Harriet's mind was running in dizzying, furious circles. Her stomach was in frenzied cramps. She could feel an unpleasantly cold sweat all over herself. Her hands were shaking, even while clenching vehemently to the handles of her chair.
How how how was her father possibly standing before her? He was dead, he had to be. And how on earth, if this really was James Potter, did he not know that he had a daughter. And a son? She didn't have a brother.
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the scraping of the chair as James stood. He glanced down at her with clenched brows and a glint in his eyes that Harriet couldn't place. "Before we start, I've realised that I'm quite thirsty. I'm gonna go quickly get a cuppa. D'you want anything? Tea? Water? A snack?"
This was most certainly an unexpected first question. And, now that he mentioned it, Harriet was quite hungry and her throat had a distinct cotton feel to it that came from thirst. But, even though this certainly seemed like her father, she couldn't be sure it was. She couldn't trust him. What if he put something in her drink?
"No thanks," her voice was more strained than she hoped it would sound but it seemed to appease James enough, as he gave a quick nod and exited the room.
Logically, Harriet knew that the whole tea thing was probably an excuse to talk to whoever was on the other side of the wall, probably that strange woman and Moody. However, despite this, Harriet was grateful for the small reprieve that gave her a chance to gather her scattered thoughts. It proved to be fruitless as, by the time James returned carting two mugs and that mysterious woman, her thoughts were somehow in more chaos than they were to begin with.
"I brought you some tea just in case you get thirsty," James explained, gently placing a mug in front of her with a friendly wink. "I also brought my associate who specialises in, well, the room that you woke up in. Hopefully with her help, we can sort this out quickly, okay?"
It didn't escape Harriet's notice that James appeared to look for her acceptance before starting any new topic and, despite the circumstances, Harriet was grateful. "Sure, yeah, fine."
James nodded in approval before continuing. "Okay, so I'm gonna start asking questions but if you need a break at any time, just let me know. So, where were you before you woke up in that room? Was there anything out of the ordinary?"
Harriet took a slow, stuttering breath before nodding. "Er, yeah. So, I was in my bedroom," she started before explaining that strange darkness in as much detail as she could.
The woman, who had sat down beside James, nodded solemnly before scribbling in a notebook that she had procured from her robes.
"What were you doing? Before, that darkness happened?" James asked.
"Just trying to get to sleep," Harriet shifted uncomfortably, knowing that her vague answer was going to spur suspicion.
"Right, okay, Harriet. I must admit, I have absolutely no idea what is going on here. Janette, d'you have any ideas?" James question, a look of pure puzzlement on his face.
"I have suspicions," the strange lady admitted, looking at Harriet with such a keen eye that she had to look away uncomfortably. "But I think we should discuss it with Moody before…" she trailed off at this, giving a pointed look at Harriet.
James seemed satisfied with this answer as he nodded in agreement before moving towards the door. "We won't be long, Harriet, just gotta talk to my boss."
And with that, she was alone.
It surprisingly didn't take long for James to come back, this time sporting a pale face and an irate Mad-Eye Moody behind him. James wasted no time, quickly sitting back in his chair and looking Harriet directly in the eye with a somewhat forced smile.
"Right, so, we've agreed that it's most likely that you're not from here."
Harriet found herself blinking at him. "Well of course I'm not from here, I just told you I was at home before this happened."
James sighed in exasperation, the first sign that this situation was not entirely normal for him either. "What I mean is, we believe that you're from an alternate reality."
"Excuse me?" Harriet found herself exclaiming before she could stop herself. "What the bloody hell do you mean? That's from television shows! That's not real!"
"And what theories can you possibly think of?" Moody interrupted gruffly, his mechanical eye whirring dangerously.
Harriet couldn't stop herself from slumping down at this, confusion and anger and frustration fighting for dominance within her.
"I know this is quite a lot to take in," James started, his calm voice so at odds with the situation. "But we've got some really good people that'll look into it. We'll get you home in no time!"
"But in the meantime," Moody intercepted, "Seeing as they're the most discrete and competent , you'll be staying with the Potters." Harriet straightened at this, looking over her dad's- no- James' form.
"I-It's okay, really," she managed to stutter out. "I don't want to impose, I'll be okay on my own. I'm sure I can just rent a room out someplace."
"That won't be possible," Moody stated, shifting from his own seat towards the door. "Until we know what dark force brought you here, you'll need to be supervised. Seeing as you're a Potter in your own world, you might as well stay with the Potters in this one." Without giving her another glance, Moody stiffly stood and left the room.
James rolled his eyes towards the door before turning back to look at Harriet. "I know you're probably anxious to get out of here, but my wife, Lily, was called here to meet you. As soon as she comes, we'll be able to go back to our house." His tone was level, almost carefree and Harriet wondered if he had experienced anything like this before. Even though she knew that she probably should care about the situation, about this new world, about her father that now stood in front of her, a deep, heavy exhaustion had suddenly blanketed her body, making her want to do nothing more than lie down and sleep forever.
"Okay," She managed to agree.
In the following half an hour, James attempted to make small conversation, retelling his hectic morning animatedly, explaining that his son, Harry, was an Auror like him away on mission, and that Lily was a part time teacher at a local primary school and a part time healer at St Mungo's. Despite James rarely giving her a chance to speak, Harriet was comfortably relieved to not drudge up any further effort than listening to him. Perhaps he had done so on purpose, after seeing how exhausted she was.
Both all too soon and not soon enough, there was a quick knock on the door before a red-headed woman quickly walked in. She smiled softly at Harriet before turning to James and giving him an earnest embrace, whispering that "Moody already explained everything to me" in his ear. He jerkily nodded once before they both faced Harriet again.
"Hello, Harriet. It is so lovely to meet you." Lily's hands were as soft as her voice and despite today's events, despite knowing better, Harriet found herself marginally relaxing enough to give a forced smile back.
"You too."
"I'm sorry you two had to wait so long, I got held up with a potion at home," Lily explained while opening the door and gesturing for her husband and Harriet to leave.
Before, when Harriet was initially hauled to that room, she had little time to look around, too disoriented and dizzy from apparently travelling dimensions. Now, she had the luxury of observing many workers, Harriet assumed to be Aurors that were gathered round desks and tables, quietly conversing with one another. Sheets of paper intermittently flew through the air and into waiting hands while typewriters towards the back of the room appeared to be steadily typing by themselves.
Both Lily and James paid no heed, walking directly towards the elevators at the furthest corner of the room. Several other people gathered in the small elevator with them when it eventually came, murmuring quiet greetings to the couple.
Soon, much sooner than Harriet would have liked, she was being escorted into the grand main atrium where wizards and witches in formal robes walked briskly in various directions. At a small newspaper stand, a small, whispy looking wizard was seeking prices for the latest Daily Profit.
"Two knuts, only two knuts if you buy a paper now!" He exclaimed.
At the far side of the vast room, past the security desk, stood several grand fireplaces that wizards and witches were intermittently flooing in and out of. James and Lily lead her to the closes one, where James casually grabbed a handful before murmuring "Potter Residence!", disappearing in a flurry of green flames.
Harriet assumed that Lily would be quick to follow, but she stopped to glance back at her. "Have you taken floo before, Harriet?"
Harriet was slightly surprised by this consideration but tried not to show it, quickly nodding and giving Lily what she hoped was a soft smile.
"Alright then!" She smiled before handing Harriet some power. "You can go first. Just say 'Potter Residence'."
Harriet gave another stiff, short nod before doing just so.
Despite her experience of using floo, it appeared she would never be able to fully master it. She violently tumbled out of the spitting flames, soot coating her clothes, her face her lungs in a heavy blanket. She expected to be greeted with the bite of the hard floor but was instead steadied by firm hands.
"Woah," James exclaimed, standing her upright with surprisingly gentle hands. Before she could give a small thanks, the fire roared with green flames, a bright red head appearing along with the rest of her body. Lily casually brushed a small fleck of soot from her shoulder before standing upright and regarding the two closely.
"Well, it looks like we all arrived in one piece. How 'bout we give you a quick tour of the house and then I'll make some lunch?" James was quick to agree before following Lily out of the room.
As it turned out, the Potter's residence was a cosy cottage on the outskirts of a relatively small town. The living room was comfortably furnished with comfy, deep green velvet couches, fuzzy rugs, and a roaring fire. Walls were lined with shelves that were packed with both muggle and wizarding books, along with random memorabilia that were stuffed into any open space. The dining room and kitchen continued with this comfortable theme that clearly proved that the house was well-lived in, loved, unlike the Dursley's.
James' light-hearted voice brought her out of her revelry as they stepped onto the landing of the first floor. "To the right we've got Harry's room, when he's home that is. Up ahead to the left is the bathroom and our room and," he continued as they neared the end of the hall "Here we've got your room for the time being."
Although small, the room felt spacious with its gaping windows, cheerful pastel colours that adorned the walls and the cosy bed in the corner of the room.
"We'll let you get settled in," Lily started. "Feel free to take a shower and I'll go see if I've got any clothes that you can use for the time being until we can go shopping. When you're finished, just meet us in the kitchen." And, with that, she was alone.
Logically, Harriet knew that she should probably be quick to take her shower and join the young couple but she couldn't help but pausing to glance over the room, her thoughts a violent, whirling storm within her. All Harriet really wanted to do was climb into that increasingly inviting bed and fall into an eternal, dreamless sleep. Why was it that all the weird, all the freaky, all the bad stuff always happened to her? Why on earth couldn't the universe just give her a break? After all, it ha only been weeks since she witnessed the horrific return of Voldemort first hand.
Harriet knew that her mind was turning in a dark directions and if she were to allow herself any more time at all to reflect on the past twelve hours she would work herself up into a state. So, she quickly gave one last glance to the room before shuffling to the bathroom to take a shower.
The warm water felt like a godsend to her aching muscles and Harriet felt like she could stay under the stream forever. However, she knew that she was already pushing her luck by keeping the Potter's waiting, much less stealing all the hot water, so she scrubbed herself harshly and efficiently before climbing out. Lily, it turned out, had left her folded clothes in front of the door, so she quickly dressed before folding the towel back up with care and making her way downstairs and into the kitchen.
Already, steaming food adorned the small table in the corner of the room. James and Lily both sat, talking with such intensity that they didn't notice Harriet was present until she hesitantly sat on a chair that was closest to the door.
"Hey kiddo," James greeted, giving her a crooked grin. "Help yourself to the food here. I suspect you're starving."
Harriet was, indeed, very hungry. But, despite the kindness that the two had shown her, she still wasn't sure if she could fully trust them. What if there was something in the food? Even if there wasn't they probably didn't really want her to eat any of their food. They were just offering to be polite. However, Harriet really was hungry, she couldn't remember the last time she had a proper meal but she suspected that it hadn't been for weeks. So, taking all caution to the wind, Harriet carefully placed a small helping of everything onto her plate.
Both the Potters looked on so intently, so thoroughly, that Harriet half expected them to change their minds and take her plate from her. Yet, they merely gave her another moment's consideration before filling the increasingly tense silence.
"You're probably incredibly confused and overwhelmed by everything that's going on right now," James started, giving her such a kind smile that Harriet wanted to cry. "And you're probably more than a bit homesick so we'll be doing everything in our power to get you home."
On the contrary, Harriet was ecstatic to be away from the Dursleys and their harsh words and icy glares. However, she supposed she did miss Sirius and Ron and Hermione and Remus. They would be getting worried about her soon.
"So, Lily and I thought that it might be a good idea to find out about your life and any differences there are from this world and yours."
"That way," Lily added, "we might be able to understand why you're the one that traveled to this universe."
Harriet already had a pretty good idea of what set her apart from everyone else but was reluctant to share. All her life, she had been different somehow. Whether it was by the Dursleys and their fear of her freakish ways, or by her friends and classmates and teachers who all knew her as The-Girl-Who-Lived. Now, she was just a stranger. A mysterious stranger, but a stranger nonetheless. Harriet wasn't quite sure if she could so willingly give up this twisted, small bit of normalcy just after getting it. She wasn't sure she could.
Nevertheless, she did have a duty to her friends and to Sirius and to Remus to go back- after all, it was her fault the Voldemort had risen to power again, that Cedric was dead. So, she guessed, that she would have to sacrifice this one bit of normalcy. But that didn't mean that she had to tell them everything.
"Okay," she stated simply, stuffing a bite of mashed potatoes into her mouth. "What d'you wanna know?"