Harry drifted off to sleep later than usual. He figured he was trying to hard, the anticipation was keeping him awake, but eventually he started dozing and finally fell into a deep sleep.
At first he was just in a field somewhere, as most of the dreams started out. He stepped forwards, hoping to walk into whatever it was he was about to be shown, but he flinched backwards as a train rushed by, just in front of his nose.
As the train pulled away, the scene behind was revealed to be Kings Cross Station. The station was heaving, but easily visible through the crowd was Mrs Weasley, trailed by five of her children. Harry was slightly shocked to see Ron looking about eleven, the twins, Ginny and Percy all the relative ages.
He called out to them, but they carried on walking, apparently unable to hear him. Harry pushed through the crowd to catch up with them. Whenever he came into contact with a person he sort of glided round them, not quite going through them but not actually touching them either. When he got to the Weasleys's side, after a brief suppressed laugh at how much shorter Ron was than him, he tried to get their attention again.
"Mrs Weasley? Can you hear me?" he asked.
Apparently she couldn't, as she continued blustering forwards, herding her children out in front of her, fussing over their hair and straightening out their clothes.
"Ron, you have dirt on your nose," she said, trying to clean him up as Ron shrugged as violently as he could.
Harry laughed, and followed them through the barrier into the magical platform nine and three quarters.
The platform was packed, as it always was, with students from eleven to seventeen bustling around with their luggage, an excitement hanging in the air. The older students were already heading towards the train, while the younger ones were trying to get away from fussing parents. Harry smiled fondly at the memories of his first time on the magical platform. He may not have had parents to fuss over him, but it had filled him with excitement all the same.
Mrs Weasley and her family pushed past in front of him, and for a moment Harry was going to follow him, until their movements revealed two familiar faces in the crowd behind them.
Harry glided through the family he liked to consider his own, towards the family that would have been his own. The family that Voldemort took from him. But in this reality Voldemort didn't exist and so...
"I can't believe it," Lily Potter smiled proudly, "My little Harry all grown up and starting school!"
"Mu-um!" Harry's eleven year old self protested as she ruffled his unruly hair with affection.
"Too cool for us now, huh?" James Potter asked, "he's too cool for us now, Sam."
Harry's attention was drawn for the first time to the younger child James Potter was holding in his arms. A young boy who had his Mother's red hair but bore a striking facial resemblance to his father and older brother.
"Can't I go to Hogwarts too, Dad?" Sam Potter asked.
"In a few years, Sammy," James said, "It's your turn next!"
"No it's not!" a high-pitched girly voice yelled, "it's me next!"
Harry's heart performed a curious leap as ten-year-old Erin skipped onto the scene. It was a strange mix of humour and affection he felt as he looked down at her young face. This Erin had blonde hair like her mother, minus the unusual dark streak that the Erin he knew had. She looked completely happy, stood between Josie and Sirius, who both sported wedding rings on their left hands. Harry had never seen his godfather looking quite so happy.
"You better write me, Harry Potter!" Erin said, jabbing him in the chest with her finger.
"Course I will," Harry's alternate self said.
"You better, else I'll send you a Howler!" Erin threatened, making the adults gathered round laugh.
"I'd listen to that if I were you Harry, she sounds pretty serious," the familiar voice of Lupin said.
Erin shrieked delightedly and ran to hug Lupin. Alter-Harry was a little more reserved, but the delight showed in his wide green eyes.
"You came!" he said, beaming up at Lupin.
"Couldn't miss your first time at Hogwarts now, could I?" Lupin replied, ruffling Harry's hair much like his mother had done.
The amicable silence that followed this statement was broken by the loud crack of someone Apparating. Harry turned along with everyone else he was watching to see Carla and Dieter Edwards appear, Carla holding the hand of a thirteen or fourteen year old Lauren.
Harry was glad no one could see him because his jaw opened rather unflatteringly at the sight of Lauren. She had long hair left loose, much like he was used to seeing her, but she looked cheerful and happy, carefree in a way he doubted the real Lauren had ever been, even at the young age of fourteen.
"Lauren!" Erin and Alter-Harry called together, as they rushed to greet their friend.
"Thought we'd come and see you off!" Lauren said as she hugged them both.
Lily and Josie embraced Carla, while the men all shook hands looking genuinely glad to see one another. Harry wondered if a reunion in the real world (if such a thing were possible) would have gone quite so smoothly. He didn't know for certain, but had always got the impression that the Marauders had never much liked Dieter Edwards.
"Am I too late?" another voice called, followed by a wheeze, like the speaker had been running, "Did I miss him?"
"You're just in time, Wormtail!" James said, grinning widely as the circle of friends was finally completed.
Harry couldn't help feel a swell of anger towards Peter Pettigrew, but as he kissed the women and shook hands with all the men, it became clear that he wasn't the cowardly traitor he had become in the world Harry knew.
"Sorry I'm running a bit behind - the office has been crazy today," he said, breathing deeply to catch his breath, "well then, Harry, are you ready to start the best years of your life?"
Alter-Harry grinned and nodded enthusiastically.
"Better get you on the train then," Lauren said, "let me help you with your stuff!"
Harry followed the kids as they went towards the train, glancing back occasionally at the proud faces of his parents and their friends. Lauren, Erin and Alter-Harry arrived at the train and after a moment of heaving the luggage, Lauren gave them a mischievous wink and whipped out her wand, casually levitating it onto the train. Erin giggled while Harry grinned with a mischief to match Lauren's.
"Come on let's find you a seat!" Erin grabbed Alter-Harry by the hand and dragged him down the carriage.
Lauren hung back a bit, presumably to ensure the luggage was on the train alright, so Harry followed Erin and his Alter-self. They chatted animatedly as they walked down the side of the train, looking for an empty carriage. As they got about halfway down, they bumped into Draco Malfoy who was pestering Hermione.
"Hey, leave her alone," Erin said, standing up as tall as she could, which at ten wasn't very tall at all.
"She's nothing but a filthy Mudblood," Malfoy said, "why should I?"
"There's nothing wrong with Muggle born witches!" Alter-Harry protested heatedly.
"Oh that's right, because your Harry Potter, and your Mother is nothing but a dirty Mudblood too!" Malfoy drawled.
Harry reached for his wand along with his alternate self, but they were both saved from doing something irrational, pointless and stupid by Lauren, who had walked up behind them in time to hear Malfoy insult Lily Potter and responded by punching him hard in the nose.
"You shouldn't say nasty things about nice people," she said, shaking out her hand, grimacing slightly.
Alter-Harry and Hermione gave her a look of awe before Erin burst out laughing. Malfoy sat up and started crying as blood poured from his nose. Josie, alerted by the sound of a child in pain rushed over.
"What happened here?" she asked her daughter.
"Lauren did," Erin laughed.
Josie shot Lauren an angry glance, at which Lauren rolled her eyes and told Josie that Malfoy had been insulting Muggle borns. Josie sent an unrepentant Lauren back to her parents, told Erin to wait with her Father and herded Hermione and Harry onto the train while she fixed Malfoy's nose up.
"You ought to think about what you're saying next time, young man," she said as with a flick of her wand she cleaned up the blood.
"Don't worry about idiots like him," Alter-Harry said to Hermione as they stepped into a carriage, "they think being pureblood makes them better than everyone else, but most people don't care about whether you're pureblood, Muggle born or something in between."
"How will I know which people are which?" Hermione asked.
"I think I can help you out with that," Alter-Harry said with a kind smile, "I'm Harry."
"Hermione," Hermione replied.
"Oi, are you two first years?" Fred (or George, Harry still couldn't tell) said, poking his head round the door.
Still a little traumatised by her experience Hermione said nothing, but Alter-Harry, who presumably knew the Weasley's by reputation, let Fred know they were.
"Excellent," he said, "mind if little Ronniekins here joins you? He's a first year too!"
"Sure," Harry said, as Fred shepherded a reluctant Ron into the carriage with help from George.
"Can't have him cramping our style, you see," George said, grinning at Hermione then Harry. As he looked down at Harry he did a double take.
"Blimey," he said, "Are you -?"
Alter-Harry looked at the twin blankly as the other said, "He is aren't you?"
"What?" asked Alter-Harry.
"Harry Potter," Fred and George said together.
"Your Dad is an absolute legend," Fred said.
"He's totally our hero," George added.
"No one knew how to pull pranks and make trouble like him and his friends," Fred said, "Did he give you any tips?"
"He tried to," Harry laughed, "but then my Mum stopped him."
"Shame, shame," George said, "oh well, we'll just have to hope his talent runs in your blood - hope you're in Gryffindor Potter!"
And with cheery grins and waves to everyone they left, presumably to seek out Lee Jordan and his giant tarantula, Harry thought.
"Sorry about that," Ron said, looking decidedly awkward, "my brothers can be a bit over the top..."
"It's ok," Alter-Harry laughed, "come and sit down, I'm Harry, and this is Hermione."
"Nice to meet you both," Ron said, and sat down.
As the train pulled away they were joined by Neville, who Harry noticed was waving to his very much alive parents out of the window, and before long they were chatting away like they had known each other forever.
.....
The scene faded, but Harry still felt like he was hurtling through space on the Hogwarts express. As he stood there waiting for something to happen he caught glimpses of his life at Hogwarts.
He made the Quidditch team in the first year. His Dad was so proud, he sent him a Nimbus 2000 to play on. He did pretty well in all his subjects and was popular with his house and class mates (with the exception of the Slytherins naturally) but was otherwise an ordinary, unexceptional student.
The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was a Quirrell who had never been to Romania and run into Lord Voldemort. He was still a fairly useless teacher, but he was a lot better than Harry remembered him to be.
There was no troll in the girls bathroom, but they were fast friends with Hermione anyway. There was no Basilisk either, no Dementors, no crazed escapees from Azkaban.
Instead, Harry watched the Gryffindors lift both the house and Quidditch cup. He saw Cedric Diggory become Triwizard champion for Hogwarts, and Ron and Ginny both make the Quidditch team while Hermione, Erin and Neville cheered from the sidelines as they flew to victory against Slytherin once again.
He saw his little brother's first day, a Christmas spent at the Burrow, an Easter spent with Neville's family, and plenty of trips during the long summer holidays to visit each other.
The rapidly changing images settled as did Harry's feeling of motion and the scenery around him became that of a party. Lines of tables each holding mountains of food were surrounded by people and above the doorway to a cozy looking cottage was a large banner that flashed all different colours, saying 'Happy Birthday Harry, 17 Today!'.
It was his own coming of age party. Harry realised and smiled happily, tears forming in his eyes.
"Harry!" he heard Hermione call, and turned at the sound of her voice. She was running towards him and for a moment Harry almost forgot that this wasn't real, until his alter-ego stepped out from inside him it seemed, to move forward and great Hermione.
"Happy birthday!" Hermione said, hugging him tightly, "Ron's just arrived with his family, Mrs Weasley's just doing a headcount I think!"
"If I had that many kids, I think I'd have to count them at every opportunity too," Erin said, greeting Hermione with a hug.
"My parents are here too," Hermione said, "they insisted on coming to meet all of my friends and their families. I think Mr Weasley has accosted them already!"
Erin and Alter-Harry laughed, then the girls went to check out the buffet while Alter-Harry was busy greeting other guests.
Among many people Harry didn't recognise, he noticed all the Marauders were present, and Peter had a cheery looking woman on his arm. He seemed to be glowing with happiness.
Kingsley and Tonks were there, which Harry at first thought was a little odd, but then he thought that perhaps his Father or Mother were Aurors - from what he had heard about them they had certainly been magically talented enough.
As he perused the faces of more unfamiliar people, Harry noticed with a leap of happiness that Dumbledore himself had turned up for his party. He was currently stood chatting to Sirius and Josie about something.
"Think fast, Harry!" he heard a voice call and span round in time to see his alter-ego clash with Lauren in a duel.
Lauren had hair shorter than Harry had ever seen her wear it, and though it still fell across her eyes much like it did in real life, she didn't have the distinctive scar across her nose hiding behind it.
Alter-Harry and Lauren were engaged in a fierce and fast duel when Hermione and Ron both burst on to the scene, firing curses at Lauren. Both found their mark, and Lauren was knocked sideways by the hit. She rolled elegantly and sat up, grinning at Alter-Harry.
"You've got some good moves," she said to him, holding out her hand for him to help her up, "but you've got even better friends!"
Lauren and Alter-Harry laughed as Ron and Hermione looked a bit embarrassed and apologetic.
"Guys, this is Lauren," Alter-Harry said, "Lauren, this is Ron, and Hermione. You might remember Hermione, she was there on my first day at Hogwarts."
"Vaguely," Lauren replied, shaking both their hands.
"You're the girl who broke Malfoy's nose!" Hermione said.
"You remember that then?" Lauren grinned.
"How could I forget?" Hermione laughed, "You were my hero for a year!"
Lauren smiled rather smugly at this. Harry could hardly believe how different she was. The real Lauren would never have allowed herself to be blindsided like that, but then, this was a Lauren who was just a girl. An undoubtedly talented and resourceful witch, but not a trained and hardened fighter like she was in the world Harry knew.
It was noticeable in the others too. Hermione had none of the weariness she had come to bear in the last couple of years, and Mrs Weasley, who was busy fussing over Fleur and Bill (who apparently still ended up together in this reality), did not look tired and drawn out. In fact, Harry thought she was glowing with pride and happiness as she came and gave his alter-ego a birthday hug.
As the party got into full swing, Harry drifted through the crowds, enjoying the little tid-bits of information he got from their conversations.
"Neville has ambitions to teach Herbology," Alice Longbottom was saying to Lily Potter, "that or open a supply store of some sort - he has a real green touch!"
"What about Rosie?" Lily asked, "She's in the same year as Sam isn't she?"
"Yes, and I think she has quite the crush on him," Alice smiled, "she's doing so well with her school work. She told me the other day that she wants to be a healer at St Mungo's, though the week before she wanted to travel the world excavating historical sites of magical interest."
"Sam's like that," Lily said, "different idea every week. Harry seems quite set on following in his father's footsteps and becoming an Auror though."
Harry smiled at the thought of his little brother and Neville's little sister being in a class together. Neville was the only person he knew who was perhaps as lonely as he was, and it made him both incredibly happy and incredibly sad to think of him with loving parents and a little sister.
Charlie was the only Weasley who hadn't shown up with the rest of his family. Harry saw him arriving late, greeting his brother and soon to be sister-in-law as he snuck in quietly. Harry was surprised to see him trailed by Ana, and made his way over to them.
"This is my friend from work, Ana, my brother Bill and his fiance Fleur," Charlie introduced everyone.
"It's a pleasure," Ana said as she shook their hands.
"Girlfriend?" Bill asked Charlie as Fleur and Ana left to get food from the buffet.
"No, then I would have introduced her as my girlfriend," Charlie rolled his eyes, "she's thinking about applying to teach at a school. Durmstrang would be closer to home, but I told her about the Defence teacher vacancy that will be coming up next year when Quirrell quits and asked if she'd like to come and see the country, see if she'd like working here."
Harry smiled at the thought of Ana picking up her position as Defence teacher. She was one of the best teachers he had had.
Harry wandered for a while, listening to talk of how Percy was doing really well at his Ministry job and was considering the perfect moment to propose to his long-term girlfriend Penelope Clearwater.
Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson were both famous Quidditch players, the radio playing in the background let Harry know, and though they had never had Voldemort to fight for, Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband Rudolphus were both in Azkaban for crimes against Muggles. Lucius Malfoy had spent a vast part of his fortune to avoid being sent down with them.
Harry wandered back across the party in time to see Lauren, who wasn't looking where she was going, crash into Charlie.
"Oops! Sorry!" she said, magically rescuing the things Charlie had been carrying, "You must be one of Ron's brothers. Which one are you? Percy? Bill? Charlie?"
"Third time lucky," Charlie grinned, "I'm Charlie."
"Lauren," Lauren told him, awkwardly trying to balance the things she was carrying to free up a hand, before giving up and resorting using magic to levitate her things, leaving a hand free to shake his, "sorry it took three goes - there are so many people here and I know hardly any of them!"
"So how do you know the birthday boy?" Charlie asked, evidently curious about more than just her accent.
"My Mum is old friends with Lily Potter and Josie Black," Lauren replied as between them they carried the stack of empty dishes Mrs Weasley had offloaded on to her son as she attempted to tidy up a little.
A little later Harry followed Ana as she drifted over towards Lupin, who was stood on his own watching everyone else enjoying themselves.
"Don't mind if I join you, do you?" she asked, "only, the one person I actually know at this party has left me for another woman," she added, nodding with a smile to where Charlie was sat talking to Lauren.
"Not at all," Lupin said, "that's an unusual accent - eastern European?"
"Romanian," Ana said.
"Well, that explains how you know Charlie. Do you work with the dragons as well?"
As they began to talk of magical creature, Harry smiled through the tears that were in freefall down his face.
The images before him faded and he was back in the empty field. As he slipped from dream back to reality, Harry realised that the tears he was crying were as real as the ones in his dream.
click me! ------>
Please send me a message and rate! :D xxx
