CHAPTER 1
Harry felt as though he was floating through water. A deep sense of peace overcame him as he sunk through the veil. Sirius had just been about to fall through the veil, Harry couldn't help but feel slightly guilty that he had taken the seemingly never ending calm from his godfather.
As if something had sensed his guilt he felt a rough tug at his lungs, as if he had no air left to breathe.
Harry jolted awake, his eyes snapping open and his mouth filling with the taste of salt water. He suddenly realised that he was underwater and frantically tried to swim to the surface.
He looked up and saw the surface of the water, bright sunlight shone through the surface giving Harry enough light to see somewhat properly. He kicked his feet hard propelling himself upwards but he realised with a deep sinking feeling that the surface was too far away.
Harry began to kick wildly, he needed to get out of the water, he had to.
All of a sudden a hand cut through the surface and reached for Harry, it grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up and out of the water. "Haven't you ever been near the lake before?" His saviour spoke. "Can you not see how the ground drops off and the water becomes deeper?" The stranger dragged Harry onto the sandy bank and paused to watch as Harry coughed up a large amount of water.
Harry was surprised to find his glasses were still on and removed them to rub at his irritated eyes.
"I've never seen you before." The stranger said slowly, confusion seeping into his voice. "Who are you?"
Harry stood up carefully, put his glasses back on and faced the other person. It was a boy, probably around the same age as himself, slightly taller and– Harry's eyes widened in alarm. A teenage Tom Riddle stood in front of him. Harry froze in fear. What was happening?!
"Answer me." Tom Riddle demanded. Harry stared in bewilderment at the boy.
A wave of dizziness took over him and he fell to the floor unconscious.
Harry woke to the sound of hushed voices.
"..and he was just under the water, you didn't see him fall in, Tom?" "No sir, I didn't see him fall in."
Harry peeled his eyes open slowly and was surprised to find himself in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing. He frowned in confusion. "Wha-?" "Thank Merlin you're awake. Gave us quite the scare, almost had yourself a case of dry drowning but Madam Moriens managed to fix you up."
Disoriented, Harry reached over to the bedside table, snatching up his glasses and shoving them onto his face. There were two people in the room, not including himself. An old man with grey hair reaching to his shoulders was standing at the end of Harry's bed. The other individual stood beside the man, watching silently. Harry went rigid, staring at the other boy.
The old man, who hadn't seemed to notice Harry's horror, spoke again. "I've been hoping you can explain this.. situation, Mr..?" Harry searched wildly for a name. He was not declaring who he was with Tom Riddle standing across from him. "E-Evans." Harry fumbled over the word, not used to addressing himself with his mothers name. "Harry Evans."
"Well then Mr Evans, I am Professor Dippet. Are you aware of where you are right now?" "Uhm, Hogwarts?" Professor Dippet nodded encouragingly. "Quite right, quite right. Are you able to tell me how you came to be here at Hogwarts?" Harry paused, thinking back to the last thing he remembered before waking up under water. Sirius..the veil.. The Department of Mysteries.. "I don't remember." Harry said slowly.
Professor Dippet opened his mouth to say something but at that exact moment The Hospital Wing doors swung open. "Albus!" Professor Dippet smiled as a ginger haired Albus Dumbledore strode into the room. "Armando." Dumbledore greeted the other man. "I just now received your message, what exactly happened?" "Mr Riddle found the boy in the lake. He woke up just now, he can't remember how he got on the grounds but he says his name is Harry Evans." Dumbledore turned towards Riddle. "This is all true?" "Yes sir." Tom smiled politely.
"Where are you from, Mr Evans?" Dumbledore inquired. "I don't know." Harry stated quietly. Harry had come to the assumption that he had somehow travelled back in time and distinctly recalled Hermione jabbering on about all the rules of time travel. He was not going to risk screwing up the future more than he already had by just existing there.
"Do you remember anything about your family? Parents?" Dumbledore asked. "They're dead." Harry answered. Dumbledore watched him sadly. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Albus? A word?" Dumbledore followed Professor Dippet to the entrance of The Hospital Wing before they began conversing in low voices. Harry caught snippets of the conversation. The name 'Grindelwald' seemed to come up a fair amount of times.
Harry turned his head to face Tom Riddle, who was still watching him carefully. "You're a terrible liar." Riddle stated. "I didn't lie." Harry spat. Tom Riddle smirked at him, his hands curling around the metal rail at the end of the bed.
"Very well." Professor Dippet said rather loudly and Riddle took a step away from the bed, plastering another fake, polite smile across his face. Dumbledore and Professor Dippet both returned to the end of Harry's bed.
"There is no family we can contact about you at all?" Dippet asked. Harry shook his head. Professor Dippet raised an eyebrow at Dumbledore. "As there is no where you can go, for the time being I am allowing you to remain at Hogwarts." Professor Dippet stated. Relief flooded through Harry, he couldn't imagine being tossed out and having to find his way back to his own time while in London.
"Thank you."
"The sorting hat has sorted thousands of children for over hundreds of years. The three main houses are Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin." Harry nodded along, watching as Professor Dippet plucked the sorting hat off from a high shelf and handed it to him.
"When you're ready."
Harry awkwardly placed the hat on top of his head. It didn't slide down past his eyes like it had in his first year and he was forced to look uncomfortably around the office, waiting for the hat to speak.
My, my..what do we have here? I've sorted you before? Or I will in the future at least.. Said a small voice inside his head. Hmm. You would do perfectly in Slytherin..I don't understand..why did I not put you there before..?
Harry remained silent, dreading the moment the hat would surely say Slytherin. He'd have to live with Voldemort! Temporarily of course but even still..
Mmm.. definitely a Slytherin. Nothing to be ashamed of; you will do great things in Slytherin. Yes, I'm sure of it.
If you must. Harry thought to the hat bitterly.
I do. Harry could almost hear the smile on the hat's.. face? Fabric? Whatever it was..
"SLYTHERIN!"