Chapter Six: Interactions and All About Me

A Blank Dimension: August 3rd 1995

"Hi Dad," Lila greeted him and, after a moment's hesitation, Harry smiled and nodded as well.

"What are you doing down here?" James asked curiously.

"Just hanging around, you know," Harry said casually, pushing the plate of brownies to a point where James wouldn't be able to see them. Unfortunately, was standing, and already much taller than his identical counterpart.

Spying the plate of brownies, his eyes lit up. "Oh! Sneaking brownies are we?"

Thinking that James might be mad, Harry ducked his head a little and replied, "Um, yeah. Is that okay?"

"Of course son! But Lila, you don't want to ruin your appetite, do you? It's almost lunchtime."

Astonished at the almost blatant favoritism, Harry objected, "It's not her fault. It was all my idea."

"All right then," James said, giving him a warm smile. "Mmm, these brownies are good! I'll have to ask the house-elves to make them more often."

To Lila's surprise, her brother didn't immediately speak up and claim the credit, as he usually did. Furthermore, he had actually defended her this time. Then again, this was a different Harry. Lila made the decision to speak up for him.

"Dad, the house-elves didn't make these." James looked confused.

"Who did?" He inquired. Lila smirked.

"Harry." James turned around and stared at a blushing Harry. But before he could say anything a house-elf popped in.

"Master James!" He squeaked "Master Lupin is here!"

"Oh good. Come and say hello, okay Harry?"

"Sure, Dad," Harry agreed, heading out of the room. "Are you coming, Lila?" At that point, he realized that both his father and his sister were giving him odd looks. "What?"

James just shook his head and started walking again, while Lila mouthed 'Tell you later,' and followed. Shrugging, Harry went with them into the living room.

Remus Lupin was sitting on the couch, reading a newspaper and looking perfectly at home. As James, Harry, and Lila entered, he stood up with a smile. "Hello, James, Harry, Lila."

"Aw, come on, Moony, I've told you time and time again: there's no need to be so formal," James said with a grin.

"Hi Pr— I mean, Remus," Harry greet him, noting that his former teacher looked much better in this world, with crisp new robes and less Grey hairs. All the occupants of the room eyed him strangely again.

"Um…hi, Harry. How are you?" Remus asked politely.

Slightly bewildered at Remus' cool manner, Harry replied, "I'm fine, thanks. How are you?"

"Good. So, what's been going on?"

"Not much, just hanging out with Lila mostly. And you?"

"I'm fine." Now Remus just looked confused. Then he noticed everyone staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," James said, turning away from his son.

While James and Remus talked, Harry drew Lila aside. "What's going on?" he whispered. "Does Remus not like me or something?"

"No…it's the other way around," Lila explained. "You found out he was a werewolf when you were eight — you do know he's a werewolf, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you found out when you were eight and you threw this big fit about not associating with Dark creatures. After that, whenever you see him, you call him Mr. Lupin, or Professor, and you, well, act pretty rudely or ignore him. Basically, you don't really talk to him unless you have to. I think he's shocked that you're being so nice. Same goes for Dad."

"Oh…well that's rubbish. Dark creature indeed!"

"You're the Boy-Who-Lived; you're kind of…absolutely terrified of anything Dark, I guess you could say. Mum and Dad really don't like the way you treat him; they force you to talk to him, normally. Oh yeah, and you almost never invite me to go with you anywhere. It's been ages since we've been in the same room together for more than a few minutes, unless it's mealtime."

"That- that's terrible!"

"Um…well…you're not exactly a very nice person."

Harry groaned. "I'm a spoiled stuck-up brat in this world, aren't I? Wonderful, I finally have a family and now I'm supposed to act like Malfoy."

"Malfoy? Are you talking about Draco Malfoy?"

"Yeah, why? Do I know him? Please tell me I'm not friends with that junior Death Eater!"

"Definitely not," Lila assured him. "You're mortal enemies, in fact."

"Good; at least that hasn't changed. Do you think you could tell me more about…um, my life…later?"

"Sure, I'd be glad to," Lila agreed — and meant it. This Harry was so much nicer than the one he had replaced. He seemed to be everything she had ever wanted in a brother.

Meanwhile in a different room, James and Remus were talking.

"Whats up with Harry?" Remus asked curiously. James frowned as he sipped a butterbeer.

"I have absolutely no idea. He's been acting strange all day. Perhaps I should ask Lily if she knows whats going on." Remus nodded.

"I think you should. I rather like Harry this way, but if he's in some trouble you and Lily need to know so you can help him." James agreed.

"Lily, have you noticed anything odd about Harry lately?" James asked his wife late that night.

"No, not really. Why? Have you?"

"I walked in on him and Lila in the kitchen today. They were talking and eating brownies together."

"That's good. I haven't seen them spend any time together in ages."

"Then Remus arrived, "James continued."I suggested that Harry and I go greet him, and he agreed immediately. As we were leaving the kitchen, he turned around and asked Lila if she was coming."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe he's gotten over his fear of werewolves."

"We found Remus, and Harry said 'Hi, Remus,' and asked him how he was. After that, Remus and I started talking in private. When we got back, we noticed Harry and Lila were whispering over something in the corner."

"So?"

"Lily, when is the last time you've seen Harry and Lila having a civil conversation?"

"Well…never. Oh, I see what you mean. Do you think there's something wrong?"

"I don't know," James sighed, his head in his hands. "Remus thinks there might be. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess."

"Let me get this straight…Remus is the Defense teacher at Hogwarts, Sirius is an Auror for the ministry, Dad is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and Mum teaches Muggles Studies," Harry recited. It was later that night, and the two were sitting in Lila's room, talking all about Harry's life. "What about Pettigrew?"

"Peter Pettigrew?" Lila repeated. "He died when you were one. Voldemort tortured my parent's location out of him."

"So he didn't betray anyone?"

"No, why? Did he in your world?"

"Yeah," Harry growled. "In my world, he's the reason I don't have any parents, the reason my life is so miserable, and reason Voldemort's back…hey, I just noticed no one here seems to care if you say Voldemort. Are people not afraid of him?"

"Oh it's not that. It's…well, Mum and Dad think that people shouldn't be afraid of his name, so they made sure that Har- you and I could say it."

"That makes sense. What else do I need to know? Say, what house am I in? I'm not in Slytherin, am I?" Harry questioned anxiously.

"Almost were," Lila told him. "The Sorting Hat put you there, but you threw a fit and Professor Dumbledore didn't think it would be safe, so you got resorted into Gryffindor."

"Thank goodness for that!" Harry exclaimed in relief. "Who are my friends? And what house are you in?"

"I'm in Gryffindor too; I'm going into my third year. Your best friend is Ron Weasley, and you hang out with the other Gryffindor boys a lot too — well, not Neville."

"What about Hermione?"

"Hermione? Who's that?"

"Hermione Granger. She's a muggleborn witch, my age, bushy brown hair, incredibly smart…"

"Oh! That Hermione!" Lila said with a puzzled frown. "She's a Ravenclaw. If I recall correctly…well, you tease her a lot for being a know-it-all, and I think you've tried to copy off of her work before."

"Oh…she was a Gryffindor and one of my best friends in my world. Okay, how about Quidditch?"

Lila snorted. "You and Ron are crazy about Quidditch. Ever since first year, you've been Seeker for Gryffindor, and Ron became the reserve Keeper in his second year."

"How'd I get on the team in first year?" Harry wanted to know.

"You begged Mum and Dad until they went to Dumbledore," Lila recounted disapprovingly. "Malfoy was furious."

"How is Malfoy? Is he still a stuck-up arrogant git?"

"Pretty much. You two fight all the time, at least once a week."

"All right. What about Hogwarts? What happened my first year?"

"Nothing," Lila pronounced, bemused. "Why?"

"Well, in my first year, Voldemort tried to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, which was hidden at Hogwarts, and Ron, Hermione, and I had to stop him. In my second year, he let a basilisk loose in the school, in my third year…well, Voldemort didn't do anything that year, and in my fourth, a Death Eater tried to kill me by way of the Triwizard Tournament, which eventually ended in Voldemort resurrecting himself."

"Wow! Nothing nearly that exciting ever happened here. Your first year, the Sorcerer's Stone was at Hogwarts — at least, I overheard Mum and Dad mention it — but Professor Dumbledore moved it somewhere else. I don't think anything major happened after that; you were just too well protected. In fact, if you hadn't made such a fuss about it, you probably would have been put under house arrest."

"Hmm…that's interesting. I guess Professor Dumbledore decided to cancel the Triwizard Tournament in this world. Anything else I should know?"

"Nah, that's the important stuff. You can ask me if you have any questions," Lila offered, then paused. "You know," she added, "It feels really weird to be telling you about your life."

"I really appreciate this," Harry stated hesitantly, making Lila jump.

"This is going to take some getting used to," she mumbled, shaking her head. "You being nice and all. When we get back to Hogwarts, people are going to throw a fit."

"What's the date anyway?"

"August 3rd, almost a month left. Speaking of which, you'll need to go school supply shopping soon."

"Right. It's almost midnight; I should be getting to bed. Are there any more important things I need to know? What about my relationship with Sirius?"

"Sirius?" Lila uttered, a hint of unhappiness creeping into her voice. "You too are pretty close. Sirius absolutely dotes on you, more than Dad even. Speaking of that, you don't need to worry about going to bed. You never get in trouble for anything."

"Well, I don't want you to get in trouble, so I'll just go," Harry said quietly. "Good night, Lila, and thank you for everything."

"Good night," Lila called back. She climbed under the covers, pondering over this huge change in her life. Perhaps things were looking up.

:) so another chapter finished. As you can probably tell, I added the conversation between James and Remus myself. All the credit for these beginning chapters go to Light Avatar and FredWeasleysFutureWife. I'm so excited! Only a few more chapters before I can post my own stuff. Thank you and please Review!