Note: Third year Harry will be referred to as Harry'' and fifth year Harry will be referred to as Harry.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Chapter 22 – Lord Voldemort Shall Rise Again
Harry'' was sitting in a corner watching Ron and Hermione pace around impatiently waiting for the guard to bring the other Harry back.
"How long are they going to take?" Ron asked impatiently.
"I don't know," snapped Hermione "I'm not a seer am I?"
Ron sniggered, "Yup, you're definitely not Trelawney."
Ron and Hermione continued arguing while Harry was lost in his own thoughts. He tried to deny it but he was a little excited to meet himself from another universe. He wondered how similar they would be even though his counterpart was in Gryffindor. There could be so much he could learn from him, he could improve his control over his element, learn new spells... the list was endless!
Mrs. Weasley entered the room quietly and called them down for dinner.
Everybody was quiet during dinner.
"Who all have gone to bring Harry?" asked Hermione, biting her lips.
"Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, Lupin and Diggle," replied Mr. Weasley.
"Why so many?" asked Ron, "Why not just use a portkey and bring him here?"
"Because if death eaters did send those dementors; then they could be waiting for us to go and bring Harry. Using a portkey or apparating would be too dangerous because the ministry can detect magic in and around Harry's house."
"So what if they can detect magic? It's not like Harry's doing it right?"
"The ministry can detect magic around Harry's house, but they can't detect who did it," said Sirius, "Harry already did the patronus charm which has gotten him into so much trouble already, any more magic detected around his house would get him expelled for sure."
"But he did it in self defense!" said Hermione "It's not like he did it because he was bored or something!"
"Fudge doesn't care Hermione. All he wants is to have Harry expelled and have him declared a lunatic because he says Voldemort is back."
"But you know who is back, said Ginny furiously. "Why do they want to deny the truth?"
"They are denying it because if they accept the fact that Voldemort is back then it would mean a shit load of work for them and the public wouldn't forgive them for letting this happen. Ultimately Fudge would loose his job," said Mr. Weasley.
"So this is all about being the minister?" said Hermione in disgust.
"Yes," replied Sirius heavily. "Fudge is too corrupted and blinded by power to see the truth. All he sees is gold and power."
Everyone relapsed into silence.
Soon dinner was over and everybody walked back to their rooms. Harry'', Lillian, Ron and Hermione headed over to Ron's room to wait for Harry.
"Erm… Harry'', Lillian," said Hermione.
"What?"
"Do you mind waiting in the other room? Not that we don't want you here, it's just that we don't want Harry to freak out seeing another Harry''."
Lillian shrugged, "Sure, come on Potter," she said, beckoning him to follow her.
Harry'' frowned and followed her out. He was hoping to shock the other Harry but knew that would be a bad idea.
Sighing he turned around and walked towards his room.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Lillian asked Harry''.
"To my room," replied Harry''.
"Well wait up then! I'm coming too," she said.
Harry'' stopped and stared at her incredulously, "Why can't you go to your own room?"
"Hermione's trying some stupid experiment and she won't tell what it is and she doesn't want anyone entering in there for 3 hours."
"What kind of experiment?" asked Harry'' curiously.
"Don't know, don't care," she said, "She's making some potion she found in one of the books here."
"Oh, I see," said Harry'' with a frown. He wondered what kind of potion Hermione was making considering the fact that the Black library had books only about dark magic.
Lillian gasped as soon as they entered Harry's'' room.
"Your room is so clean!" she exclaimed.
"Of course," replied Harry'', "I'm not going to sleep in a smelly, dirty, bug infested room am I?"
"This has got to be the best room in this entire house," she said in awe. "The whole room looks like it's just been dry cleaned or something! How come our rooms look like trash and yours is so... so nice!" she shot at him.
"Magic," replied Harry'' with a smirk.
"Don't be a smart ass, Potter, just tell me already."
"If you don't want to believe me, don't. I've got a good room, that's all I care about," said Harry'' with a shrug.
"But you can't do magic outside Hogwarts," she retorted.
"Not in this house, remember what the Weasley girl told you this morning."
"Magic can't be detected in this house," she said smacking her forehead. "God dammit! Why doesn't Mrs. Weasley let us do magic in the house! We could get so much practice."
Harry'' smirked, "Who's asking you to listen to her? She's not your mother is she?"
Lillian lost her indignant look and her face became stony. Harry immediately realized his mistake.
"Sorry," he said, looking apologetic.
"It's alright," she said, "You don't have to apologize... especially you."
Harry'' laughed. But it wasn't a happy laugh. It was just a laugh because of the irony of the situation.
"I listen to Mrs. Weasley because she makes me feel like I have a mom or rather she's my mom," she said quietly.
Harry'' was silent. "How did she die?"
"Car accident," replied Lillian. "We were passing through a village when there was an explosion, a transformer or something blew up which caused our car to overturn. Mom suffered severe head injuries and died. Dad was lucky though; he just broke his leg and had a few minor injuries."
She was silent for a while.
"Mum died because she was trying to make sure I didn't get hurt. She died protecting me... That's what dad says anyway," she said sadly.
Harry'' didn't know what to say. His mom had died protecting him so she could understand how she felt a bit.
"Do you remember anything?" asked Harry''.
"Naw, nothing at all," she said, "I dream about it sometimes, but all I see is this multicolored wave coming towards us."
"A colorful wave?"
"A colorful wave," repeated Lillian. "What about you, since we are having such a depressing conversation, do you remember anything that happened the night you got that scar?"
Usually Harry'' hated anyone asking his questions about his parents or scar, but he didn't mind telling Lillian. Maybe it was because he could relate to her in a few ways.
"Like you I dream about it sometimes," he said. "But all I remember is this green flash of light and this high pitched cruel laughter."
"Laughter?"
"Yeah laughter, probably that screwed up dark lord enjoying himself."
Lillian grimaced. "We're well rid of him, thankfully."
But that was not true and Harry'' knew it. He knew he was destined to face Voldemort again and it was his destiny to defeat him. Sometimes he wondered why he couldn't just run away and live peacefully on some island in the middle of the ocean but he couldn't. He knew Voldemort would never stop looking for him, because the dark lord would want revenge for what happened to him at Gordic's Hollow and if he didn't stop the psychotic dark lord then who would?
"Hey Harry''?" called Lillian, suddenly.
"What?"
"You used magic to clean up this room, right?"
"Yeah."
"You used your wand?"
"Of course."
"How come you didn't collapse this time?"
Harry'' shrugged, "I didn't collapse but there was this forbidding buzzing noise in my head."
"Forbidding?"
"It was like it was urging me to get back to our world."
"Maybe that's because you think it is wrong to be here. Maybe it's just your subconscious mind talking to you," said Lillian.
"This is different," said Harry''. He knew it was different because it felt like his wand was trying to talk to him but could not reach him because of some interference. But thankfully it was working just fine after his Hogwarts incident.
"Listen!" said Lillian suddenly.
They could hear someone's muffled voice through the walls. They opened the door and the muffled voice turned out to be someone yelling.
Lillian listened closely and then gasped.
"What?" asked Harry''.
"I'd bet a 100 pounds that's your voice," she whispered, "Except the fact that it sounds a little rough."
Harry'' listened carefully and if he didn't know better he'd say that he was hearing himself!
"Looks like the other me has arrived and he's not in a good mood," said Harry with a smirk.
"What to go and see him?" asked Lillian hesitantly.
"Let's listen to what he's yelling about," said Harry''.
As they got closer, Harry's voice became clearer and clearer.
"WHO HAD TO FACE VOLDEMORT LAST YEAR? ME! ALL SUMMER I'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET NEWS ABOUT WHATS GOING ON THROUGH THE DAILY PROPHET BECAUSE DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU PROMISE NOT TO TELL ME ANYTHING!"
"Harry," said Hermione, her voice trembling, "We wanted to tell you what's going on but we couldn't! Dumbledore said it wasn't safe."
"Are you telling me Dumbledore doesn't have other means of sending a message?" Harry shot back.
Hermione hung her head.
"What is this place anyway?"
"Grimmauld Place, headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," said Ron quickly, "It's a secret society meant to fight Voldemort."
"Well?" asked Harry.
"Err… Well what?"
"Voldemort!" he said furiously, "What's he been up to? Why hasn't the daily prophet been reporting any deaths!"
"Well we haven't exactly been involved in the order meetings," said Hermione, "But we have overheard a few things," she added quickly seeing Harry's furious look.
"The ministry has been denying the return of V-Voldemort," she said.
"Why! Didn't I tell Fudge I saw him come back to life!"
"Harry, the minister doesn't want to believe you and if you say you've been reading the daily prophet you'll know why."
Harry frowned, "Well I haven't been reading it word to word, just the head lines. I mean if someone has been murdered or the dark mark has been seen, it would be headlines wouldn't it?"
Hermione bit her lips, "Well the thing is... well they all believe what Skeeter wrote about you last year," she said quickly.
"What? I thought you caught that woman."
"The Prophet has been building on the base she left for them and nobody would be willing to believe what you say."
Harry sighed and punched the wall in frustration.
Ron and Hermione looked alarmed.
"Maybe you should calm down Harry," said Ron, in a small voice, not wanting him to erupt again.
Harry ignored him.
Ron looked at Hermione and waved at her frantically.
"What?" hissed Hermione.
"Tell him about the other Harry''," Ron hissed back.
Hermione glared at him. "You tell him!"
"What are you two whispering about," said Harry, harshly "More secrets?"
"N-no," said Hermione shooting Ron an evil look, "There's just something else we need to tell you."
"What?" asked Harry, narrowing his eyes.
Outside Harry'' and Lillian stifled a laugh. "Here it comes," said Harry''.
"Well about a week back there was an accident at Hogwarts," said Hermione nervously.
Harry eyes widened, "Don't tell me deatheaters attacked Hogwarts!"
"What! No, no!" said Hermione. "It was a different sort of accident."
Hermione took a deep breath.
"You remember what happened in our third year?" she asked him.
"How could I forget," replied Harry, "It was the year we rescued Sirius."
"Right," said Hermione, "Well, what if that time turner broke by accident, what would happen?"
"It would not work and we would not save Sirius," said Harry slowly.
"Or it would malfunction and send you somewhere you didn't want to go."
"What are you trying to say Hermione?" asked Harry tiredly.
"What's she's trying to say is another you from a different universe ended up in this universe because the time turner broke in his universe," said Ron.
Harry stared at Ron as if he were out of his mind.
"What did you just say?"
"Harry, what do you know about parallel universes," said Hermione quickly shooting a glare at Ron.
"Absolutely nothing."
Outside the room Harry'' huffed with impatience, "Maybe we should just barge in and surprise him," said Harry''.
"Don't even think about it," whispered Lillian, "god only knows how he'll react to seeing himself and we don't want any more accidents."
"Freckles using her brains," said Harry with a snigger, "Never thought I'd see such a day... looks like I turned out to be a good influence on you."
"The day you start influencing me is the day I die Potter," she growled softly.
Back inside the room Harry's mind was swirling with confusion.
"Hold on one second Hermione, you're telling me that there exists these infinite number of parallel universes and I from one of those universes got transported here by accident!"
"Him and another girl," added Ron.
Harry snorted, "Are you serious! Or is this some practical joke you guys have planned!"
"No, Harry! Its true, they're in the house right now!"
Harry stared at Hermione. "I don't believe it," he said shortly.
"And he's as stubborn as you," whispered Lillian to Harry''.
"Maybe you'll believe it if you met them."
Harry frowned. This was unbelievable, thought Harry. How there possibly be another him in this world. But he knew Hermione wouldn't lie about such a thing and there was only one way to see if this wasn't a prank.
"So where are they?" he asked her.
"In the other Harry's'' room," said Hermione, sounding relived. "We didn't want you to freak out looking at your thirteen year old self."
"Do you want to meet them?" asked Hermione.
"I don't know," he said. "What would you do if you had to meet yourself?"
"Don't know," said Ron with a shrug, "Maybe you don't have to meet him at all, just keep avoiding him. He's a jerk anyway."
Harry frowned, "What do you mean?"
"Don't listen to him, Harry," said Hermione, "Just because he thinks the other you is a jerk doesn't mean you should feel the same until you meet him."
"That's not true, even Fred, George, Ginny and even Lillian think he's a jerk."
"Why do you think he's a jerk?" asked Harry.
"Because he is!" said Ron, "And because he's a Slytherin."
Harry froze.
"He's in Slytherin?"
"Yeah, can you believe it! I bet the sorting hat didn't even think twice before putting you in Gryffindor!" ranted Ron.
That's not true, thought Harry, the sorting hat had wanted to put me in Slytherin but I refused. If another me has really come from another universe then I get to see myself if I were in Slytherin.
Excitement started building up inside Harry; he didn't care whether the other Harry was a jerk or was like Malfoy, he just wanted to see how true were the sorting hats words when he said Slytherin would bring him power and greatness.
"Harry?" called Hermione snapping him out of his thoughts.
"What?"
"You spaced out for a couple of minutes. Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine … … So where is the other me?" he asked lightly.
"Should I go get them?" asked Hermione.
"I think we should go to his room. I feel kinda weird calling myself here."
Hermione nodded but before either of them could move, there was a knock on the door.
Harry froze with anticipation.
The door opened and in walked Lillian and Harry''.
Both the Harry's stared at each other, each having identical expressions of shock and surprise on their faces.
"Err... hey," said Harry, nervously.
Harry'' just continued staring at Harry, analyzing his every feature and trying to make out any major differences between the two of them. . . . . He could find none, except the fact that Harry looked a little starved, dirty and wore broken glasses.
"Hi," said Harry'' finally. He could feel his stomach churning around in nervousness.
"Wow," said Harry with a laugh. "You look exactly like me, except for a few minor differences of course."
"Considering you are me, I doubt we would look much different," said Harry'' dryly.
Harry shook his head, "I didn't believe Hermione when she said another me from a different universe had come here by accident, but now," he trailed off, his eyes landing on Lillian.
"Who are you?" he asked her.
"I'm Lillian," she said quickly, "err you don't know me here because I think I don't exist here or whatever but I'm with Harry'', the other Harry''. I was with him when the accident occurred, that's how I came here."
She said all this so fast that Harry barely had time to understand what she said.
"Don't mind her," said Harry'' with a smirk. "She always talks like that when she's nervous."
"Nervous about what?"
"To meet you, you prat," huffed Hermione, "Don't tell me you weren't," she said tapping her foot on the floor.
Harry grinned and run his hand through his hair, "Well yeah I was, but not that much."
All this time Ron was sitting in a corner, watching the conversation play out. He decided it was time he stepped in.
"So who's your best friend in Slytherin?" he asked Harry''.
Harry'' frowned, "What's it to you?"
"Just curious," said Ron, "I mean if you were in Gryffindor, Hermione and I would have been your best friends. But since you're in Slytherin, I guessing it's Malfoy."
Harry looked towards Harry'' waiting for an answer holding his breath.
"Well, you sure know me well Weasley," said Harry'' with a sneer, thinking about all the painful ways to torture the red head.
Harry couldn't believe it. Malfoy was his best friend! The very thought was revolting.
"But contrary to your beliefs Malfoy is not my best friend and nor do I have any best friends," said Harry''.
Harry sagged in relief.
"How did you get sorted into Slytherin anyway?"
"I could ask you the same thing," replied Harry'' "How did you get sorted into Gryffindor?"
Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione. He had never told them about the conversation he had with the sorting hat because he was scared about what they would think. But it was time to come clean, he thought. He was a true Gryffindor and pulling Gryffindor's sword out of the sorting hat had proved it. "I asked the sorting hat to put me there," said Harry with a shrug.
"You mean the sorting hat considered putting you in Slytherin!" asked Ron aghast.
Even Hermione was shocked.
"Yeah," said Harry, "In fact the sorting hat didn't consider it, he wanted to put me in Slytherin but I refused."
"Really!" said Harry'', "Why did you refuse?"
"I was fortunate enough to meet Malfoy in Diagon alley," said Harry with a shudder.
"Ah, that explains it," said Harry'', with a frown wondering if he would have done the same if he had met a person like Malfoy before going to Hogwarts.
"So if you hadn't met Malfoy, you would be in Slytherin," said Ron disgustedly.
"I don't know. The sorting hat had a hard time choosing between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but I'm glad it decided to stick Gryffindor in the end," he said with a dry laugh.
"What about you?" Harry asked Harry''. "Why did you choose Slytherin?"
"I didn't choose," said Harry''. "I just never met Malfoy in Diagon alley like you did."
"Oh," said Harry, clearly surprised.
"Do you like being in Slytherin?" he asked after a pause.
"Of course," said Harry'', "I'd prefer Slytherin over Gryffindor any day."
Harry was perplexed, "How could you want to live with those snakes!"
"That's the problem with you people isn't it," said Harry'', shaking his head. "You can't even imagine that a decent person could be there in a house like Slytherin. Do you even know anybody apart from Malfoy and his cronies in Slytherin?"
Harry was silent, "No," he admitted after a while. "But I haven't interacted with any other decent Slytherin till date."
"And I haven't seen a single decent Gryffindor either," shot back Harry''.
There was a knock on the door and Ginny entered.
"Oh, hey Harry!" she said brightly ignoring the other one. "I thought I heard your voice when you arrived."
"Hi Ginny," he replied, relieved that he didn't have to continue his conversation with Harry''.
"Mum's calling you all downstairs. The meetings over and dinner is ready."
"Oh, great, Lets go down then shall we," said Hermione, eager to end the conversation before it turned too nasty.
"We'll talk later shall we?" said Harry'' lightly and followed Ginny.
"Yeah, sure," said Harry, a little cautiously. The tone in the other Harry's voice indicated that there was a lot more he wanted to talk about and his instinct told him it was going to be about their illustrious childhood.
"So what do you think?" asked Ron.
"Nothing yet," replied Harry. "I'm still trying to process the fact that I just had a conversation with a thirteen year old version of me."
Ron chuckled. "Come on hurry up, my stomach is crying for food."
"Isn't that always the case," said Harry with a laugh.
He got a smack on the head for that comment.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The Original World
Draco hurried towards the shrieking shack as fast as he could. It had taken him a while to get rid of his classmates and he was already 2 minutes late for the meeting.
He reached the ancient haunted house feeling a bit scared but was sighed with relief when he realized his father hadn't reached yet.
"You're late," came the cold voice of Lucius Malfoy from behind him.
"Father!" said Draco, almost jumping out of his skin with fright.
"You were supposed to be here 5 minutes ago."
"2 minutes ago," he said dully.
Lucius narrowed his eyes. "Why is it that you wanted to talk to me face to face and is so important that you could not write about it in a letter?"
Draco shivered at the cold penetrating gaze of his father.
"How are you too, father?" said Draco sarcastically.
"Don't get smart with me Draco. I had to skip a meeting with the minister because you said you had something important to tell me. So make it quick."
Draco sighed. "Last week around the time Potter disappeared, I snuck out of the common room at midnight to get a snack," he began.
"And why did you have to sneak out at midnight?" asked his father.
"Why do you think?" asked Draco rolling his eyes.
Lucius narrowed his eyes dangerously.
Draco immediately wished he hadn't said that, it wasn't good to test his father's patience. "I meant I was hungry so I decided to go to the kitchen and have a quick snack!" he said quickly.
"Anyway, on the way, I was passing through the charms corridor and I heard Dumbledore and McGonagall's voice."
Lucius's eyes shone with sudden interest.
Draco looked pleased. "I hid in the shadows and saw Dumbledore casting a number of spells on the wall where Potter apparently disappeared."
"Maybe be was just trying to figure out how the accident happened Draco!"
"That's what I thought too, but then I heard McGonagall say there had to be a way to get them back!"
"Get them back?" said Lucius slowly.
"That's right," said Draco, excitement leaking from his voice. "And then Dumbledore says he has to come back because of some prophecy..."
"Prophecy!" interrupted Lucius sharply, "Are you sure he said that!"
"Positive, but that's not the end of it. He seems to think the dark lord is still alive and sooner or later he's going to come back," he said, the fear and excitement evident in his voice.
Lucius was silent.
"Father?"
"What?"
"Do you think the dark lord is going to come back?"
"I don't know and don't concern yourself with it," said Lucius.
"Why shouldn't I?" said Draco bravely, "Because if he does come back I am going to become a death eater and help him get rid of all the mudbloods!"
Lucius slapped Draco, knocking the wind out of him.
"Idiot boy!" he snarled, "Don't talk about things you don't know about. If serving the dark lord is your dream, then get it out of your head as fast as you can! Because if you want to become what I had to become, then you are doomed to lead a miserable life until the day you die!"
Draco held his cheek, tasting blood in his mouth. "Then why do you serve him!" demanded Draco.
"Because the other alternative would be the death of our family," he said shortly.
Draco paled.
"I will do what I have to do to protect our family," he said firmly, "Even if it means bringing darkness over the entire wizarding world once again."
Lucius turned to leave but stopped when Draco called him again.
"What is it now?" he asked impatiently.
"I forgot to give you this," he said, removing a small packet from his robes.
"What it is?"
"I found it in the charms corridor. It slipped from Granger's hand and fell on potter and the mudblood and that's when they disappeared."
Lucius opened the package found a broken hourglass.
"This is an hourglass Draco, an empty half broken hourglass. Don't tell me you didn't recognize it the moment you saw it!"
Draco was dumbfounded, "An hourglass?"
"Yes an hourglass. There's nothing special about it!"
Draco was tongue tied. He tired to say something but it wouldn't come out. "But, but, maybe it was something inside the hourglass that caused the accident!" he said desperately. He had honestly believed the hourglass was the answer to the mystery of Potter's disappearance.
"The only thing this hourglass can do is pour sand from compartment to the other!" growled Lucius dangerously.
Draco was stunned.
"I'm leaving, Draco," said Lucius. "Try not to embarrass yourself at school."
"Wait father!"
"What is it?"
"Are you going to find him?"
Lucius stiffened.
"See you in the summer Draco," he said and apparated away.
Draco stared at the spot his father disappeared. "Looks like a war is going to start again," he muttered and began to walk back to Hogsmeade, wondering if he had made the right decision in talking to his father.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Alternate world
Harry couldn't sleep. His trial at the ministry was tomorrow or rather today, he thought, seeing it was well past midnight.
Sighing he got up and decided to go and have something to eat. He made his way downstairs quietly, not wanting to wake anything nasty and have everybody waking up.
"Why is it so damn cold," he said with a shiver, wishing he had covered himself up in more clothes.
"Why not just use your wand to warm yourself up?" said a very familiar voice from the couch.
"Harry''."
"Hello to you too," said Harry'' in amusement.
"What are you doing down here? It's almost two in the morning," said Harry.
"Couldn't sleep," he said, "What about you? Worried you might be expelled tomorrow?"
Harry sighed, "Yeah, something like that."
"Getting expelled for protecting your self," said Harry'' smirking, "Wonderful way to leave Hogwarts."
"So you think I don't stand a chance?"
"I don't know if you stand a chance," said Harry''. "But if what you told me about the ministry is true, they're going to try their best to snap your wand."
Harry shuddered, "Thanks," he said sarcastically, "You just made me feel a whole lot better!"
"You're welcome," said Harry'', the corner of his mouth twitching.
"What happens to you?" Harry'' asked Harry.
"What happens to me when?"
"What happens to you when the dementors get close to you?"
"You haven't been close to a dementor yet have you?" he asked his younger self.
"I have, but nothing happened to me. Everyone around me started shivering and looked like they were having a terrible nightmare but I didn't feel a thing except for a slight headache."
Harry stared at Harry'' in shock. Was he hearing right? Dementors didn't have any effect on his counterpart! How was that even possible!
"You don't hear anything? No screaming nothing!" asked Harry incredulously.
"Well I did hear a little screaming but I thought it was someone in the train."
Harry couldn't believe this and the shock was clearly visible in his eyes.
"And going by your reaction, that is not what happens to you when you get close to a dementor," said Harry'' slowly.
"No," said Harry after a while. "I... I hear mum screaming and pleading for mercy before Voldemort kills her. Sometimes I hear dad yelling at mum to take me to safety before Voldemort kills him too. Third year at Hogwarts was not very pleasant for me," he said with a shiver.
"You hear mum and dad?" asked Harry'' strangely.
"Yeah, and I know what you're thinking," he added.
"And what do you think I'm thinking?"
"You're wondering what it would be like to hear their voices."
Harry'' opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. "How did you guess?" he asked instead.
"Because I had the same thought. At times I would want to go close to a dementor just to hear their voices but listening to mum scream and plead for my life is not something I'd want to hear again and again," he said quietly.
"No, I guess not," said Harry''.
"Damn its cold!" said Harry shivering violently. He stood up and went to the fire place and began to arrange the logs.
"Now where is the matchbox?" he said, looking around.
"You're feeling cold?" asked Harry''.
"Aren't you?
"But what about your elemental power? Doesn't it help?"
Harry was lost, "My elemental power? What are you talking about?"
"You're not an elemental!" asked Harry''.
"You're not making any sense at all mate."
"What the hell?" muttered Harry'', "If he is me then he should have the same powers as me unless our strengths are different in different dimensions," he thought.
"Are you alright Harry''?"
"How different are we?" asked Harry'' aloud.
"What do you mean?"
"I am a water elemental," said Harry''. "I can control water and bend it to my will."
"No way!" exclaimed Harry, his mouth dropping open.
Harry'' just made a ball of water float on his hand to prove it.
"And apparently you aren't," Harry'' added.
Harry was still gaping at the ball of water floating in Harry's'' hand.
"How are you doing that?" he asked in awe.
"Like I said, I am a water elemental in my world and it seems you don't have such a power. As to why you don't have it, I don't have a single clue."
"I have never heard of elementals before," said Harry, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Nor had I, until I discovered I was one," replied Harry''.
There was a pause.
"I wonder what else is different between our worlds," said Harry. "I mean, I got sorted into Gryffindor and you in Slytherin. You apparently have this amazing power and I don't," he said, with a hint of envy in his voice.
"Why do you still live with the Dursley's?" asked Harry'', changing the topic, "Why not with Sirius?"
"Dumbledore thinks I'm the safest at the Dursley's because of the blood wards," said Harry.
Harry'' sneered in disgust. "Why do you have to listen to him! Sirius is your godfather not Dumbledore! He doesn't have any right to dictate where you live or don't live."
Harry shrugged, "Dumbledore has my best interests at heart," he said, "I'm sure he had his reasons for not letting me live with Sirius."
"Are you insane?" said Harry'', in a deadly quiet voice, "That old fool doesn't care about you! He only does what he thinks his best from his point of view which is totally messed up!
Did he ever bother checking on us when we suffered at the hands of the Dursley's! Did he tell you about the vaults? Has he ever done anything that has not led you into danger!"
Harry's'' eyes were glinting with anger and Harry was staring back at Harry'' with equally hard eyes.
"What vaults?" asked Harry, once Harry'' had stopped his rant.
The anger vanished and was replaced by astonishment.
"You don't know?" he said in shock.
"Don't know what?" asked Harry, looking annoyed.
"So this is what I'd have become if I were sorted to Gryffindor," muttered Harry''.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" asked Harry angrily.
"It means you're just a mindless follower of Dumbledore," said Harry'', "just like the rest of this order."
Harry had his wand out in a flash.
"I've had enough of your nonsense," he snarled. Harry'' didn't even bother drawing his own.
"Just because you apparently don't have a good relationship with Dumbledore doesn't mean it is the same for me. He has done a lot for me and I'm sure, if he hasn't told me until now he has good reason not to."
"Get that wand out of my face before I rip it out of your hands," said Harry'' coolly. He couldn't believe this Harry wouldn't believe him. "Stubborn bastard," thought Harry. Just like you, said another voice in his head.
"Rip it from my hands?" said Harry with a laugh, "You don't even have your wand on you!"
Harry'' sighed, "I guess you don't have another power I have or else you would have realized what is going to happen now."
Harry tightened the grip on his wand.
Harry'' brought out the magic within him with a twitch of his finger and Harry's wand was wrenched out from his hands.
"What the!" exclaimed Harry.
Harry'' smirked as he caught the wand. His smirk turned into a frown when he looked at the wand closely.
"Another thing different in this world," he murmured.
"How the hell did you do that!" demanded Harry walking towards his counterpart furiously.
Harry'' just raised his hand and Harry found he couldn't move. He was literally stuck where he was. Harry'' then turned his palm upwards and Harry floated up and began to move towards his younger counterpart.
"W-what are you doing!" said Harry, panic creeping into his voice.
"Ssshhh," said Harry'' softly, "We don't want to be waking the entire house now do we?"
"How are you doing this!" said Harry again, trying to force some confidence into his voice.
"This is something I learned I was capable of when I was four... moving things with a wave of my hand that is."
Harry'' moved closer to Harry who was still afloat and was looking at Harry with a little fear in his eyes.
"You know, I was very curious to meet you at one point but now I'm just plain disappointed."
"Glad to hear that," spat Harry, anger and helplessness bubbling inside him.
"You're nothing compared to me," he continued, ignoring the interruption. "You don't have any elemental ability, nor do you have this ability and your wand is nothing special as compared to mine."
Harry'' sighed and let Harry down and threw his wand back at him which Harry caught deftly.
"Maybe someday you'll realize that Dumbledore is not always right and you'll learn to think for yourself and not let that old man think for you," he said and turned back to head to his room.
"Stop," said Harry.
"What is it?" asked Harry'' shortly.
"Why do you hate Professor Dumbledore so much? I agree that leaving us with the Dursley's wasn't the best of his decisions, but he didn't have a choice. They were the only family we had left. I don't know why he hasn't told me about having more vaults but maybe he was waiting to tell that to me when I came of age."
Harry'' laughed. "Stop defending him. I don't hate him, I just dislike him and dislike the fact that he keeps trying to poke his nose where it doesn't belong. Have you ever seen him do the same with any other student apart from you? Are you telling me that they aren't any other students in the school who need protection from Voldemort?"
The expression on Harry's face said it all.
"I thought so. And do you really want to know the reason why Dumbledore hasn't told you about the vaults?
It's because Mum and Dad's will is there in them along with a number of old and rare books and a number of rare magical artifacts."
Harry's mouth dropped open. "Mum and Dad's will?" he whispered.
"That's right," said Harry'', "A will which clearly states that our parents wanted us to live with a good family. And the Dursley's cannot be classified as a good family can they?"
Harry couldn't take it anymore. He collapsed on the couch staring into the darkness surrounding them.
"Do you realize now?" said Harry'', "That you're nothing more than a chess piece to Dumbledore. And Dumbledore is the player. One side Dumbledore and the other side Voldemort."
"But then this is what the Dumbledore in my world is like. Maybe yours is not so bad but I doubt it."
"You could be right but you could also be wrong," said Harry. "Judging by the major differences between us, maybe there are a lot of differences in the world too."
Harry'' snorted. "Somehow I think the differences are only limited to you and me. Everything else seems the same to me. Weasley is still a moron, Granger is still a bookworm and a pain in the butt, even Dumbledore seems the same to me but there is only one way to find out."
Harry frowned at the description of his friends.
"And what way is that?"
"Ask the goblins or ask Dumbledore himself," said Harry'' simply.
.
.
"Let's just forget about the vaults for the moment shall we. I have a few questions of my own for you," said Harry.
Harry'' was taken aback, he wasn't expecting that at all.
"Questions?" asked Harry''.
"Yes questions."
"Like what?"
"Like why you referred to my wand as nothing special."
"That's because it's not the same as mine," said Harry'' easily.
"And yours is?"
"Absolutely."
"Why is that?"
Harry'' sighed, "Why don't you see for yourself?" he said and summoned his wand.
Harry looked at the wand and then back at Harry''. "It's beautiful," murmured Harry looking at the wand. "Mind if I hold it?"
"You can try," said Harry'' with a grin.
Harry tried to hold the wand but it simply vanished and appeared in Harry's'' left hand.
Harry blinked. "Okay, what was that?"
"Nobody can touch my wand except for me," said Harry''. "Making a long story short, this wand is as old as magic and it will work for no one except one who is more powerful than its owner."
Harry paused for an effect.
"It recognized me as its new owner when I placed my hands on it."
Harry looked at his younger self skeptically. "As old as magic?"
"That's just an expression for how old it is."
"And how do you know it is that old?"
"Because Ollivander told me."
"Mine doesn't compare to the history of your wand but it's special too," murmured Harry, trailing his fingers down the length of his own wand.
Harry'' raised an eyebrow.
"It is the brother wand to Voldemort's wand. Holly and phoenix feather, eleven and a half inches. Brother to the wand that gave us that scar."
"Holly and phoenix feather? Eleven and a half inches?" repeated Harry''.
"Yeah."
"Bloody hell! Lillian has the same wand!"
It was Harry's turn to raise an eyebrow. "The same as mine?"
"Yeah, I remember Ollivander telling her that it was the wand that gave me this scar."
Harry groaned, "Your world is just screwed up!"
"I'd say it's this one that's so screwed up," replied Harry'' with a grin.
They relapsed into silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.
"There's one thing I'd like to talk to you about though," said Harry suddenly.
"What is that?"
Harry hesitated wondering if he should tell him.
"Your apparent obsession with power," said Harry finally.
Harry'' narrowed his eyes, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"When you disarmed me and had me literally at your mercy you said some things."
Harry'' tensed.
"Maybe they were true, but the way you said it and the glint in your eye when you said it reminded me of someone I don't need reminding off."
Harry'' had a sense of déjà vu'. A conversation he had with Dumbledore flashed to the front of his mind.
"You reminded me of Tom Riddle when I faced him in our second year."
"I. Am. Nothing like him," ground out Harry'' clenching his teeth.
"I didn't say you were, but you should realize that power isn't everything. The more power you have the more liable you are to loose yourself to darkness," said Harry. "That's what made Tom Riddle become Lord Voldemort... I think."
"And you're saying being powerful is not worth it?"
"No, that's not what I'm saying. All I'm saying is there are things more important than being all powerful. Like friendship," he said.
"You sound like the old man," said Harry'' grumpily. "And here I was hoping to be rid of his wise words."
Harry laughed. "I'm serious," he said. "Back there you could have just disarmed me and told me what you think about Dumbledore but instead you held me in place and decided to belittle me and prove yourself to be more powerful."
"You started it," said Harry''. "You're the one who pointed the wand at me."
Harry's cheeks turned red, "Yeah, well, I have a problem keeping my temper in check," he said.
"Typical Gryffindor," muttered Harry''. "Practically wear their emotions on their sleeves."
Harry chose to ignore that comment.
"Look at the time," said Harry''. "It's almost four and you have a trial at ten."
Harry groaned.
"It's alright," said Harry'' sympathetically, "If you do get expelled you can live here and help Kreacher with the house work."
"Yeah, that makes me feel sooo much better!" said Harry sarcastically.
"Get some sleep Harry, you'll need to stay awake at the trial," he said and walked towards the stairs.
Harry'' stopped near the bottom of the stair and turned back. "Good luck," he said and walked out of sight.
Harry looked at the fire place with a weird look on his face. "Did I just give a pep talk to myself?" he wondered.
Shaking his head he walked back to his own room, the sound of Ron's snores guiding him in the dark.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Original World
Lucius Malfoy walked with angry strides through the forests of Albania.
He was tired, had been attacked by a huge snake which he decapitated, had fallen into a bush which made him itchy all over and his hair had a number of twigs and leaves sticking out of it but he didn't stop.
He was on a mission and he was not going to leave until he found what he was looking for.
He went on and on until suddenly he realized that he could no longer hear the voices of the animals and birds that he had been hearing all along. It had become unnaturally silent and the place he found himself in reeked of death.
Lucius knew he was close. Gathering up his courage, he moved ahead. It steadily darker as he went deeper into the forest and he kept finding the bones of various animals scattered around. It was freaky.
He carefully avoided stepping on the bones of the dead creatures as he ventured further in. Suddenly he heard a slithering noise beside him and before he could when lift his wand a huge snake wrapped itself around him up till his neck and began crushing the life out of him.
"Leave him Nagini," came a hissing voice from behind him and he knew at that instant he had not found Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort had found him.
The snake uncoiled itself leaving Lucius gasping for breath. Lucius turned around slowly and his eyes widened in shock.
"Forgetting your manners Lucius?"
Lucius immediately dropped to his knees. "Forgive me My Lord," he said quickly, hiding the disgust he felt at the creature in front of him.
"I disgust you Lucius?"
"No My Lord! I just...," he said but his voice died out seeing the red eyes of his master.
"Does this form of mine disgusts you Lucius?"
"N-no."
"Do not lie to me Lucius, for it disgusts me too."
"My Lord, I have come to help you rise again," he said bowing his head.
"Help me rise again..." said Voldemort mockingly. "How long have I waited for one of my faithful followers to come and find me but none came. So tell me Lucius, why are you here now when you could have come here 12 years ago?"
"I believed you to be dead My Lord. It was only recently that I found out that you were well and I immediately set out to find my Lord and prove that my loyalty hasn't wavered."
There was silence.
"Loyalty Lucius?" hissed Voldemort dangerously.
"Wormtail!"
A small balding fat man came shuffling out from behind a tree. His eyes darted to Voldemort and Lucius fearfully.
"Y-you called M-m-my Lord?"
"Lucius says he's loyal Wormtail," hissed the Dark Lord. "Loosen his tongue and let us hear the real reason why he is here."
"Crucio!" shouted Wormtail, his eyes glinting maliciously.
Lucius's screams filled the air.
"Stop," said Voldemort after a few seconds.
"Now Lucius, the real reason why you set out to find me."
"T-to be in your good graces when you come back to power my Lord," gasped Lucius.
"You abandoned me Lucius and Lord Voldemort does not forget nor forgive mistakes so easily. Wormtail here has already received his share of punishment haven't you Wormtail?"
Wormtail just shuddered and scurried back behind a tree.
"But you did come back to me Lucius and you shall be rewarded fittingly. And I am glad you have come for now I can put my plans into action much faster."
"I await your commands my Lord," replied Lucius keeping his eyes glued to the ground.
"Good," hissed Voldemort, a pleased expression on his mutilated face.
.
.
.
"Very Good."