Everything was dark...

Why was everything dark again?

Slowing pulling himself to his feet, Harry looked around what appeared to be the cockpit of an old train, nothing but white visible through the windows.

Frowning as he glanced around, Harry patted himself down to make sure he was all in one piece, a flash of fear filling him as he realised he couldn't find his wand. Fighting the urge to panic, he crossed the cockpit and threw open the door, faltering as he stared down the corridors of the Hogwarts' Express.

That's right… he was on the Hogwarts' Express, the school year was just beginning… but what was going on? Why wasn't he in his compartment with Ron and Hermione? Straining to remember what had happened, Harry bit his bottom lip nervously as he realised he couldn't recall anything past explaining to them that Sirius Black was after him.

Glancing over his shoulder at the cockpit, Harry shook his head and started down the corridor, peering into all of the empty compartments until finding one occupied by something that made him jerk back in horror.

As the black-cloaked wraith inside turned towards the door, Harry's instincts took over and he took off, running further down the corridor as he heard the door being thrown open behind him. Glancing back, Harry almost tripped as he saw the wraith floating after him, a familiar rattling inhale chasing him. Focusing his mind on putting one foot in front of the other, Harry sped up, sprinting down the corridors.

Horror filled him suddenly as he saw the closed door a couple of coaches ahead of him, recognising it as the luggage compartments. Barely having time to slow down, Harry slammed into the door and started pulling and tearing at it, trying to open the locked door as the wraith got closer.

Looking back, dread filled him and he launched himself off the door and down the corridor, pulling the door between the coaches shut and slamming the locks closed just as the wraith hit it.

Backing away from it quickly, a panting Harry returned his attention to the other locked door, throwing himself at it and trying to get it open before the wraith managed to break down the door. Stepping back and hurling himself at it, slamming his body weight into the door, Harry cursed himself for somehow losing his wand right when he needed it. Pulling himself away and charging the door again, he was rewarded with a loud cracking noise coming from the door, making him step back only to freeze as something slammed into the door from the other side.

The sound of shattering glass from behind him, made Harry dart forward, charging the door one final time as the wraith began to force itself into the coach through the broken window.

As he hit the door, he felt it giving way beneath his body, light burning into him and making him gasp as he was forced to clamp his eyes shut. Shock jarring his body as he and the door hit the ground, Harry scrambled forward, throwing his eyes open and trying to see through the blinding whiteness and the blood stains surrounding him.

Freezing at the sight of the blood, Harry stared down at the dried puddle mere inches from his hand for a moment before the wraith's rattling breathing made him spin around to see the black-cloaked creature hovering just out of the surrounding light's reach within the dark train. As the wraith edged closer, Harry backed away even further, turning and making a run for it as he realised it couldn't enter the light.

With his eyes finally adjusted, Harry looked around the white and froze in shock, his mouth falling over as he realised that he was standing in a blood-covered white King's Cross station.

"HARRY!"

Whipping around, Harry stared into the whiteness, eyes wide as he searched for the person who had screamed his name.

"HARRY! RUN!"

Run? Run from what? The wraith couldn't step into the light, and he couldn't see anything else in the white. The only things here where the train, the wraith, Harry, and the brown-haired teenager sprinting around the corner and making a beeline straight for him. Stumbling back as the teenager shot towards him, Harry felt the blood draining from his face at the sight of the tall pale snake-like man that stepped around a column behind him.

"HARRY! YOU'RE NOT RUNNING YET!" the brunet teen screamed, waving his arms wildly as a blade of blue energy sprung from the tip of the snake-man's finger. "MOVE!" the teenager yelled as he twisted around mid-step, deflecting the blue energy with a shield of rippling air, completing the spin and continuing to run towards him.

"No time to explain!" the teen gasped out as he reached Harry, latching onto his arm and pulling him along with him, "Just run!"

Left with no other choice than to follow the brunet, the snake-man still casting spell after spell at them wandlessly, Harry balked as he realised the boy was leading him back towards the train where the wraith was lying in wait. As both of them slid to a stop at the end of the train, the boy squinted into the black before a smirk crossed his face, Harry's mouth snapping closed at the dark look.

"Come on princess," the brunet hissed, looking between the train's interior and the approaching snake-man. "Come and get us. Three souls for the price of one, you can't resist that kind of bargain can you?"

"What? Three souls?" Harry blurted, tugging at his arm in an effort to free it, "And it can't come out, it's stuck in there".

"Oh, I assure you Harry," the teenager muttered, his eyes not moving from the darkness, "That dementors are more than capable of leaving the train, and it's just waiting for us to return".

Before Harry could respond, the brunet's grip was tightening, and as he cried out in pain he was thrown to the floor as the teen dove the other way in time for the wraith to explode out from inside the train to swarm towards the snake-man.

"GO!"

Not hesitating to obey as he was grabbed and shoved towards the train, Harry scrambled back aboard it, wishing that they could find somewhere safe so that the teen could explain what was going on. Allowing himself to be pulled down the train, the teenager waving his hand at each door they went through causing them to slam shut and lock each time, Harry only sped up as he was pushed ahead of him.

"All the way down," the teenager ordered, "Back to the cockpit".

Nodding to himself, Harry sprinted down the corridor, hearing the brunet's shuddering breaths between the sound of the doors slamming shut and locking.

As he reached the cockpit, the teenager entering mere seconds later and locking the door as well, Harry collapsed against the driver's seat and stared at the handsome teen who kept waving his hands at the door and muttering to himself. The boy looked… well like shit. He was sickly pale, with dark rings around his eyes, his simple jeans and shirt were torn to shreds, and what skin Harry could see through them was even skinnier and starved than he was. The boy looked like he hadn't had a good night's sleep in ever, and hadn't eaten in even longer. It made Harry wonder how long he'd been trapped in whatever this place was.

"That should hold it… for a while at least," the boy forced out, staggering over to a wall and collapsing against it, sliding down to the ground. "We won't have long though," he warned, glancing up at Harry with dead dark eyes, "You need to wake now, Harry, it's the only way we can get out of this alive".

"What… what was that?" Harry demanded, not wanting to go any further without knowing more, "And where are we?"

"That? That was Lord Voldemort," the teenager admitted bluntly, not noticing that Harry's jaw had fallen open as he continued with, "And this is your mind… your core. The dementor brought you in here to devour your soul, and the two others dwelling inside your body".

"Lor- Lord Voldemort? Two other souls? In my mind? And the dementor wants to eat us?" Harry stuttered out, part of him wanting to just burst out into laughter and then wake up to find he'd fallen asleep on the Hogwarts' Express. "You… what are you doing in my body?" he demanded as his mind pieced together what the teenager had said, "And Voldemort? How is he?"

Unable to stop himself, Harry staggered to the side and threw up, bile burning at his mouth as a hand rested on his back and rubbed it soothingly. "Get away from me," he rasped out, not moving from where he had fallen to his hands and knees, "Don't touch me".

"Harry…" the teenager began hesitantly, staring into his eyes as if he were searching for something. "You don't remember me, do you? No… how could you? The last I remember you were only fifteen months, and now… you look too old".

"How am I supposed to remember you?" Harry choked out, shoving the teenager away and rolling onto his side, away from the vomit as he glared at the brown-haired boy. "Who are you?"

"I- I don't have a name," the teenager admitted slowly, a pained expression on his face as he looked away from Harry. "You never got the chance to name me, before Voldemort appeared and trapped me in here".

"What do you mean?" Harry demanded angrily, "That Voldemort trapped you in here? He's dead!"

"Not all of him is, obviously," the teen spat at him, glaring darkly before returning his attention to the door. "That was a shard of Voldemort's soul, only a small piece perhaps, but I was too young to be able to fight him off properly when the main host of Voldemort's soul was killed. It was all I could do to trap the shard that entered you in my section of your body, trapping us both in here, locked in ceaseless battle for twelve long years without anyway of overpowering him".

"You didn't answer my question," Harry whispered, trying to get past the fact that he had had two extra souls locked in his body for twelve years. "Who are you?"

"And I said you never named me," the teenager countered, "I'm your Shadow? The spirit bound to you on your first birthday, as per the Potter Family tradition?" he explained slowly, "If Voldemort hadn't attacked and tried to kill us, then we'd have grown together, as brothers. You'd have named me once you were old enough to understand what it meant, and I would have protected us until we died".

"Why now? Why are you here now?" Harry asked weakly, some part of him just knowing that the other teenager wasn't lying to him.

"I've always been here Harry," the brunet corrected softly, "But I couldn't do anything, not without giving the shard of Voldemort's soul the chance he needed to overpower, and thus you".

"But why now?" Harry pressed.

"The dementor. One of the only ways to kill me," the teenager admitted, "I'm the shadow of your soul, Harry. And dementors feed on souls, souls like the shard of Voldemort's soul out there, and souls like you and me. The dementor brought you here to hunt you down and devour your soul," he explained, reaching out to place his hand over Harry's heart. "The dementor's Kiss however also affected both Voldemort and I, freeing us both from the prison I trapped us in. That is why I made you wait by the train, I was hoping the dementor could eat that shard of Voldemort, and I was right, it did. But now Harry, now we need to escape before it can get to us too," he pressed, grasping his arms and squeezing them gently.

"How?" was all Harry asked, somehow knowing he'd have the chance to ask more questions later.

"Wake up," his 'Shadow' instructed, "Harry. You need to wake up, and fight the dementor off in the real world. Here you can't fight it, and I'm not strong enough to take control yet. Out there, you have a chance".

"I can't fight it," Harry denied as something slammed into the door, both of their heads whipping around to stare at the wraith - the dementor - through the window. "I can't fight it," he repeated fearfully.

"Harry! You have to fight it," the brunet teenager repeated, "If you make me do it, we could die. I haven't feed in almost eleven and a half years, Harry, I'm not strong enough".

"I can't," Harry whispered, remembering the dementor's aura with a start as it began to seep through the door, his Shadow getting paler as it affected him as well. "I can't. I can't do it. I can't".

"Harry! Wake up!"

Staring at the other teenager, Harry just shook his head, the window shattering as his Shadow's face fell and went blank. The boy moved suddenly, revealing the dementor behind him as it clawed itself through the window and into the cockpit.

"Hold on tight Harry," his Shadow's voice whispered in his ear, making him turn to see the brunet boy settling into the driver's seat, "It's going to be a bumpy ride".

The dementor's hand reached out, freezing inches from his face as the white coming in from the windows started shining twice as bright as it were before. Looking up at his Shadow again, Harry caught sight of the boy's wicked smirk as everything went pure white and he knew no more.

The Game

Based off DZ2's Part of Me challenge.

Okay, so this is only loosely based off this challenge, but as my muse came up with the idea I couldn't part with the little brain-nugget and instead found myself nurturing it until what had started out as a passing thought turned into this.

I don't own Harry Potter.