his attack. He hated being stuck in the hospital wing and when he woke up that day he felt almost completely refreshed, so he saw no point in lazing around staring at blank walls all day. Plus, he could not look into how to get home while stuck with mother-hen Pomfery breathing down his neck.
He told the matron that he felt good as new and thanked her profusely for her help. Flattery, check! He chatted with her, asking lots of questions and listening with wrapped attention. Engage the enemy, check! By midday he was up out of bed wandering around the wing inspecting and poking at things. Annoy the enemy, check! By the evening she was begging him to remain in his bed and rest- he was supposed to be healing, not driving her up the walls. Dumbledore's check in returned the same results as before. On day three she had given Harry one of the large reference books she kept in her office just to keep him occupied for a bit. Perfect. This was just the opening he needed.
"Thank you for the book Madam Pomfrey. It is really interesting. Could you teach me more about diagnostic spells? I really miss going to class. Even though I can't remember any of the details, I know it had to be great getting to learn magic with my friends." He laid it on so thick he was worried she might have seen through him. But at his words a light caught in her eye that told him his plan had worked. Emotional manipulation, check!
That evening when Dumbledore dropped by the wing Madam Pomfrey pulled him aside.
"Albus, he cannot stay here forever. He is a teenage boy and needs to get out and do things, see people that are not me. For both of our sakes." She added the last bit under her breath. "What would it hurt to let him go to class while we look for his family or wait for him to remember? His physical injuries are all but gone, so the fact that he still has not remembered anything leads me to believe that they may not be coming back suddenly anytime soon. With time, yes, but keeping him locked up in here until then will do more harm than good." She finished with conviction.
"Poppy, I think you make a valid point. Assuming Harry is agreeable, I believe that we can work something out," the Headmaster conceded.
That night at staff meeting, Dumbledore pitched the idea of letting the young man who had stumbled into their laps join the student body at large.
"How do we know he is not a danger to the other students? We know nothing about him," asked Minerva.
"I have spoken at length with Harry and feel that he is no risk to the school. You would have to trust me in my judgment, Minerva," came the smooth reply.
"Can he even keep up? What classes will he take? What year even is he?" pitched in professor Kerner, the Herbology teacher.
"He is 16, so he would be in 6th year in theory. As for the classes he would take, we will have to ask him that. And if he can keep up, well, Gerdery, time will tell on that one." He said. At Kerner's unamused look he added, "Perhaps he could submit to a placement exam for anyone worried he may not be up to snuff?" To this, the professor gave a reluctant nod. "Any other concerns or objections?" This was met with a beat of silence. "Very good. Let me know at the end of this meeting if you would like to give a placement exam and I will have it arranged sometime tomorrow. He will be sorted tomorrow night and begin classes on Tuesday." He flashed a smile at his begrudging colleagues. "Now, on to the matter of the first years 'wandering the corridors' between classes- Mr. Filch, how else do you expect them to learn their way around the castle?"
Harry was absolutely tickled that his plan had gone so well. If the price of getting to attend classes was taking a few 'placement' exams, then so be it. (He could just picture Ron's shocked and disgusted face if he would have heard that thought from Harry.) He just really hoped that the curriculum was not vastly different 30 years later. But having seen how far behind the times the wizarding world was in general, he felt relatively confident that he could squeeze by. They still used quills for goodness sake! And fortunately he had just done all of his summer work right before the start of term, so most of the info was still pretty fresh in his mind.
Monday morning began like all of his others in the wing so far, but Harry was positively vibrating with excitement at the combined promise of getting to do magic again and escape from the matron's watchful eyes. He ate his breakfast quickly and was up and pacing the wing when professor Dumbledore walked in. He greeted Harry kindly, but sensing the boy was anxious to begin, he motioned him towards a desk that had been conjured at the back of the large room. Once Harry was seated, Dumbledore began to explain, "As we had discussed, in order to ensure you are able to keep up and succeed during your time here, and seeing as we do not have any of your potential OWL scores, some of the professors wanted to give a benchmark test. These will be a combination of written and practical examinations. The Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions professors have provided written assessments for you to take and then there will be follow up practical demonstrations for both Charms and Transfiguration. I recommend that you begin the written exams as soon as possible for Charms and Transfiguration as professors Flitwick and McGonagall will be by during their lunch period to conduct the practical examinations. Each written exam has instructions at the top- please read and follow them carefully."
Harry nodded along to all of this, but when it seemed that the Headmaster had reached the end of his monologue, he tentatively asked, "Umm, professor, but what about Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures?" While back in his own time Harry had not planned on pursuing NEWT level CoMC, he knew in this one both of his parents and Sirius were in that class and he would love an opportunity to just see them and be near them when he wasn't going to be splitting his focus with genuinely trying to learn and keep up in class. Plus, the professor had been very kind to him when he had crashed her class and Merlin knows he could always use more nice people in his life.
"Ahh, yes. Professors Fortin and Barlow did not think a placement test was necessary. Professor Fortin strongly believes that anyone who wants to learn can and should be given the opportunity to. And I think you made quite the first impression on professor Barlow- she was more than happy to welcome you into her class." He told Harry, eyes twinkling. "Any other questions for me before I leave you to your work?"
"No sir. I just really appreciate all you have done for me and for giving me the opportunity to attend classes. Thank you." Harry gave him a shy smile.
"Not necessary Harry- we are always happy to welcome another young, eager mind to our halls." And with one final, "Good luck!" He left the hospital wing leaving Harry to his task.
Harry decided to start with Charms as he had always greatly enjoyed the subject. He finished well within the prescribed time limit and was fairly confident in almost every one of his answers. Moving on to Transfiguration he struggled a little more as the topics were not all ones that corresponded with those from his own fifth year. Some of them were older concepts that he had to wrack his brain to remember the intricacies of the theory and there was one question he was confident they had never covered at all which he just had to skip, but he hoped that would not completely disqualify him from the course. After he felt he had put all he knew onto the parchment for the Transfiguration exam he checked the clock and saw he still had time for one more test before the lunch period would begin. He opted to take Herbology and save Potions for the afternoon. That was the one he was most genuinely worried about seeing as how he had just barely been scraping by in the subject for the past 5 years and he knew he had not earned a high enough OWL to move on in Professor Snape's NEWT class. He just prayed that maybe without Snape glowering at him he might be able to pull something a little more respectable off. But for now, that was a Future Harry problem. Although he had never been the best at Herbology, his gardening experience had leant him a slight leg up in that class compared to most of his peers. And luckily most magical plants were rather interesting, so facts about them stuck in his head a lot better than, say, some dull history facts. Once he was finished, Harry felt he had made a reasonable showing for his new professor.
He had just stood up from the desk, leaning over to crack his back, when Madam Pomfrey stuck her head around her office door. Seeing him up and about, she came the rest of the way into the wing carrying a tray of food. She opted to join Harry for lunch today. She did this every few meals and Harry was yet to decide if she did it to keep him company, to surreptitiously keep a closer eye on him and casually pry, or because she was actually wanting the socialization. Today, he was just happy for the break and the distraction it provided. They talked about the tests he had taken, the other subjects he was interested in. Harry had to be careful with what he said in order to maintain his amnesia cover. This led to him saying things like, "It's really weird, but while I couldn't tell you about a single Charms class I have ever taken, when I read the questions I just knew the answers." And when Pomfrey had asked him why Defense was his favorite subject he had just shrugged, "Not sure, but I guess it could be useful to know someday."
After about 20 minutes, the hospital doors opened again and in walked a rather odd looking pair. A young Minerva McGonagall accompanied by an equally youthful Filius Flitwick. This McGonagall still carried herself in the same upright manner, but her face held fewer lines which made her stern expression seem less severe and her hair was more brown than gray as opposed to the opposite that he was used to seeing. Flitwick, just as short in this decade, seemed to have slightly more of a bounce in his step and didn't seem to need an excuse to smile radiantly at everything around him. Harry did note that his hair was just as thin as it was in the future. Hmm, he thought, I guess it just strikes early for some people. He stood as they approached, trying to subtly wipe his hands on his robes (thankfully he had been issued some robes so that he was able to wear something other than the standard hospital pajamas).
Madam Pomfrey began to clear away what remained of their lunch as McGonagall drew to a stop in front of him and got right to business. "Hello Harry. My name is Professor McGonagall and this is professor Flitwick. We teach Transfiguration and Charms respectively and are here to conduct the practical portions of your placement examinations for our classes. I trust you have already completed the written portions as you were instructed to do?" She paused just long enough for Harry to nod in the affirmative before continuing on, "Good. We only have just over a half hour before we must return for our afternoon lessons. Each exam will last about 15 minutes. If we ask you to do something you cannot do or are unfamiliar with, simply say so and we will move on. I trust you have your own wand?" Again, Harry nodded but also pulled it out so as to be ready to begin. This McGonagall was not in the mood to dilly dally. "Very well. Shall we begin? Filius, would you prefer to go first or shall I?"
"Go ahead Minirva!" Flitwick obliged.
"Alright." She motioned for Harry to follow her over to the desk he had been sat at all morning. "We will start simple and work our way up to determine where your casting is at." She pulled something small out of her pocket and placed it on the desk before him. "Could you please turn this match stick into a needle?" He did as requested with ease, seeing as this was a first year spell. They continued on like that, testing all of the major concepts of each year, with Harry completing each spell until she asked him to turn a shoe into stone- they had not yet covered turning unnatural materials into natural ones (a much more difficult task than going with the flow of nature).
"I'm sorry professor, but I don't know how to do that." He said, a little worry creeping into his voice.
"Not to worry Harry. Can you transfigure this parchment into a chair?" It was so odd to hear his normally strict and formal professor use his first name when addressing him. Not that he really gave her much of an option though.
Harry studied the piece of parchment in front of him. Technically, he knew the theory of how to do it, but he had never attempted to transfigure such disparate objects in both size and form… Weighing his options, he decided to do just what he would if he were back in her class. "Well, professor, I believe I know the theory for how to do that, but I don't think I have ever tried such a complicated transfiguration before. I can try if you would like. But I understand if you would prefer I not attempt magic potentially beyond my means." He said as tactfully as possible.
"You may attempt it, though I appreciate your consideration for the safety of such a thing." She motioned him forwards. Harry thought very hard about the straight backed chair he wanted to produce- wooden, made from plants just like the parchment. He swished his wand and the parchment changed, but not into the chair in his mind's eye. Atop the desk now sat a straight backed chair, yes, but it was made of extremely pale wood and only large enough for a toddler to sit in. The professor looked slightly amused. Reaching forwards, she picked up the small chair. "I guess I had not specified a required size," she said, giving Harry a small smile, "though I assume that this was not exactly what you were going for?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"No ma'am. I was going for a full-sized chair with a darker finish," he blushed lightly under her inspection.
"Given that I would not expect any new 6th years to be able to complete such a transfiguration, it is respectable to have done so, even if it is incomplete." She set the small chair back down on the desk and with a wave of her wand it turned back into parchment. "I would also recommend, for future attempts, to steer away from balsa and choose a stronger wood. Unless of course you want the seat to collapse under its future occupant," she advised with a hint of a smirk. "Assuming that your written exam is on par with this practical, you should have no trouble keeping up in my class. Professor Flitwick, you may have the floor." And with that she stepped to the side, but remained to watch the next examination finding herself quite interested in this new student and curious as to if his Charms were up to snuff as well.
"Very good! Much like your other professor, I will request you perform some charms. We will start easy and go from there. If you do not know how to do one, say so and we will move on." The small professor beamed at him and motioned him into the middle of the room where there was more open space. They began with a levitation charm and Harry almost smiled. With a swish and flick the offered quill was floating lazily in the air and they moved on. Harry was able to perform every charm asked of him, much to the professor's delight. "Very good! Very good! I dare say, there may not be much left to teach you," he joked. "May I ask, what is the most advanced charm you can perform?"
Harry thought for a moment, trying to consider if there was any risk in revealing such information, but in the end just internally shrugged. It would not do to weigh himself down with countless lies and deceptions during his time here. In fact, trying to hide things would most likely lead him to slip up and come off as even more suspicious. "I can produce a corporeal patronus, sir." Plus, if a dementor tried to get anywhere near him, there was no way he would be holding back to 'not blow his cover' or 'for the sake of the timeline' or whatever.
Flitwick's eyes grew slightly at his statement and he bounced a little on the balls of his feet, "Would you mind demonstrating?"
Harry nodded in consent and stepped forward so that the professor would not get trampled. "Expecto patronum!" And the stag burst forth from the tip of his wand, cantered around the hospital wing before returning to stand before Harry, bowing his head so that he could give him a pat.
"My, my! What an impressive display!" gushed professor Flitwick, turning and sharing an excited glance with professor McGonagall. "You might very well give our star pupil a run for her money. And I can say with certainty that you will be able to keep up in class just fine."
Professor McGonagall gave a curt nod. "Well done Harry. We can take your completed written exams with us now and you may return the others to Madam Pomfrey once you have finished them and she will ensure they make it to the correct professor."
He gathered his finished tests from the desk and walked back to the professores, handing one to each. "I have also completed the Herbology exam, would you like to take that now as well?"
Looking a little surprised, McGonagall replied, "Yes, I will see to it that Professor Kerner receives it."
"Thank you professor." Harry turned so that he was addressing both professors, "And thank you for this opportunity and taking time away from your lunch break to see me. I really appreciate it," he said politely.
Flitwick smiles at him and McGonagall gave him another small nod. "We must be off to our afternoon lessons," she said and led the way out of the hospital wing, Flitwick in tow.
Harry let out a small breath that he had been holding since his former future professors had walked in. That had gone better than he had dared to hope. With a smile on his face, Harry returned to the desk to conquer the last and most dreaded of his exams- potions.
As dinnertime approached, Harry got increasingly more antsy and by the time Dumbledore arrived to collect him Madam Pomfrey could not wait for the boy to be out of her hair so that she could have a moment of still, silent peace once again.
As the Headmaster led the way down to the Great Hall, he explained what was about to occur. "Here at Hogwarts, we typically have students sorted before the feast at the beginning of term. Seeing as how you had an- unorthodox- arrival, we will be sorting you tonight. I will be making a brief announcement about you, our new student, and then you will enter the hall from a side room and meet me in front of the staff table. Once you are sorted, your house will be like your family here. You will live in their dormitories, attend classes with your housemates, and we have a little competition going among the houses to see which can earn- and retain- the most house points throughout the school year. I am sure your new housemates will be more than willing to get you up to speed on all of the details." He glanced over at Harry, who was hustling to keep up with the long strides of the old professor, and wondered which house this odd new addition would end up in. "As for your introduction to the student body at large, I do believe that the truth will serve us best. I will introduce you as Harry Doe, if you do not object. I think it quite fitting until you can tell us your true name." He smiled down at the boy beside him.
Harry Doe. Harry gave a little chuckle at that. It was perfectly fitting. "No objections here, sir."
"Wonderful," said the professor as they reached what must be the staff entrance to the Great Hall. Entering the small room to the left of the hall, Dumbledore gestured to the door across the way from them. "If you would please wait here while I introduce you."
And with that, Dumbledore swept out of the room leaving Harry to wait. He was rather nervous. He was about to go out there in front of an entire school of people he did not know and be sorted in front of their judging eyes. Harry hated being stared at. He was about to go out there in front of his parents. And likely many of his friend's parents. This was getting weirder and weirder the longer he thought about it. Merlin, he wished Dubmledore would hurry it up. Stewing was just making him sweat and that was not a good look for first impressions.
Finally, after what felt like an hour to Harry but was actually probably closer to 5 minutes, he heard the chatter in the hall die down signaling that the Headmaster had risen to speak. "Good evening all! I have an announcement and a little business to take care of before dinner begins. As many of you have likely heard by now, Hogwarts received an unexpected visitor last Friday. He stumbled into one of our Care of Magical Creatures class with little memory of how he got there. As Hogwarts has long served as a safe haven and place of refuge for those who were lost, persecuted, or in need of assistance, we will be continuing that legacy by welcoming Mr. Harry Doe as a new 6th year student to our halls. I will ask you not to pester him with your curiosities and inquiries, but rather to welcome and support him during his time here at our institution." There was near dead silence in the hall as the Headmaster spoke, everyone hanging on his words, eager to know more about this mysterious boy they had all heard rumors about.
As there was a pause here, Harry took that as his cue to enter the hall. He tried to walk at a normal pace, but walking speed was not something one was commonly cognizant of and thinking about it now only made Harry feel rather self conscious as he made his way over to where Professor Dumbledore stood. Harry looked out over the student body. He was not sure what he was expecting, but it looked pretty similar to that of his own time. Yes, some of the hairstyles stood out, but in general the black robes and young faces were the same. He made sure to only skim the crowd not wanting to see his parents or anyone he might recognize just yet. He was not sure what his facial expression would be when that happened and he did not want to literally be on stage with the entire student body staring at him intently when that occurred.
Harry realized that while he was looking at the students the professor had produced a stool and the sorting hat. Looking over, Harry saw Dumbledore motion him towards the stool. He stepped over and took a seat. As he did, it struck him that this particular stool was designed for 11-year-olds as his knees ended up much closer to his chest than was normal. He was short, but he was not that short. As the hat was slipped on his and over his eyes he snorted a little to himself. He must look ridiculous.
Ahh, hello Mr. Potter. Or should I say, Mr. Doe? Very interesting. I must say, this is a first, even for an old hat like me! Most time travelers do not go back just to attend a school they already go to. The hat chuckled.
Well, it is not like I really had any say in the matter, Harry huffed inside his head.
Fair enough. Well, it seems that you already have a house. And I would think that future me would be even wiser than I am today. What a thought! Ahh, yes, you seem to think so too. A prophetic hat… or perhaps just one that has seen into the head of someone from the future? Thank you for the insight. Not everything is as it seems on the surface, Mr. Potter. You will do well to remember that. Alas, no sense in drawing it out as I know growing bodies need food and get impatient quickly…
"Gryffindor!" Announced the hat. The proclamation was met with mostly polite applause as no one really knew what to think of the new student. Harry just plucked off the hat and rose from the short stool, handing it back to the Headmaster. Dumbledore indicated the table he was to go to and Harry calmly walked over to the assembled Gryffindors.
As he approached the table he could make out a little better the class groupings with the smaller students all huddled together at the far end. The lower years usually get the less desirable seats near the staff table and far away from the doors. He was nearing the table, craning his neck looking for an empty seat he could take when he heard someone shout, "Hey Bambi! Over here!" Harry's gaze snapped around and locked onto young Sirius.
Cautiously, he made his way over to the boy who was waving his arm as if he were hailing a cab. It seemed as though he had forced his friends sitting across the table from him to make room for the new guy. Harry took the now empty seat next to who he realized with a start was a young Remus Lupin. Harry caught himself beginning to stare and managed to turn his eyes back towards Sirius and get out a "Thanks."
"Sure thing. You are going to be our new roommate apparently, so we might as well start getting to know you. I'm Sirius Black. This right here," he stuck a thumb out at the boy sitting next to him, "is Peter Pettigrew. Next to you there is Remus Lupin and next to him is your twin, James Potter." Harry slid his eyes over each boy as he was introduced, having to lean forwards in order to see James a little better. He had seen pictures, yes, but even wizarding photographs do not do the real thing justice. Sirius was so lively and Lupin, while coming off as reserved, was much less drawn. Harry had to admit that he did look a lot like his dad- the hair, the shape of his face, his nose all looked familiar on the other man's face. The one who surprised him the most though was Peter. Harry had not recognized him in class when he had stumbled in, but this was the other boy that had helped get him to the hospital wing the other day. He shuddered slightly at the thought. But this Peter was a stocky boy with kind eyes and windswept dirty blonde hair who was flashing him a cordial smile. He looked nothing like the dirty rat that Harry knew he would become.
"Nice to officially meet you. I'm Harry Doe- though I guess you all heard that already." He ducked his head a little in embarrassment. How was he supposed to act? This was all falling into the category of 'too weird'. "Uhh, and thanks for your help the other day. Sorry for showing up like that."
"It's copacetic. Glad you got sorted out. Though, is it true that you don't remember anything?" Sirius leaned in conspiratorially with his last question.
"Umm, yeah, I don't really remember much. I mean, I know things, but I don't really remember if that makes any sense?" While Harry had been plotting his way out of the hospital wing, he had decided to go with vague and confusing explanations when asked anything as that seemed easiest and most true to his amnesiac character. No one can really call you out when they can't really track what you say, after all.
"Sure." Sirius said, but he didn't look like he understood at all as he leaned back into his seat.
Remus picked up the conversation to rescue either Harry or Sirius, he couldn't tell which. "So, what classes are you taking?"
Harry turned towards him to list out, "Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures. Assuming that I passed all of the entrance exams, that is."
"Entrance exams?" asked Peter.
"Yeah. Some of the professors wanted to make sure that I was up to par before letting me into their classes. I didn't exactly bring my certified OWL scores with me… Potions was really the only one I was worried about though. Are they a hard teacher?"
"Slughorn? Nah. He's a bit of a pushover if you know how to play your cards right," answered Sirius.
"And by that he means that he tends to play favorites. But he doesn't punish those that don't fall into that category either," Remus amended.
"Well, I think I can live with that," Harry said.
"We are in most of the same classes then. Although Peter is taking Divination instead of Charms and Remus is taking Ancient Runes instead of Care of Magical Creatures. Luckily you only missed a few days so far, so I'm sure we can help you catch up. Been mostly review anyway." Sirius rambled in between bites of food.
Later that evening, after dinner, the boys showed Harry up to Gryffindor tower.
"The password is 'Gillywater'. You just need to tell the portrait and she will open up and let you in. The password changes every few weeks to months, but Remus here is a prefect so he'll let us know when there is a new one." Sirius explained as they stepped through the now open portrait hole. "And this is the Gryffindor common room. People mostly hang out in here in their spare time or use it to study or do homework if they don't feel like going all the way to the library." Sirius led them briskly through the room which Harry appreciated as most of the occupants had stopped whatever they were doing to stare at him as he passed. "And up here is the dorm. The other stairs lead to the girl's side, but I don't recommend you try and go up them unless you want an unpleasant surprise."
"Yeah, Sirius found out about that one the hard way," Peter stage whispered.
Rolling his eyes good naturedly, Sirius continued his tour, "And here is our room." Opening the door, he ushered the group in. The room, like much of the rest of the tower he had seen so far, looked much the same as it did about 30 years later. Four poster beds were arranged along the walls of the circular room, deep red hangings around each. Trunks were sprawled at the foot of each bed in various states of unpacked save for one bed by the door. Harry assumed it to be his.
Curiously, he examined a small, nondescript, black trunk sitting next to the bed. Obviously he did not have anything with him besides his wand and the robes he had been wearing the night of his detention, so he wondered what was in the trunk and who had put it there. After pulling out his wand and surreptitiously checking it for any jinxes, hexes, or curses, Harry pulled open the lid. Inside were two sets of school robes, uniform pants and shirts, socks, undergarments, sleepwear, a set of casual clothes, a full set of school books, and a collection of quills and parchment. Sitting atop all of this was a note written in Dubledore's family loopy handwriting.
Harry-
I hope you find what you need in here. The books are long term loans from the library, so please treat them with care or else Madam Pince will have both of our heads. The rest is yours to use and keep. If you find yourself to be missing anything else you may need, please reach out to your Head of House, Professor McGonagall. I hope you have a good night and a good first day of classes tomorrow.
-Professor Dumbledore
Harry smiled. It was nice to have someone just provide what he needed. It was almost like magic, he snorted to himself. He pulled out the books and placed them on the shelf on his desk. Turning around to face the room, he asked "What time do lessons start? And what time is breakfast?"
This time, it was James who answered, "Breakfast is served from 6am to 8:45 in the Great Hall and classes start at 9. We usually head down around 8."
"Thanks," Harry said. James had been awfully quiet all night. He barely spoke during dinner unless someone asked him something directly. Harry wondered if it was his presence that was making him uncomfortable or if James was just a much more quiet person than Harry was led to believe. "And where is the bathroom?"
"Through there," James pointed to a door next to Peter's bed.
"Thanks. I'm pretty beat, so I think I'll turn in a little early." Harry bent down and pulled out the pajamas and, after a little digging, found a small toiletry bag. He slipped into the bathroom and enjoyed his first non-hospital shower in days. After brushing his teeth, he made his way back into the dorm only to find it empty. Not wanting to risk any awkward encounters, Harry promptly climbed into bed and closed his hangings, putting up the one-way silencing charm he was quite fond of. Harry lay awake for a long while and did not hear anyone return and, eventually, he drifted off to sleep.