Through Another's Eyes

By Neurotica

Three

A group of friends and colleagues sat around a large table in the den of Mad-Eye Moody's home trying to pretend they weren't too exhausted to be here. The Order of the Phoenix had begun running out of meeting places, ten years ago, and this was one of the last safe houses in the wizarding world. It wasn't often that meetings began after midnight, but Dumbledore had insisted upon it—he'd wanted to make certain everybody could get away from their day jobs to join them.

"I don't understand why he doesn't just tell me when there's going to be a meeting," James told Sirius and Remus as they waited for the Headmaster's arrival. "I can work it so all the Aurors are free..."

"Because by telling you in advance," replied Remus as he quickly skimmed through a report, "he would be announcing his plans and making it far more likely that we could be targeted. Unfortunately, we no longer have the luxury of knowing about a meeting any longer than an hour ahead of time."

"Still a pain in the arse," Sirius said, yawning hugely and sitting back in his chair.

All conversations were put to an end by the arrival of the Order leader. "Good evening," he said once he was situated at the head of the table. "I do apologize for the lateness of our meeting, but I needed the extra time for last minute arrangements." Dumbledore looked around the table for a few moments before continuing; his eyes settled on James, his wife, and friends. "By now, I'm certain you are all aware of the events that took place on the platform of the Hogwarts Express a few weeks ago." James' eyes darted away; Lily held his hand tightly. "The details of the attack are being kept tightly under wraps due to the requests of those involved." Everybody in the Order looked over at James briefly, then averted their gazes sheepishly when they found James looking back at them. "Sirius was the Auror in charge of the security searches and I have asked him to run through the minutes leading up to the attack." Dumbledore nodded at Sirius and sat back in his chair, sipping at his tea.

James listened as his best friend once again explained everything that had happened on 1 September. The same story had been explained to the higher-ups at the Ministry; they'd started an inquiry into the attack and had placed both Sirius and Tonks under surveillance until their investigation had ended. James had done what he could to keep his Aurors in the office, even if they were stuck doing paperwork or fetching coffee, but the longer the inquiry went on, the more he worried he was becoming that the Minister was considering suspending the two Aurors who had been in charge of ensuring the Hogwarts Express was safe for students to board.

"...Disapparated before we could get identify more than a few of them," Sirius finished.

"I understand you're keeping the information safe, James," Alice Longbottom began, "but can we at least know who it was that attacked Harry?"

James sighed and exchanged a look with Dumbledore; the Headmaster made a gesture with his hand that said James was free to share whatever he wished, or nothing at all. James decided the Order should at least know about this, to try to stave off the retribution he knew would be inevitable. The problem being, he hadn't even told Lily who attacked their son...

"The only person who saw the attacker," he began cautiously, knowing his wife was watching him very closely, "was Harry, so it's on his word that we've been questioning Draco Malfoy, Lucius' son."

The silence was heavy. Over the last several years, the Order and the Ministry had been hard-pressed to pin any crimes on Lucius Malfoy, whether it had been due to lack of evidence or certain people insisting that Malfoy couldn't have possibly done what was being suggested. It was endlessly frustrating for James and the rest of the Aurors knowing no matter what they might have seen Lucius do, he would walk free before any of them could blink an eye. The concern now passing silently between the Order members was the question of whether Draco Malfoy would receive the same treatment.

"Has there been a confession?" Mad-Eye asked gruffly, breaking the silence.

Sirius nodded. "Yes," he answered, "but he's insisting his father had him under the Imperius Curse during the attack. After several conversations between James, Dumbledore, and myself, we believe him."

"And what's the plan now?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked in his infuriatingly calm tone. "Azkaban?"

"No," James said, trying not to fidget under the stare Lily was giving him for not telling her this before. "Since all the evidence suggests he was under the Imperius Curse during the attack, we can't prosecute Draco for anything. For the time being, he'll be taken to a safe house along with Narcissa Malfoy, at least until other arrangements can be made."

A few eyebrows rose at this. "Narcissa agreed to that?" Remus asked incredulously.

Sirius smirked a little. "Not at first," he said lightly, "but once she found out what Lucius made their son do, she was surprisingly eager. Selfish as she is, she actually gives a damn about her kid, unlike Lucius, and she's agreed to hand over any and all information she can give us that can get Lucius thrown into prison."

The Order seemed quite pleased with this bit of information—several of them matched Sirius' smirk at the thought of getting Lucius Malfoy off the streets, even though they knew there was still only a small chance of convicting him of any crimes—and began talking of other things.

"Why Harry?" someone asked as the meeting was drawing to a close. "There were hundreds of people on that platform; why'd Lucius choose Harry?"

James glanced across the table to meet Alice's eyes before they quickly darted away; there were only a handful of people aware of the secret that lay in the depths of the Department of Mysteries, the secret that killed Frank Longbottom only four years before... "Who knows," he said in what he had hoped would be a nonchalant tone. "Could be a hundred reasons."

Dumbledore ended the meeting minutes later and began to excuse himself to return to Hogwarts. He briefly met James' eyes with a clear message to follow him. James nodded and leaned over to whisper to Lily that he'd be back momentarily before standing and following the Headmaster's footsteps out of the room. "How's Harry, sir?" James asked once they were somewhere private.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "He is doing quite well," he responded. "His adjustment to his new atmosphere is coming along much more quickly than any of us could have possibly hoped, though it will still take time for him to acclimate fully." James nodded, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders. "My current concern is the information I received from Severus Snape last evening—and before you ask, I waited to inform you until I could confirm this information."

"What information?" James asked quickly, easily blocking out the informant. "Is it about Harry?"

"I believe so," Dumbledore said heavily. "Severus was able to find out more about Lord Voldemort's improved mood over the last months. It was a result of a plan he put into motion ten years ago and could quite possibly explain how Harry came to be with us in the first place..."

Caleb Potter yawned as he stumbled down to the Gryffindor common room one morning about a week after his brother's return to the school. Most of his housemates were still in bed with the exception of a few seventh years attempting to take advantage of the quiet to study for their N.E.W.T.s. Knowing better than to disturb them, Caleb decided to head out for a walk to the owlery, hoping for the chance to clear his head a bit. He'd spent the last few weeks trying to wrap his mind around the fact that though Harry still looked mostly like himself, he was now a complete opposite of what he once was. His parents had explained what they could about what had happened to Harry and though Caleb had worked to force himself to understand, he had to admit, even only to himself, that there were some things he would never fully understand.

Since Harry had started Hogwarts, Caleb had been convinced that his brother's entire existence centered around making him as miserable as possible. Until Christmas of that year, the two Potter boys had been very close; neither of them had many friends, save a few of the children of their parents' friends, and they'd dealt with that by joining forces and causing as much mischief as they could. Caleb had been looking forward to his older brother's return; he'd only had Piper to play with and her only interests involved playing with her dolls and having tea parties with her stuffed animals. But after the first day of Harry being home, Caleb noticed a change in the other boy. He didn't seem to have any time for him anymore, preferring to spend time with his new friends at Hogwarts. The attempts Caleb made to spend time with his brother had been met with insults, and after the third try, Caleb had given up.

His parents had tried to explain that these things happened some times, kids made new friends and drifted away from their siblings. These attempts at comfort hadn't really meant much coming from his father—he was an only child and had had the same friends since his own first year at Hogwarts—but his mother had spoken from her own experience. None of the Potter children had actually met their Aunt Petunia or her family, and from what Caleb knew of the Dursleys, he didn't want to, but at least the stories had helped Caleb realize he wasn't the only one getting the snub from an older sibling...

Regardless of the treatment he'd received from his older brother, Caleb had never stopped caring about the older boy and even looking up to him. He fully understood what it had meant when Harry had been hit with the Killing Curse on Platform 9 ¾, and though he'd yet to allow himself the time to grieve for the brother he'd lost, he felt as much sadness as his parents did. He also understood what it meant that, in some form, Harry still existed. The relationship he currently had with this new Harry was the one he'd always hoped to have with his brother. This Harry actually gave him the time of day, encouraged his interests in inventing things, and even seemed to enjoy his company.

Caleb couldn't help but wonder what the catch of all this was. He still felt as though he was dreaming, just as he had when his parents had first told him about everything, and he wasn't sure if he was willing to wake up yet or not. As he reached the owlery, the sun was only just beginning to rise over the Forbidden Forest, and Caleb climbed up on the windowsill to watch morning arrive. He sat for hours, thinking about both Harrys, wondering if it was possible for him to properly grieve for the brother he'd lost when there was somebody else who looked so much like him still walking around.

Mum says people grieve in their own ways, he thought as a few owls flew over his head and out of the owlery. Some people cry, some people brood, some people crack jokes and pull pranks... So what's my method of grieving?

An hour later when he started off to the Great Hall for breakfast, Caleb was no closer to his answer; though as he walked, he wiped several tears from his face with the sleeve of his robe.

"Dumbledore isn't really telling us anything we don't already know," Sirius said the morning after the Order meeting. It was customary for him to come to the Potters' home for breakfast before he and James left for the Ministry. "We knew Voldemort was behind this whole parallel universe business..."

Lily nodded as she sipped her coffee. "Yes, we did know that," she said patiently. "But we didn't know why."

"Of course we knew," Sirius scoffed. "Power in one universe isn't enough for him, so he's taking over two."

Remus slapped the back of Sirius' head in passing as he paced up and down the kitchen, reading the newspaper. "The problem with that being the Lord Voldemort in the other universe only returned to power a few months ago," he said, not looking away from what he was reading. "Our Voldemort, if you'll excuse the term, has been going strong for twenty-five years and, most unfortunately for us, is showing no signs of slowing down. If he became aware of what had happened to his counterpart, I could see him being quite concerned that the same could happen to him and he would want to do everything in his power to avoid that."

James nodded. "That's essentially what Dumbledore said," he replied, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. "That, and Voldemort seems to believe that he can somehow harness the power of his counterpart to make himself more powerful in this universe unless we find a way to stop him."

"And the only one who can stop him," Lily said quietly, staring at the table, "is Harry."

Nobody could find anything to refute her statement, so nobody spoke. James had dedicated his life to protecting his family during the war, Harry in particular. The threat against his oldest child had been evident even before Harry had been born, even if Dumbledore didn't tell the boy's parents about the threat until Harry was three months old. James had been determined that Harry would remain safe, no matter the cost; James wouldn't allow his son to be harmed if he was there to do anything about it. He'd failed when it mattered most, and regardless of Lily's insistences that there wasn't any way he could have known about the parallel universes or even what Lucius Malfoy was planning that day on the platform, he continued to blame himself for the outcome. He should have done the security searches himself, rather than entrusting the task to anybody else; he should have been on the lookout for anything suspicious.

Instead, I stood a hundred feet away from my son while he was being attacked and murdered...

He shook himself out of his daze when he heard Sirius' barking laugh. Looking around the table in bemusement, he suddenly realized someone had changed the subject at some point; currently, whatever the topic of discussion, Remus was bright red and seemed to be trying to hide behind his newspaper. "Did I miss something?" he asked once Lily's laughter had subsided a bit.

Sirius snorted. "Nothing at all," he said loftily. "Just Moony trying to deny what we all already know to be truth."

James' brow furrowed as he tried to catch Remus' eye; when he continued to fail after the first several minutes, he came to the conclusion that Sirius and Lily had been teasing their friend about Helen Snowe. James snorted a laugh. "Leave him alone," he said, patting Remus on the shoulder. Remus gave him a grateful look, then James started speaking again. "It's not his fault he's blind to the blatantly obvious. Must be a side effect of spending his entire life behind a book."

"Thanks a lot," Remus muttered, his face still red. "Don't you and Sirius have something to do besides teasing me about my love life?"

Sirius eyes widened along with his grin. "He's finally admitting to having a love life!" he announced. "Prongs, our little Moony may be growing up."

Laughing, James finished off his coffee and stood. "Come on, Padfoot, time for work." He turned to Lily who was still snickering rather heavily. "I don't know how late I'll be tonight; we've got some stuff to check up on."

Lily's eyebrows rose. "You mean like Draco and Narcissa Malfoy?" she asked blandly.

James winced, his ears still ringing from the argument they'd had the night before over his keeping information from his wife. "Maybe," he admitted with a sheepish smile.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I may not be here anyway," she said. "Girls' night out with Alice and Molly." Her lips twitched as her voice raised a little in volume. "And I was thinking about inviting Helen as well."

James turned around in time to see Remus' eyes widen in what could only be horror. "Bad luck, Moony," he said lightly. Seconds later, Sirius was dragging him away from his kiss with Lily towards the fireplace.

Harry was getting quite fed up. He'd been back at Hogwarts a week and could count the minutes he'd had to himself on one hand. Between all the people wanting to know what happened at King's Cross, the gang of friends that seemed to trail after him everywhere he went, and Lavender Brown not giving him room to breathe, he was desperate for some time alone. He'd been relieved to find he still had possession of his father's Invisibility Cloak, even if he hadn't seen a corner of the Marauders' Map yet—Fred and George Weasley seemed to give him just as wide a berth as the rest of the school who weren't his "chosen few"—and managed to sneak out of the common room one evening while Lavender and Parvati were busy choosing new nail colors for each other.

Harry allowed his feet to carry him through the school corridors and out onto the grounds without so much a second thought. Down by the lake, he adjusted the Invisibility Cloak to make sure it covered him fully and lay on his back, staring thoughtfully at the night sky.

Though he'd never realized the possibility even existed, he was starting to feel homesick, something he'd never felt in his life. It wasn't the home in Godric's Hollow with his mum and dad and little sister that he missed most—though he did feel a bit of a pang of sadness that he wouldn't see any of them until Christmas—but the world he'd left behind and quite possibly would never see again. He missed Ron and Hermione, and all his other friends. And Sirius and Lupin... Had they even realized he'd gone missing yet? He couldn't imagine they wouldn't have realized; were they searching the country for a boy they would never find?

And what would this mean in terms of the war with Lord Voldemort?

Harry sighed heavily, wishing he could, even just for a moment, talk to his friends and let them know he was safe and unharmed. He wanted Sirius to give him some advice on what he should do and how he should handle this situation. He wanted Hermione—his Hermione—to tell him everything she'd ever learned about parallel universes, then listen to Ron convince him this was the coolest thing that could have happened to him. He even wouldn't mind a few minutes of listening to Dudley's insults, just to prove to himself he had lived another life once.

If I really want that, I must have officially gone mental, he thought to himself with a small smirk.

A sudden feeling of déjà vu overcame him as he focused on the faces of his friends and godfather; dwelling on thoughts of wanting a proper family had begun the chain reaction of events that got him to this place after all. He hadn't thought for a second that it could happen again, but when his vision blurred considerably and a sharp pain erupted in his head, he felt his heart give a doubled thump. Was it fear? Excitement? He didn't know.

Screwing his eyes shut against the sudden pressure in his skull, he watched a vision appear in his mind's eye as though he had fallen through Dumbledore's pensieve again. He was looking down into a dark, stone kitchen, a long, wooden table set in the center, and people he knew began to materialize, all of them looking stressed and worried.

"What do you mean he's not there?" echoed the voice of Sirius Black loudly. Harry was able to focus on a figure furiously pacing the length of the kitchen twice as he spoke. "How could he not be there?"

Remus Lupin, who was seated at the table with his face buried in his hands, looked up only long enough to locate his friend. "I don't know, Sirius," he said with strained patience. "Arabella says she saw him walking around the neighborhood every night since his return from Hogwarts, but he suddenly stopped taking his evening walks."

"And we're just going on her word alone?" Sirius demanded incredulously. "No offense to Arabella Figg, but she's a Squib!"

A tall black wizard with a golden hoop earring sighed and spoke calmly, "This isn't based solely on her word. She sent her cats to check the house at night—she thought Harry might have been ill—and when that surveillance failed to turn anything up, she called Mad-Eye in to check."

"The most worrisome thing," Lupin said broodingly, looking up from the table finally, "is that none of Dumbledore's alarms were set off. Death Eaters didn't come in and take him by force, nor did anybody else magical. Wherever Harry went, he went under his own power..."

Sirius ceased his pacing and collapsed into a chair, looking utterly lost. "What about that residual magic you said you felt...?"

Though Harry focused all his concentration on the scene below him, it faded away as quickly as it had appeared, along with the voices, and Harry found himself again on his back in front of the Hogwarts lake. Shaking and sweating heavily, Harry looked around, certain he'd woken up the whole castle of Hogwarts with whatever had just happened. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the loud, out of tune singing that could only belong to Rubeus Hagrid. Managing to stifle the urge to take off the cloak and call out to the half-giant, Harry sat up a little and turned to watch Hagrid's huge lantern bob up and down as he crossed the school grounds towards his hut.

Once Hagrid had disappeared, Harry stood quickly and started back to the castle, unwilling to be caught outside this late at night. Only half-aware of where he was going, he started to think back on the vision he'd just experienced. Had it been real, or was it invented by his mind because he'd so badly wanted to see what was happening in his old world? If it was the latter, then why the pain he'd felt when it had begun?

Dumbledore would know, he thought exhaustedly as he climbed the spiral staircase to his dormitory. But if he went to the Headmaster with this, he'd have to admit he'd snuck out of the castle, or at least figure out a lie to cover, and he had a feeling sneaking around the castle at night in this world was just as frowned upon as it had been in his old world. Hogsmeade this weekend, he reminded himself as he collapsed into bed without bothering to undress or even remove the Invisibility Cloak. I can talk to Remus then...

With a plan in mind, Harry had fallen asleep within a minute, despite the continued feeling of discomfort in his head.

AN: In shock? Yeah, I know, me too. Terribly sorry it's been so long. It seems it takes me breaking my wrist to get any motivation or inspiration to write. Though it has been such a terribly long time, I hope you haven't forgotten how to review. Hopefully you'll be seeing an update for Not Set In Stone in the foreseeable future. Til then, take care!