My Unreality

Harry walked down the long dreary corridors, his hand running against the smooth stone. He could see the other students running and laughing, their happy voices echoing down the hallways, echoing in his mind. This place was full of life, but it was not his home.

“Harry.”

Harry stopped and turned his face in surprise. He stared at Hermione as she walked towards him. She had warmed up to him quite a lot after Ron had punched him in the face, he guessed that was one good thing. However, Harry still felt a horrible pain every time he saw the hate in Ron’s eyes. Ron had been his best friend and now he despised Harry. It was like fourth year all over again.

“Hermione.” Harry said with a small smile that didn’t quite disguise his hollow expression. “What are you doing here?”

Hermione frowned as she noticed his sad expression and walked close to him. “What’s wrong, Harry?” She asked, her gentle eyes filling with concern. It made Harry’s heart ache to see the expression on her face, he had seen it so many times before on the Hermione in his world, but this wasn‘t his Hermione...

Harry turned his face away so that he would not have to look at her face, but he couldn’t get her face out of his mind. She had been everything to him in his world, his light, his love…How could he keep pretending that he did not love her when she was right in front of him, granted she was not the same as his Hermione, but everything about her was so familiar.

“It’s nothing, Hermione,” Harry said quietly and continued to walk. He didn’t want to look back and see her expression, but he couldn’t help himself. He turned his face and met her eyes, those beautiful honey brown eyes. She looked hurt, and he knew it was because of him.

“Wait!” Hermione called as she walked back up to him. “We have Defence against the Dark Arts now. I thought I should remind you, since you don’t remember and all.”

Harry could see her nervousness and smiled slightly. “Thank you.”

Hermione nodded and walked off, her bushy hair swaying slightly as she disappeared around the corner. Harry took a deep breath and gazed out towards the courtyard. He could see the lake shimmering in the sun and the old tree that he, Hermione and Ron had used to lean against on lazy afternoons. Harry frowned slightly to himself. If this world was supposed to be a sort of gift to him it wasn’t a very nice one. Everything in this world was just a reminder to what he had lost in his own.

Harry sighed and headed off down the corridor towards the DADA classroom. He could see the students all crowing around and pushed past them as nicely as he could, before opening the large door. He spotted Hermione sitting in her usual chair and glanced up towards the teacher’s desk to see who the teacher was. His jaw dropped as he saw a man with scruffy black hair and blue eyes. It was James Potter, his father.

“Dad?” Harry said disbelievingly. First his mother, now his father?

“Harry.” James said cheerfully, giving Harry a slap on his back. “Glad to see you’re up and well. I wanted to go visit you but I had classes.”

Harry shook his head, not really sure what to say. He had always dreamed of seeing his parents, to have them with him again, but now that they were, it wasn’t as nice as he thought it would have been. Maybe if the reasons were different he might have enjoyed it, but to lose everything that made his life have purpose just to have parents he didn’t even know back, it just didn’t seem enough like it had when he was eleven.

“It’s fine. I’m alright now anyway.” Harry said slowly, his eyes staring at his father, seeing the life in his father’s blue eyes.

James smiled and nodded his head. “Well, best take a seat, Harry, we’ll be starting class soon.”

Harry nodded, still feeling a little lost for words and sat down next to Hermione. She was staring at him with that same concerned look, and Harry realised he wasn’t doing a very good job hiding his emotions. Snape had always told Harry he wore his heart on his sleeve, and it seemed he was right, because right now he couldn’t hide his disbelief and sadness.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Hermione whispered as she leaned towards him. Harry could smell the faint floral perfume she was wearing. He inwardly sighed, she was wearing the same perfume that she wore in his world.

“Jasmine.”

“Huh?” Hermione said confused.

“You’re wearing jasmine.” Harry repeated, as he turned his face to look at her. Their eyes met and Harry felt his world slipping away as he looked into her beautiful eyes. She was smiling softly, her face lit up by some inward glow. He could see her pleasure in his noticing what perfume she was wearing, and realised with dismay that the glow lighting up her face was love. She was falling for him, just as she had fallen for him in his own world. Only, Harry knew he could not love the Hermione of this world. This wasn’t his home, and eventually he would have to give up this dream world and go back to the empty despair waiting for him back home.

“Potter, what the hell are you doing?” A female voice demanded.

Harry turned his gaze and saw a tall girl with large hooded eyes. Her long black hair snaked its way down her back, and he could see it glinting in the sun. Her piercing blue eyes gazed at him with an amused expression, and Harry realised without a doubt who this was.

“Isabelle Black.” Harry said slowly.

“Don’t you ‘Isabelle Black’ me, Harry, as if you don‘t know me.” She said with one raised eyebrow.

A boy who looked identical to her, but his hair was short sat down beside her. Harry realised they were twins, he also noticed they had the Slytherin crest on their robes; obviously this world did not put much in store in terms of house rivalry.

“Why are you sitting over here?” William Black asked looking slightly confused. “Neville is waiting for us.”

Harry could sense Hermione’s discomfort, and it hit him that his ‘friends’ probably disliked Hermione. He stared at the handsome twins and shook his head. “I’m going to sit here today, I’m sure you three can handle yourselves.”

Isabelle glanced at Hermione with an almost irritated expression. Finally she let out huff and flounced back to where Neville was sitting. William chuckled slightly and gave Harry a light slap on the back.

“Don’t worry about her, she’s just upset because Draco told her that she looks ridiculous in the new dress she bought.”

Harry nodded, and watched as William walked back to sit next to his twin sister. He turned his gaze to Hermione and paused slightly as he saw her suspicious expression.

“Why don’t you want to sit with your friends?” Hermione asked, her brows furrowing together.

Harry shrugged and leaned back against the chair. “I feel more comfortable with you. I told you, I don’t even remember them.”

“Then…why do you remember me?” Hermione asked in a small voice.

Too late, Harry realised. He had said the wrong thing, and Hermione would be sure to figure it out straight away. He frowned, wondering what he could say to make her not suspicious with him.

“I…um, well, I’m not sure why. I just do.” Harry said, tugging at his robe slightly. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable under her scrutinising gaze. She never did miss a trick and he wasn’t quite ready to tell her where he really came from, or what she really was to him.

Hermione nodded her head, though her eyes didn’t lose the suspicious expression. Harry had never been so relieved when James told the class to be quiet so they could get on with the lesson. He spent most of the time trying to avoid Hermione’s gaze but he could see her itching to ask him more questions. He stared around the classroom, his eyes falling on the students one by one. Almost half of the class were dead, and Isabelle and William Black did not even exist in his world; they never got a chance to. It hurt Harry so much to know that nearly everyone in this world was dead to him.

Harry jumped as he felt a soft hand on his arm. He turned his gaze and looked at Hermione. He sighed, realising they were the only ones still sitting, as the rest of the class filed out of the room. It seemed class had finished, and Harry hadn’t even realised, he had been so lost in his own thoughts.

“Come on, Harry.” Hermione urged. Harry stood up and followed Hermione out of the room, a gloomy cloud descending over him. He just wanted to get out of this place. To get away from everything. This place was a nightmare to him because he knew none of it was real.

“Hermione.” Harry said quietly, steeling himself to what he had to do. “I need your help with something.”

Hermione looked at him in surprise. “Of course, Harry. What is it?”

Harry took her hand and gently led her into an empty classroom. He locked the door with his wand and sighed. “Please, sit down.” Harry said, gesturing to the rickety chair.

Hermione sat down and watched him through her honey brown eyes. He took a deep breath and sat down opposite her, wondering what he could say to make her believe him.

“Hermione, what I’m about to tell you may be hard to believe, but you’re the only person who I trust in this world. I would trust Ron, but he….” Harry broke off and looked away. “Anyway, just please believe me when I tell you that I am not making this up for a joke.”

Hermione frowned, her confusion evident on her face. Slowly she nodded and Harry let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m not from this world.” Harry said seriously. He gazed into her eyes, willing her to see that he was telling the truth. He could see her confusion and hoped that she was not going to laugh at him, or think he was crazy, but to his surprise she only nodded.

“You mean, you believe me?” Harry asked in wonder.

Hermione clasped her hands on her lap and met his eyes. “I’ve been watching you, Harry. Watching the way you look at people, the way your eyes seem to fill with such unexplained sorrow when you see people. I’ve also noticed how different you are…”

Harry nodded to himself. He had gathered that the Harry of this world wasn’t exactly very friendly.

“Anyway, I realised that there were too many things making you different, and even a memory charm cannot change a person’s personality, so I believe you when you say you aren’t from this world, because that is the only explanation.”

Harry visibly relaxed and stood up off the chair. He knelt down by Hermione and clasped her hands. “Thank you, for believing me.”

“It’s fine Harry, but what do you want me to do to help you?” Hermione asked.

Harry looked at their hands intertwined together and frowned. “I need you to help me find the real Harry in this world.”

“What?” Hermione exclaimed in surprise.

“From what I’ve gathered, something happened to the Harry in this world. Can you tell me what?”

Hermione sighed as she tried to remember. “Well, about five days ago he went missing but then they found you in the Great Hall. Everyone just assumed it was Harry, but obviously it wasn’t.”

“What do you mean, he went missing?” Harry asked, his heart clenching with worry. He knew that the Harry in this world must still be alive somewhere, so he was hoping that maybe if they met, Harry would be able to go back to his own world. He hoped that would be the case.

Hermione sighed and placed a hand on Harry’s arm. “I don’t know Harry, but I doubt he would be off the school grounds. Perhaps he went into the Dark Forest and got lost or something.”

Harry sighed. That wouldn’t surprise him. He knew himself how reckless he could be. Still, the forest was dangerous, even he wasn’t that stupid to go I there himself.

“Then that is where we’ll look first.” Harry said simply.

Hermione frowned. “I could go look in the library. Perhaps there is something that explains this kind of situation.”

Harry nodded, “I’ll come too.”

They headed to the library and poured over books for what seemed like hours. Nothing could explain the strange situation Harry found himself in. There was not even a mention of alternative words. Harry realised there was nothing for it. They would just have to look for the Harry of this world themselves and find out what he knew about it.