AN: This chapter has been edited. If the next chapters don't quite add up, don't worry. I'm in the process in changing them right now, and a brand new chapter IS coming. (2/23/06)
Chapter 3: Family Time
A week later, Kaylee sat on her bed, thinking about this new Harry again. He'd never known his parents, or so he said. What happened? Did they disown him in the alternate world? That's not a possibility, she thought. Ifour parents hadn't disowned Harry here, there's no way they would have done so in the other world. This new Harry was harmless compared to her brother. He was pleasant to be around, that was for sure. From what he had told her, he didn't enjoy studying nearly as much as her brother had. And he didn't seem to exude power like her brother had the last time she had spoke to him. It was part of the reason she'd been so afraid when she'd broken his broom. Harry didn't enjoy flying, but he hated when people went through his stuff. She knew that he could use magic during the holidays, and she honestly didn't know whether or not Harry was above torturing his own family. He had turned cold, and seemed to despise even being around his family. Yes, she thought, this Harry is much more pleasant. He doesn't seem to be as powerful as my brother.
This thought saddened her. She knew that Harry was some kind of servant for Voldemort, and it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that this Harry was not the same person that everyone was used to. Once Voldemort found out, he was bound to do something to Harry. And while her brother might have been able to handle Voldemort, or at least survive him, this Harry just wasn't as strong. Her brother had studied Dark Magic. He was surrounded by dark wizards all school year. This new Harry was a Gryffindor. From what he'd told her of his adventures at school, she shuddered to think of this Harry having to face Voldemort.
He'd told her of his first year—there'd been something about a troll that had been accidentally knocked out, and something about Ron Weasley (his best friend in the other world) playing chess with a huge transfigured chess set, and Hermione Granger figuring out a logic puzzle. Harry hadn't been specific when he'd told her what exactly they were doing messing with something like that in the first place. But honestly—a chess set? Not exactly Voldemort quality. The second year had been quite the same. He'd told her about a ghost party, and some kind of huge snake set loose in the school. Apparently one of his friends had been hurt, and Harry had found her. Kaylee hadn't managed to discover how exactly she'd been hurt, but Harry told her that he'd had help from Ron again.
The next years were the same. Harry had adventures, yes, but they would not have prepared him to face Voldemort. She was worried for his safety. She'd come to really like this new Harry, even though she'd known him just this short time.
Again, she found herself wondering why Harry had said he'd never known his parents in his world. They wouldn't have disowned him…maybe his parents were Death Eaters and he was forced to live with Dumbledore. Yeah, that's almost as likely as Snape being nice to Hufflepuffs, she thought.
Dumbledore-now there was a mystery. Usually Dumbledore was highly perceptive. He could sense when something wasn't right. Why couldn't he see that Harry wasn't the same person? He obviously wasn't the same person—even if Dumbledore didn't know Harry's personality, surely he could feel the difference in Harry's magic. It felt different—calmer somehow.
A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts.
"Come in," she said, expecting Harry. Tom walked in.
"Kay, I want to know why you're spending so much time with Harry this past week. You know what he is, and I think it's dangerous for you to be around him so much. You know that mum and dad are only letting him stay here because they can keep an eye on him, right?"
Kaylee found herself getting angry on Harry's behalf. Her face must have reflected her feelings, because Tom quickly said, "I just don't want him to hurt you Kay. I don't want to loose another sibling. I mean, you must have heard about some of what he's done. And if he wanted to do something to you, there's no way you could protect yourself. He's going into his sixth year, Kay, and you're just in second. I wouldn't want him coming after me, and I'm going into fourth!" he said, shuddering a bit. Probably imagining what Harry would do to him, she thought.
He deserves to know about Harry. He was so hurt when our brother went dark, she remembered. It might do Tom some good to see that their brother had turned out all right, at least in another world if not theirs. He could get to see the fun side of their brother again.
"Also," he continued, oblivious to her thoughts, "I heard parts of your conversations with him. Why did he want to know all about himself? It was like he had amnesia or something." He looked suspiciously at her. "You're not going to fall for that kind of Death Eater trick again, are you? Merlin, do you even remember what happened last time, Kay? You were almost killed! If mum and dad had shown up any later, you would have been!"
Kaylee paled a bit. She'd only been ten or so when she'd been lured out of their home in Godric's Hollow by Death Eaters. A couple of Death Eaters had taken her to a meeting somewhere, and she'd seen Harry and Draco there, discussing something. Harry had paled when he'd seen her, and immediately disappeared. A few minutes later, Voldemort had shown up with Harry. Voldemort just looked at her as he announced to his followers that they now had another Potter child. He hadn't much further than that, because Dumbledore and a large amount of Aurors had apparated.
Voldemort, not wanting to deal with Dumbledore, had quickly disapparated, as his followers had. Kaylee had just looked at her brother through betrayed eyes as he disappeared. She'd been brought back to Godric's Hollow, immediately embraced by her mother and father, and shoved full of food. Harry had shown up a couple of hours later, and was immediately questioned by Dumbledore. He insisted he had nothing to do with the kidnapping, and that he was not a Death Eater. Kaylee, for some reason, stayed silent, unwilling to believe that her brother had been at the meeting. At the time, they had checked Harry's arm to find that he was not yet a full-fledged Death Eater. Unable to get any proof, Dumbledore had left Harry alone.
They had moved out of Godric's Hollow to an unplottable location. There were wards all over the place, but Harry seemed to have no trouble getting in or out of them. For this reason alone, perhaps, he'd been left alone. The wards had been set to block anyone with evil intentions.
Kaylee scowled at her brother for bringing that up, but she could see how he would be worried about her. She sighed, wondering if he would believe her if she told him the truth about the new Harry.
"Listen, Tom, you have to promise to hear me out before you do anything, ok?" she said calmly.
"Listen to what? What has he done now? What's going on?" Tom asked, getting a little frightened.
A voice behind them answered.
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Harry said, coming into the room. Tom turned around, frightened, but Kaylee smiled at him.
Tom's eyes went very wide in surprise before narrowing in anger.
"What have you done to her?" he asked.
"Nothing—please hear us out," Harry said calmly, and pulled out his wand to do a silencing charm. Tom looked warily at Harry's wand before grabbing Kaylee and dragging her behind him.
"Put your wand down, and maybe I'll listen to you," he said, shielding Kaylee with his body. He looked surprised as Harry actually did what he said, and Kaylee smiled. Maybe Tom really will believe us. Harry has changed too much to be the same person.
Harry began to explain, as best he could, about what had happened the past few days. Kaylee looked at Harry—his eyes looked tired and worn. She knew he was probably having a hard time adjusting. As he continued his explanation, he lifted his sleeve to reveal an arm without the dark mark.
Tom just sat there, staring at Harry. He couldn't tell if his brother was telling the truth or not. He'd learned long ago not to trust his brother. You couldn't truly trust a Slytherin, after all. They were the kind to stab you in the back when you were looking and then lie to you about it. He looked carefully at Harry. He could tell there was something different about Harry, something more... He couldn't place it. He had agreed to hear Harry out, just because at first he was trying to find a way to get Kaylee out of there without being hurt. But now, as Harry continued his story, he stayed because he was intrigued.
He'd been close with his brother before he'd gone off to school, and it had hurt immensely to see Harry come back with darker, haunted eyes and a cold disposition. When Tom had gone to Hogwarts a year later, he had quickly learned that his brother was someone no one messed with. Even as a third year, he'd been feared—he and Draco Malfoy. The older Slytherins were the only students that seemed to be comfortable around the two. All the younger years either revered the two, or the feared them. Tom had tried to fool himself, but seeing his brother at school had confirmed what he'd feared. His brother had changed greatly, and not for the good.
Not that he went around tormenting younger students—no, Harry and Draco preferred to study all the time or practice magic in old classrooms. When the duo would get angry with someone, it would become blatantly obvious that they held real power, and they were not just some kids fooling around. As long as people left them alone, they, for the most part, left others alone. Gryffindors, of course, were not included in this.
It took Tom just a little over an hour to see that Harry was different. He was acting like pre-Hogwarts Harry. Tom was suspicious at first, and he still had some questions, but if this was acting, it was a very good job. This story of alternate worlds was elaborate, and became more believable when Harry would tell them stories from his world. Whatever Harry had been credited to know, he had not possessed this kind of imagination before.
The three stumbled down the stairs with Tom almost fully convinced that Harry was who he said he was. He still had some questions ('How did you get here?' and 'Why doesn't Dumbledore believe you?'), but they were questions he was willing to let slide. For now. Some small part of Tom was secretly glad he could spend some time with a Harry that didn't hate him, and he was prepared to enjoy it, however short a time it lasted.
The next week was tense. James and Lily seemed to be avoiding Harry and at the same time watching him. Harry thought they were watching him so that he couldn't go to some kind of Death Eater meeting or something like that. Tom was starting to warm up to him, due to the fact that he could tell Tom his many adventures back in his world. Tom gasped as he learned that Fred and George had the Marauder's Map.
"Dad told me that he and Padfoot lost it in their seventh year, and I was never able to find it. Now I know why. I wonder what they did with it when they left school," he'd said, thinking. "Maybe I can owl them?"
Harry had spent most of the week inside, sitting by the piano. He was convinced that the memories the thing was showing him were actually from Harry's past. He had no idea why the stupid thing kept showing him the random memories, but this way he had access to information Kaylee couldn't give him. The more he saw, the more things started to make sense. He'd seen numerous scenes where Harry was forced to torture helpless victims. He would always try to send a simple numbing spell their way before he started, and when he had to kill them he always killed them outright. No painful deaths by blood loss or starvation. They were all quick and painless.
Not all of these memories were full memories, however. Sometimes he would just get a flash of something, and other times he would get strong emotions. As interesting as the memories were, however, he could do nothing about it at the moment. To tell the truth, Harry was sick of being indoors. Apparently, the other Harry (he couldn't keep thinking of him as Harry- Potter would work) didn't go outside and play or fly. He always sat indoors studying. Harry talked with Kaylee about Potter. He didn't want to scare his mum by acting out of character again. Kaylee told him about Potter's quirks and habits. He was a decent flyer, but she'd only seen him fly when pressured into it by Draco. He didn't enjoy flying the way their dad or Tom did.
Harry was shocked when he heard that piece of news. Tom happened to be in the room at the time.
"...and he doesn't really like to fly. I've seen him play a couple of times with Draco, but he never let himself enjoy flying. It was always more of a chore for him," Kaylee said, not noticing the look on Harry's face.
"He didn't like flying? How? Why? What was wrong with him?" Harry said, confused. "There's no way you can expect me to stop flying or playing Quidditch! It's the only thing I'm good at!" he said, desperately.
Tom couldn't hide an excited grin. "You like to fly? Really? Wanna go right now?" he said, jumping up.
Harry grinned. "Yeah, I'd love to. Do you have a broom I could use? I remember someone telling me that they broke my broom," he said, teasingly. Kaylee had flushed, and protested.
"It was an accident! And besides, I think you have a spare somewhere. Just in case."
"Yeah, Harry always had one stored somewhere in case something came up. It was under his bed, I think, let me go find it," Tom said, rushing out of the room. Kaylee paused for a moment before asking Harry a question.
"Harry, what do you mean 'it's the only thing I'm good at'? You're good at everything!" she exclaimed. "You get perfect grades in every subject except Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Kaylee, here I might be as smart as Hermione. But in my world, I'm pretty much average at everything. The only thing I'm pretty good at is DADA class. Everything else is average or below. Quidditch is the one thing that comes naturally to me. It's the one thing that I'm better at then most people," Harry said, sighing. "I couldn't give up flying."
Tom rushed in, holding three brooms. "Let's go!" he said, giving one broom to Harry and one to Kaylee. "Er, sorry about the state of that broom-Harry never care much about it," Tom said to Harry, shuddering a bit when he looked at the broom.
Harry shrugged. "As long as it gets me off the ground, I'm good," he said.
As soon as the hit a large clearing in the trees behind the house, Tom immediately took off. He started flying loops and circles, whooping as he flew. "Wahooo!" he shouted as he flew past Kaylee, who scowled at her older brother.
"Come on Harry!" Tom shouted. Harry glanced at Kaylee before mounting the broom. He hovered for a few seconds, getting used to the broom, before he took off at lightning speed. Tom stopped and his jaw dropped. Kaylee laughed.
James sat in his favorite chair, waiting for Lily to get home. She was out visiting someone-he hadn't paid very much attention to whom. His attention was focused on someone else. His eldest son.
Harry had been normal the first week. He was shut off, away to himself for the whole week, ever since they had returned from Hogwarts. After the first week, something about Harry had changed. Kaylee and Tom had started spending more time with their older brother. James had worried at first, but Tom and Kaylee had insisted that it was fine, and that they would stay where James could find them quickly if something came up. James sighed. He knew that his son was planning to become a Death Eater, if he wasn't already. The only thing that reassured James was the state of the wards. They were strong and in full working order, and they were specifically spelled to keep out people who intended to hurt a member of the family. Harry had walked through them without so much of a shudder, so James had reluctantly left his eldest son alone. For the past five years, Harry had been quiet—sometimes James had a hard time knowing whether Harry was actually in the house or not.
His son hadn't always been a quiet boy, though. He'd been the regular troublemaker before Hogwarts. James laughed to himself as he remembered one time that Harry got stuck in the highest tree outside because he was 'checking for bad birdies'. He'd been three at the time. His son had always been worried about the rest of the family. When Tom was born, Harry wouldn't let anyone near him. Not even James himself. Only Lily was allowed near their younger son for a week before Harry relaxed and let people come near. He was the same when Kaylee was born. Now, Harry just seemed distant. He never participated in family activities. He hadn't come home for Christmas once the five years he'd been at Hogwarts.
Lily's arrival broke James' train of thought. She called to the family that dinner was ready. When she didn't get a reply, she went to the window and checked outside in the back yard. She immediately called for James.
"James! Look outside!" she said, her face with a small but unsure grin. He came over to the window to find three children playing tag in the air on brooms. He grinned and hugged his wife. Harry was outside, and enjoying it? That was a good sign, surely. James didn't want to question what had brought the sudden change in his son, but maybe they could still get through to him.
James sat down at the table as his wife finished serving the food. His three children came rushing in, obviously hungry from the day's exercise. They began talking in low tones, but James could still hear them. Kaylee was talking about a past prank of Toms', and Tom was vehemently denying everything.
James looked over at Harry. His eyes were sparkling somewhat like Dumbledore's when Kaylee had finished telling him. It looked like he was desperately trying to hold in laughter. Laughter? That couldn't be right, he hadn't seen Harry laugh since...well, forever.
Tom glanced at Harry and apparently saw the twinkling eyes. He turned several shades of red and exclaimed, "That was Fred and George, not me, I swear!" He saw that Harry didn't believe him, and he added, "Well, they did most of it! All I did was put it in McGonagall's room. I was young and impressionable."
James smiled as he remembered the owl he had received from Minerva when that had happened. Minerva had to spend a day as Severus Snape. The twins had invented a new treat that was sort of like polyjuice potion, except it lasted all day, and they personalized the treats and called them GingerSnapes. James had laughed for nearly a week when he'd heard about it.
James grin vanished and he frowned when he remembered that day they had received an owl about Harry. They hadn't had too many owls about Harry. The first one had arrived after Harry had been sorted.
At first he had thought Snape was trying to trick him, but soon Harry sent home a letter saying he was sorted into Slytherin, and at first he wasn't too happy about it. Harry had written home, saying that he'd met a boy named Draco Malfoy, but other than that, he didn't really like Slytherin house.
Everyone here hides what they truly feel, Harry had written. Snape truly is an evil bastard, Dad. He takes points from Gryffindors for just breathing. However, I can't complain much because he seems to favor Slytherins.
The letters had come less frequently, and the last letter they'd received from their eldest son had been the letter informing them that he was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas in his first year. James and Lily had been bewildered, but no amount of begging could get their son to come home. Harry, apparently, was much more fond of Slytherin than before.
Hmm, James thought sadly. Harry got used to it, just like he got used to being a Death Eater.
However, the boy sitting across the table didn't look anything like a Death Eater. He was sitting with his siblings, trying to hold in laughter that was bound to come out sometime. He looked like a normal teenage boy who was home for the summer.
The rest of the days passed the same way. Harry was constantly in the company of Tom and Kaylee. They seemed to have a good time, which was extremely strange. Harry seemed very patient with the two, and James constantly found himself paying more attention to his eldest son, looking for any suspicious behavior. He'd seen nothing bad.
As they approached the end of July, James had never been in a better mood. He had to work every day, but he had started spending as much time at home as he could. Voldemort was giving him quite a time with his random death eater raids. No one knew where he was going to attack next.
James also hadn't noticed his son going missing. Usually during the summer he would spend whole weeks at Malfoy Manor, probably off going to death eater meetings, but the second half of the summer he had stayed at home. James was convinced that Harry was trying to change for the good. He couldn't have been happier. Kaylee and Tom were constantly hanging around their older brother, almost to the point that James had to wonder who was the real parent-he or Harry.
Harry's birthday was coming up, and James didn't know what to do. Usually they gave their eldest child new robes or specified books that he wanted (mind you, they never gave him Dark Art's books) or even new potion supplies. However, with Harry acting so different this year, James didn't know what to do. When he talked with Lily about it, she was just as puzzled.
"Honestly, I don't know James-why don't you ask one of the kids. They've all been spending a lot of time together."
James trekked up to Kaylee's room only to find Harry and Kaylee talking about something.
"I don't know, Harry. Are you sure Ron wasn't under some kind of spell?"
"No, I promise. Remember, I was the one who 'supposedly' cursed him. I swear, the same thing happened to him. I wonder if any of my other friends are in the same boat. I bet Mione would have this figured out by now," he said. James frowned. Mione? Who was that? Why was his son talking about Ronald Weasley?
"Well, I don't know how you're going to find out, Harry. It's not like you're friendly with these people here. What if they are the normal people and they try and hex you? Then what?" Kaylee asked, his voice filled with worry. James decided to interrupt the conversation. He didn't like the direction that it was heading.
"Kaylee? Honey? Can I talk to you for a second?" he said, entering the room. Kaylee nodded. Harry shot a small smile at her before he left.
"What is it daddy?" she asked.
"Well, I was wondering if you had any ideas on what to do for Harry's birthday."
Kaylee thought back to everything Harry had told her. She wanted to do something really good for his birthday. From the little he had told her, it seemed like he didn't get much of anything on his birthdays. She still hadn't managed to figure out what had happened to his parents. Harry's tone always went dark when he talked about his family, so Kaylee had quickly learned to avoid the subject.
"I don't know, daddy, but I have an idea," she said, a plan forming in her head. She knew that Harry missed his best friends, Ron and Hermione. She didn't really know where Hermione was (or why that name sounded so familiar), but she knew that her dad knew Arthur Weasley, Ron's dad. This was going to be long shot, because the last time she'd seen Mr. Weasley, he had looked ready to kill Harry, but she hoped that Harry could at least talk to his best friend for his birthday. He would really appreciate that.
Harry wondered downstairs, and found himself in the ballroom with the piano. He had learned a great deal from that piano. It was if it held some sort of bank into Potter's memories. Every time he concentrated, he could touch the piano and receive some other memory. He sat down and ran his hands over the ivory keys. He marveled at this instrument that he knew how to play (well, not him, Potter).
He played a chord (not actually knowing it was called a chord). The specific chord triggered a fleeting memory, and if by autopilot, Harry started to play. The tune sounded so familiar and soothing. He'd heard it before, somewhere, and definitely before he arrived in this world. It was a quiet, flowing song that he could almost hum. It sounded like---
"That's the lullaby I used to sing to you when you were just a baby. I didn't know you knew it, or even remembered it," Lily said. Harry looked up, somewhat startled. He hadn't seen her come in. He hadn't seen much of his parents the month he'd been here, and it really hurt him to stay away from them. He realized that however much he wanted to hug them and never let go, it would seem suspicious and they would be set on guard. It was killing him to stay away, but at least he got to see him. And, he thought, almost happily, they really seem to be warming up to me.
"I don't know how I remember it. It just kind of came to me," he said, honestly, returning to the conversation. Lily smiled warmly, and it sent powerful emotions through him. He had longed to see any kind of love for so long, and here was his mother giving it to him.
"I used to sing it to you to get you to sleep at night. You never were a heavy sleeper. And after Halloween, you never went to sleep alone," she said, quietly.
Harry was puzzled, but tried not to show it. Halloween? He'd learned from Kaylee that Voldemort was still alive, and Harry wasn't the boy-who-lived. What had happened? He knew Sirius was still alive, so he hadn't become their secret-keeper. Maybe Wormtail had stayed true? He resolved to find out more about what had happened, and admonished himself for not wondering what had happened earlier.
Lily left him to his thoughts, and he watched her leave sadly. I will find out what happened, he thought determinedly.