Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form (sobs hysterically)

Note: This chapter has been edited on February 7, 2009. This story is post HBP.

Chapter One

Harry James Potter woke up in an unfamiliar bed. Expecting to be in his best friend’s room at the Burrow, he was surprised to find himself in a softer bed than usual.

Rubbing his eyes, Harry looked around. The large room looked…expensive. There were wizarding books on a shelf next to what he assumed was a closet. All the furniture looked brand new, or at least well kept. Upon examining the bed frame, he even saw red jewels encrusted on the headboard. The Weasleys could never afford to even rent such things, so Harry knew this wasn’t some kind of strange joke the twins came up with.

Harry wondered briefly if he had been kidnapped by Death Eaters, but surely no Death Eater would bring him to a comfortable place—more likely a cold, dark dungeon. Harry remembered Moody’s old saying, “Constant vigilance!” and reached for his pocket for his wand, only to find that it wasn’t there. Panicking, Harry looked around the room to find his wand. He spotted it on the bedside table next to him and, grabbing it quickly, jumped out of the bed and approached the door to leave.

Harry slowly opened the door, hoping it didn’t creak. Relieved that there was silence, Harry tiptoed out of the room and quietly closed the door.

Harry’s relief didn’t last very long. There was a loud CRACK and a house-elf appeared behind him.

“Master Harry!” it shrieked. Harry spun and directed his wand at the tiny creature, who cowered in fear.

“Pucky is sorry, Master Harry!” the house-elf wailed. “Pucky did not mean to scare Master, sir, I is only wanting to wake Master Harry for dinner! Please do not hurt Pucky again, sir! Pucky is sorry!”

“Again?” said Harry, confused. He lowered his wand slightly. “Who are you and how do you know my name?”

“You is Master Harry! Pucky works for the Potters! Is Master Harry forgetting?” Pucky asked timidly.

“The Potters? What are you talking about?” demanded Harry, getting more and more confused by the minute.

“Harry James Potter! Put down that wand this instant!” said a loud voice.

Harry turned around to see a red-haired woman approaching him angrily. The woman had green eyes…it couldn’t be…

“How many times have I told you to leave the poor house-elves alone?” the woman reproached him. She turned and said kindly to Pucky, “That will be all, Pucky.”

Pucky nodded and disappeared with a loud crack.

“Now Harry, I know you don’t like to listen, but can you please leave the poor creature alone?” asked the woman.

Harry just stared at her.

“Who are you?” he whispered.

“Don’t be so dramatic. I will take away your broom again young man, and I’ll put it in a place you can’t find!” she said, crossing her arms.

Harry got angry.

“Who are you? What do you want with me?” Harry yelled, pointing his wand at the woman.

She looked shocked.

“Harry, stop joking. Put your wand down,” she said, starting to sound worried. “Are you feeling okay? You’ve been sleeping all day; it’s seven in the evening.”

Harry said, “Stop it! You won’t trick me, you’re not her! Stupefy!”

The woman gasped and quickly dodged the curse, pulling out her own wand.

“Expelliarmus!” she shouted, but Harry shouted, “Protego!” and grasped his wand tightly.

“Harry, what is wrong with you?” the woman demanded, sounding fearful.

“SHUT UP!” Harry roared, his eyes blazing with hatred. How dare this person impersonate his mother? This was obviously a Death Eater trick.

“Expelliarmus!” yelled a voice Harry wasn’t expecting. He turned just in time to see a spell hurtling at him, but didn’t have the time to stop it. Harry’s wand flew out of his hand and into the man’s. This man had messy black hair and looked a lot like someone else Harry knew of…

“What’s going on here?” the man said furiously, aiming his wand at Harry.

“Stop pretending, both of you! You’re not my parents!” Harry snarled.

“What are you talking about? Of course we’re your parents.”

“STOP IT!” Harry roared. He started to lunge at his father’s impersonator, who automatically yelled, “Stupefy!” Harry’s world immediately went black.

Harry woke up on a couch in a living. He remembered vaguely what had happened, but was confused as to where he was and why he wasn’t in a dungeon. If these were Death Eaters, why weren’t they torturing him?

Lily sat on a couch across from the couch Harry was on, extremely worried about her son. James was furious, pacing back and forth in front of the couches. When they heard Harry groan, they both turned to him.

“What on earth were you thinking?” James shouted immediately. “Why would you attack your mother like that?”

Harry didn’t respond. He didn’t have a wand and yelling wouldn’t get anything accomplished. It was too hard to see his dead parents right in front of him.

It’s not them, Harry reminded himself. Death Eaters must have used Polyjuice Potion or something.

But you need something of the person you change into, and they’re dead, Harry countered himself.

“Answer me!” James yelled. “I won’t let you keep hurting everyone in this family! What is your problem? We’ve done nothing to you, and yet you keep pushing us all away!”

“Yelling isn’t going to help,” said Lily quietly. She was very upset with the whole situation. Her Harry, her baby boy had attacked her…he certainly wasn’t a baby boy any longer.

“Hey,” said Harry, irritated. “Get on with it. If you want to kill me, then kill me. Crucio me. I don’t care. I don’t know what you want but I won’t give it to you.”

Lily gasped.

“We’re not going to hurt you, Harry!” she said, rushing over to him. “Why would you think that?”

“Just take me to him,” said Harry, looking up.

“Take you to who?” Lily asked, confused.

“Your pathetic master, Voldemort,” Harry snapped.

Lily gasped again and James demanded, “What do you mean by that?”

“I’m not stupid. You can’t trick me. You’re Death Eaters in disguise. Your little plan was stupid,” said Harry. He was trying hard to keep his emotions under control. He couldn’t get too angry and do something he would regret. He needed to think. People die when I react without thinking, he couldn’t help reminding himself.

“Oh honey, you must have had a nightmare!” Lily cried, throwing her arms around Harry, who was too stunned to push her away.

“Why would you think we’re Death Eaters?” asked James, now confused as well.

“You know bloody well why! Your master killed my parents, so stop acting innocent!” Harry spat, pushing Lily off him.

“We’re not dead, baby!” Lily cried. “We’re right here in front of you.”

“It’s us,” said James, who seemed torn between believing Harry and yelling some more. “See, watch.”

James transformed into a stag right there in the living room. Harry gaped at him. It couldn’t be—you couldn’t impersonate animagus forms. That would mean it had to be his father…

“You see?” said James when he had transformed back into a human. “It’s me.”

For about ten seconds Harry just stared at his parents in wonder and fear. Soon Harry couldn’t control his emotions any longer. He jumped up and ran to the side of the room. James started to grab his wand when he realized Harry wasn’t attacking anyone. Lily looked shocked but quickly walked toward her son.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “We won’t hurt you.”

“I…I need to think,” Harry said. Unable to comprehend the fact that his parents were alive, he ran back upstairs to find “his” room.

*

“What do you think made him act like that?” Lily asked James later when Harry had gone to sleep. Lily checked on him to make sure he hadn’t run away. She couldn’t understand why her usually angry son had suddenly acted so unsure of himself.

“I don’t know,” James admitted, watching his wife pace nervously around the kitchen. He twirled his spoon in his teacup as he sat at the kitchen table, also trying to figure out what was happening.

“He really thought we were Death Eaters,” James continued. “He must have had a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?” Lily scoffed. “When was the last time Harry ever complained about a nightmare? Maybe he had a hallucination of some sort…”

“A hallucination? You think Harry is crazy?”

“Of course not,” Lily snapped. “You and I both know Harry’s been…well, he’s not exactly a stranger to firewhiskey. I knew I should have talked to him about that before it got out of control. Maybe he was just drunk.”

“You have talked to him. Several times, if I remember. Talking won’t get you anywhere; he’s as stubborn as me sometimes,” James said. “Maybe now that his mind’s been affected by the drinking, he’ll stop.”

“So we just sit around and do nothing?” Lily cried. “He’s our son, James! No matter what he does, no matter what his attitude is, he’s still our son. We have to help him! I refuse to sit around and let him do this to himself anymore. This isn’t just a phase, James--you’ve been saying it for years but he’s just grown more and more cruel towards everyone. We have to help him!”

James sat in shame, understanding his wife’s indignation.

“We’ll talk to him tomorrow,” he said resignedly. “First thing in the morning.”

“Should we bring Alicia down too?” Lily asked.

“Probably,” said James with a sigh. “I’m amazed Alicia slept through it all. Harry needs to know we all love him…even if Alicia will only say so reluctantly.”

*

Harry woke the next morning, confused. After a few seconds he remembered where he was.

How on earth did I get here? Harry wondered. He had seen pictures of himself and his parents around the living room the previous night and realized that this wasn’t even normal for wizards. Ron had never mentioned waking up with a completely different life. There was also a girl in the pictures that Harry didn’t recognize, but from some of the pictures Harry could tell she was his sister.

Harry, thoroughly frustrated, decided to just go along with everything for a while. Maybe if he stayed quiet he would learn more about the situation; he had to blend in. His previous actions had already made his parents suspicious. He needed to be more subtle. His “parents” thought he was different—didn’t his mother tell him to leave the house elf alone? Did he usually hurt them?

Maybe Dumbledore is “alive” here too, Harry thought. If so, Harry could talk to him and figure out what was happening…if he wasn’t being impersonated that is.

Feeling a bit hungry, Harry got dressed and started to go downstairs before he realized he didn’t know where the kitchen was. This house—or manor, rather—was pretty confusing. It had taken him ten minutes to find his room last night. Harry decided to try and find the kitchen himself instead of waiting for someone to get him; he could discover other rooms along the way.

Harry found the kitchen ten minutes later; he passed a bathroom, the dining room, the basement, a library, and two empty bedrooms. Lily, James, and the girl from the pictures were already sitting at the table.

“Harry!” said Lily in surprise when she noticed him. “You’re up early, sweetheart.”

James and the girl stared at her as though she had grown another head. Since when did she call Harry anything but “that ungrateful little devil”?

“Morning mum,” said Harry quietly, surprising everyone. He had started calling his parents by their first names months ago.

Lily smiled, trying to hold back tears. “Why don’t you come sit down? We want to have a little talk.”

Harry nodded and walked over to the table. He sat next to the girl, who visibly flinched when he approached her.

“We’re a little concerned about your behavior last night,” said James, staring at Harry. “We want to know why it happened.”

Harry swallowed but tried to remain calm; he had figured they would ask him this.

“It was just a nightmare,” he lied easily. “I had a nightmare while I was sleeping.”

“Oh, as opposed to the nightmares you have when you’re awake?” the girl snapped.

James gave the girl a look and looked at his wife, who ignored him and said kindly to Harry, “You don’t usually have nightmares.”

I wish, Harry thought, but said, “I know. It was weird.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t something else?” asked Lily timidly.

Harry wondered what else could explain his behavior. Side effects of a potion, maybe, but he—or should he say his other self—hadn’t taken any potions last night, had he? Maybe that explained how Harry had gotten there. The Imperious curse could make people violent, but that would be a bad excuse—there was no one to curse him.

“I don’t think it was anything else,” said Harry with a shrug.

His parents glanced at each other but the girl suddenly blurted out, “Why are you being so nice?”

Harry looked at her, startled. He took this time to study her. She had black hair and green eyes like he did, only her hair wasn’t as unruly.

“I don’t know,” Harry said, wondering if that would count as an actual answer.

The girl stared at him. “You’re not mad at me for talking to you? Or snapping at you a few seconds ago?”

“Why would I be mad?” asked Harry, bewildered. Surely the Harry they thought he was wasn’t that mean.

“You always tell me not to talk to you or you’ll hex me,” said the girl, raising her eyebrows at him.

Harry was shocked, but noticed the girl didn’t actually seem that afraid of him. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I won’t say that anymore.”

James’ frown was etched onto his face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” said Harry unconvincingly. “Can I have my wand back?”

His parents looked at each other again before James answered, “We don’t think…it might not be the best idea for you to get your wand back yet. You’ll get it back next week when you go back to Hogwarts.”

“Hogwarts?” echoed Harry, confused. They weren’t going to keep him there? They were actually going to let him go to Hogwarts? This seemed less and less like a Death Eater plan every minute.

“Yes, Hogwarts,” said Lily, sounding scared. “Your school, honey, remember?”

“I remember,” said Harry quickly. “I just…what…I forgot the date. What’s today?”

“It’s the last week of August,” Lily said quietly.

“Oh.” Harry paused to consider this. He wondered how he should phrase his next question. “Er…how is…what’s happening with Dumbledore?”

James looked surprised. “He’s still at the school,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering,” Harry muttered. “Can I please have my wand back?”

“You can have it back next week,” James repeated. “You can’t do magic outside of school anyway. We had to write a letter to the ministry last night explaining everything already. You don’t need your wand.”

“What if I’m attacked?” Harry blurted before he could stop himself.

“You won’t be attacked,” said James, now looking just as concerned as his wife. “You’re safe here, Harry. No one’s going to hurt you.”

Harry nodded, unconvinced. He felt naked without his wand. Maybe if he could talk to Dumbledore, he could get it back.

“Can I floo Dumbledore?” Harry asked.

“Why?” Lily asked.

“I need to talk to him about…something,” said Harry, running his hand through his hair. He stopped suddenly when he noticed something--or rather, the lack of something. He rubbed his forehead. There was no scar.

“Where’s my scar?” he asked to no one in particular.

“What scar?” asked James.

“My scar…” Harry trailed off in thought. If he didn’t have a scar and his parents were alive, then maybe he wasn’t the Boy-Who-Lived here. Maybe someone else was…there had to be another Boy-Who-Lived, didn’t there?

Everything was too confusing. It was like he was in a different world or something.

Harry froze. Maybe…maybe this is another world.

“You don’t have a scar on your head,” James was saying. “Where’d you get that idea from?”

Harry snapped out of it and nodded sheepishly.

“Yeah. I guess that was part of my nightmare too,” he said, knowing he wouldn’t be believed.

“Okay, I’ve sat here for ten minutes trying to figure out what you’re all talking about, but I can’t. What happened last night?” the girl demanded.

“Just a little misunderstanding, Alicia,” said James.

Harry felt a little saddened by the girl’s name—Alicia. It reminded him of Neville Longbottom’s tortured mother, Alice.

“So Harry’s pretending to be nice now?” asked Alicia.

“I’m not pretending,” said Harry. “As long as I’m here, I’ll be nice to you.”

“What do you mean ‘as long as you’re here?’” asked Lily worriedly.

Harry wanted to smack himself at his choice of words.

“I meant until we get back to Hogwarts,” he invented. “Then I’ll leave you alone, Alicia.”

Alicia narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her brother. He was acting really strange…

“I’ll make breakfast,” said Harry quickly, getting up from the table.

“I knew it!” Alicia cried, shooting up and pointing dramatically at Harry. “He’s just pretending to be nice to lure us into a false sense of security! Then he’ll make breakfast and poison us all!”

James and Lily laughed, relieving Harry and breaking the tenseness of the room. For a second Harry had thought Alicia was serious; anything was possible here.

“I’m not that bad,” he said, walking over to the refrigerator and getting some eggs.

“Yeah, right,” countered Alicia. She now seemed fine with her brother’s sudden change in attitude. “You cooked a few years ago and nearly burned the house down.”

“I’m better now,” said Harry with a genuine smile. He was with his parents and his sister…he was finally home.

Over the next week Harry spent every moment he had with his family. He played quidditch with James (they had their very own field in the backyard); he cooked with Lily (they had a cooking marathon and ended up baking twenty cakes and pies); and he even hung out with Alicia, to her surprise. Harry watched TV with her, as Lily insisted on having muggle technology in the house, and flew around with her in the backyard. He noticed Alicia give him strange looks every once in a while, but she seemed genuinely happy to be around Harry the rest of the time.

Harry was still worried about where he was. The only thing that made sense to him was that he was in another world…an alternate universe. He’d seen science-fiction books describing other worlds where the same people could exist with completely different lives. While he wasn’t a stranger to the wizarding world he was still unfamiliar with some aspects. Maybe other universes really did exist. Harry decided to stick with that theory until he got a better one, because nothing else made sense.

On the last day before school started Lily and James gave Alicia and Harry presents. Harry received a new Firebolt from James. He’d been borrowing his father’s broom and James decided he deserved his own for his radical change in behavior. Lily shook her head (“Men and sports!”) and handed Harry a rather large wrapped gift. Harry slowly unopened it to reveal a teddy bear.

“You used to play with it when you were a baby,” said Lily hesitantly. “I found it a few days ago and thought you might like it…of course, I could always go out and buy you something else,” she added, as though afraid he’d throw the bear in her face. But to everyone’s surprise, Harry’s face turned red.

“Thanks, mum,” he said, hugging her. She smiled down at him while the rest of the family shook their heads in amusement.

Harry met Remus and Sirius later that day. The two came by to say good bye to Alicia before she left. Neither seemed too fond of Harry, nodding to him very briefly when entering the house. They both gave Alicia going-away presents, Remus a new quill and Sirius a makeup kit. Lily scowled at the idea of giving a twelve-year-old makeup. Remus, always the kind-hearted one, also gave Harry a watch with little planets instead of numbers and a letter explaining how to read it. Sirius hadn’t gotten Harry anything at all.

“Sorry, kid. Forgot,” Sirius said stiffly.

“That’s okay,” Harry replied, knowing better. Sirius obviously didn’t like him very much. Remus raised his eyebrows at this exchange but didn’t say anything. James had written him and Sirius explaining Harry’s sudden mood swing, but neither had really believed him.

Before Harry knew it, he woke to the day he was going to Hogwarts. He usually couldn’t wait to get to Hogwarts, but now he wished he could stay with his parents. Even Alicia was tolerable, for a twelve-year old sister.

Harry rubbed his eyes and walked sleepily to the kitchen. He figured he should make breakfast on his last day there. He was met with a surprise.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” everyone shouted.

Harry jumped and stared groggily at everyone. His parents, Alicia, Sirius, Remus, and Peter Pettigrew were standing in the kitchen in front of him. Harry wondered briefly why Pettigrew was there when he was tackled into a hug by his sister.

“Huh?” Harry said intelligently.

“We said happy birthday, jerk,” Alicia teased, punching him softly on the arm. “I guess you’re still half asleep.”

“It’s not my birthday,” said Harry, confused.

“Hello? It is your birthday!” said Lily, laughing, but also looking slightly worried.

“Oh, right,” Harry said with a blush. His birthday must be a different day in this world. “I thought it was tomorrow.” He turned to look at everyone again and it suddenly hit him hard: Pettigrew was there.

“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” Harry snapped at the man.

Peter jumped.

“You must be mad I didn’t get you a going away present this year,” Peter said, starting to tremble. “But bills have to be paid, and I couldn’t scrape up any extra money--”

“I don’t want anything from you,” Harry spat.

James and Lily looked worriedly at each other. Was Harry’s good streak over?

“Don’t be so rude to your uncle Peter,” Lily said quietly.

Harry looked at her and she was shocked at the intensity of his eyes. Hatred burned deep within them, a hatred no teenager should have.

“He’s not my uncle! He’ll never be my uncle, the filthy rat!” Harry shouted, completely forgetting that Pettigrew couldn’t have betrayed his parents if they were alive. But maybe something went wrong with Voldemort’s plan and Peter is still undercover! My parents might not know!

“He betrayed you!” Harry yelled, pointing at Peter. “He sold you out to Voldemort!”

Lily gasped. Harry was talking about Voldemort again. These hallucinations or nightmares, whatever they were, were getting worse.

“Peter never did any such thing, you little brat,” Sirius sneered. “Peter would never hurt his family and friends, unlike you.”

“Don’t talk to my son that way!” Lily said. She felt weak for crying so much in the past week, but now she couldn’t help herself.

“You can’t take Pettigrew’s side, Sirius!” Harry said pleadingly, now completely forgetting his being in an alternate universe theory. “You wanted to kill him, remember? You and Professor Lupin! Don’t you remember?” Harry ended on a desperate shriek.

Now it was absolutely silent as Harry backed against a wall shaking his head as though trying to clear it. Lily walked over to him in an attempt at comfort. Alicia stared, dumbfounded. Harry allowed his mother to whisper soft words in his ear and the men, after a significant glance at each other, walked quickly to James’ room.

After shutting the door, Sirius said, “Okay, now what the bloody hell was that all about?”

“I don’t know,” James said, frustrated. He ran his hand through his hair and said, “I told you Harry’s been acting strange all week. Being nice and actually spending time with us.”

“He called me professor…and he hasn’t insulted me about my robes as he usually does,” Remus commented. His robes were just as frayed in this universe as they were in Harry’s.

“And he hasn’t called me a pathetic mutt, either,” Sirius said. “But then he goes completely off his nut when he sees Peter. What’s happening with him?”

“Why would he say I betrayed you, James?” Peter asked, genuinely confused.

“I don’t know,” said James angrily. He kicked his bedpost and shouted, “I DON’T KNOW! I just don’t know! That boy has been driving me crazy for years and then all of a sudden he decided to ‘change his ways’ as though he’s never hurt anyone! He conveniently forgot how he set Alicia’s hair on fire after she accidentally stepped on his foot; he forgot how he sabotaged our Christmas dinner last year by putting bubotuber pus in the turkey gravy; he forgot how he constantly shoves the house-elves around like they’re vermin—he’s apparently forgotten all of it! I just don’t know what to do with him anymore!”

James fell down on his bed with a sigh. “I’m a terrible father,” he muttered.

“No you’re not,” said Remus sternly. “All parents have trouble dealing with their kids. Now I’m sure Harry’s very difficult to deal with, especially since he decided it would be fun to paint ‘freak’ on my house, but he’s your son and he’ll always be your son. You’ll have to figure out a way to deal with this.”

James sighed. “I know. I just don’t know what to do right now.”

Please review!