Chapter 04

• Differences •

The removal of the confusion spell took a long time, and he had to wait until the matron had left her post for a while. Luckily there was a blind surrounding Harry's bed, so no one would see him, all Harry had to do was put up a silence barrier to keep her from looking in on him.

When the Gryffindor Harry finally opened his eyes he still seemed slightly confused. "Let me sum it up," Harry said as he watched himself look around in confusion. "From what I've been surmised through the interactions I've had in the past few hours I have somehow been transported into this reality, it's a completely different world than the one I grew up in."

The Gryffindor Harry stared, unblinking.

"Well, in my world I was saved from the rubble by a friend of mothers who raised me in the wizarding world. Her name was Sophie Datrius, she kept me sane and helped me become the person I am today. When I was sorted into Slytherin she was a little surprised, but it doesn't matter now, she died a long time ago." Harry stopped peeking out as he heard someone enter. It was an injured student and he wondered what they had been doing out so late. Still, he ignored them, he knew that the Matron wouldn't show anyone that there was a Harry that was in the hospital so he was safe for a while.

Sighing he lifted the right arm sleeve of his robes, revealing the dark tattoo that he hated with a passion. "I have been working as a spy since my third year, at first just in Slytherin to find out what was happening, but eventually I was recruited as a Death Eater. I have learned that you were somehow able to rid yourself of Voldemort finally and I need to know how you did that."

Coughing slightly, the Gryffindor Harry tried to sit up. Harry allowed it, he wasn't worried because his twin had no wand.

"There's a spell," The Gryffindor Harry finally whispered. "He made himself immortal with a very ancient ritual and there's a spell that will break the immortality. You have to use it on him before you can kill him," he said coughing again. Harry poured some water into a glass and offered it to the Gryffindor.

"So you have to kill him after the spell has been used... Just any normal death, or something in particular?"

The Gryffindor looked at him slightly abashed. "You would do anything to him, wouldn't you?" he asked quietly.

Harry nodded, after everything he'd seen and been forced to do he wouldn't ever worry about how he killed Voldemort. "You were saved from dealing with some of the most horrid things imaginable because you grew up with your aunt and uncle. I can't imagine ever living with them, but then I can't imagine being a Gryffindor either. I have seen torture that would make you want to kill yourself, there are things that will haunt me forever. Voldemort doesn't deserve death, he deserves eternal torture, but death will suffice."

The Gryffindor looked slightly angry. "My Aunt and Uncle hated me," he spat.

Harry glazed a few thoughts that had topped the Gryffindors head and smiled. "Living in a cupboard, not having any friends? You really don't understand how horrible my life's been since Sophie died."

Carefully Harry wove a spell that would help show his twin some of the memories he'd had to endure, starting with how Sophie had died. Reaching out gently, Harry tapped his twins head with a wand and there was a jolt as if entering a Pensieve. This however, was not a Pensieve and the memories flashed by at such a quick pace that Harry had to close his eyes. He hated seeing his memories, but he'd learned to deal with them.

When he opened his eyes again it was to see the Gryffindor Harry leaning over the side of his bed, retching. "That is such a beautiful picture," Harry said sarcastically.

"They tortured her," Gryffindor Harry said quietly, "while you his in the vent. You saw it all... even... even when they..."

"Yes, well what's happened has happened. It was a good thing that the Death Eaters did not know I was there at the time, because they wouldn't have trusted me in any way otherwise and I wouldn't be the Death Eater I am today." Harry said mockingly. He hated to be reminded of watching Sophie raped just before she was murdered. Only three living people knew what he'd seen and the other two never had the guts to bring it up again.

"How did you get here?" The Gryffindor asked, obviously wanting to change the topic as well.

When Harry spoke his words were chosen carefully, he didn't want to reveal too much about his coming because he didn't want other to end up in different worlds were they were a different person. This Gryffindor might be just the sort to do it too, that Gryffindor Courage and Stupidity was always going to be the same, no matter which world they were in.

"According to what I've been able to discover I was put in contact with a potion that bridges worlds. I do not understand why it was done to me, but I will discover how it was done and return to my world as soon as I have the ability to destroy Voldemort."

The Gryffindor Harry nodded and Harry slipped off his topmost thoughts. Somehow the Gryffindor was beginning to trust him, Harry almost smirked, but hid the emotion on his face. It was so like a Gryffindor to so easily fall into trusting someone. At least it was a good chance to use that trust.

"Why did you kill Malfoy in your world?" The Gryffindor asked.

Smirking finally Harry looked straight into his twins eyes. "Do you know that Lucius is your uncle?" The reaction to the question almost brought tears of laughter to Harry's eyes. "Not quite the loving uncle is he? Well, they're only half-related, same father. Grandmother never married, but she was Sephelis Malfoy's mistress and had a child from the relationship. Of course it was rather a bad thing to be a bastard child so it was never discussed. Both of the families knew of the truth, but the story never went any further than that."

"In my world Draco knew it, he even had the pluck to use it against me. We were adversaries in Slytherin, always vying for the same position within the monarchy, though I do think he would have made an excellent potentate, he never wanted the position. Well, during my fifth year he tried to use a potion which involved my blood to put me into his permanent servitude. It worked; fortunately he wasn't smart enough to order me not to kill him, the only way to break the bond he'd created. Not long after that I was asked to be a Death Eater. I have come to believe that someone was testing us – trying to see which of us was the strongest."

"You just killed him?" The Gryffindor asked.

"It was a little more complicated than that," Harry said quietly. "He ordered me to submit to something I would not do, and when I fought off the order he raised his wand against me, trying to force me to do it. I attacked him with a banishing charm and injured him seriously. When help arrived he was dead. The incident was ruled an accident and I was declared faultless before the Wizengamot."

"Sounds like something I might do," a slick voice said and Harry turned to find three wands pointed at him. He noticed that there was no noise beyond, not even the slightest sound and he understood the mistake he'd made. Someone had realized that he was there and had but a second silencing charm to keep those inside from hearing what was going on outside the curtain.

"So how is it that such an upstanding Gryffindor got put into the Slytherin house?" Draco asked, not even trying to mask the anger he was feeling that the Harry twin had revealed the secret he'd been keeping.

"Why is it that the Malfoy's always seem to slip out of the most difficult situations?" Harry retorted. He was pulling thoughts off the top of Draco's head and using them to his own advantage. "Like fifth year at the Ministry, or second year when he let the basilisk loose on the school. Or even last year during the last stand fiasco."

Malfoy turned so pale that the ghosts might have been awestruck. No one had known about that, no one but his father and the minister (who was now dead).

"Come on Draco, you can't hide things like that from me." Harry snapped, feeling the power of being in control. This world was weak, everyone he knew was so much weaker than they'd been in his world, it was infuriating that they'd been able to destroy Voldemort.

The wands slashed forward almost in synch and Harry rolled over his twin in an instant, avoiding two of the three curses. Luckily the shield he'd erected while he'd bantered and the curse was absorbed in it with little more than a shiver passing through Harry.

The first two curses were not so powerful, but they were sufficient to blow a hole in the wall of the hospital. Someone yelled for help and Harry dived out of the curtain as more curses headed his way. The matron, whom Harry still didn't know, yelled something about curses in the hospital, but Harry ignored it, pushing himself back to his feet as the curses buzzed past his ear, too close for comfort.

He snapped his wand up, putting up a shield as more curses were flying his way. One of the rebounding curses hit the matron and she screamed again before fainting dead away. "Imperio!" Harry shouted, hoping that the sound charms that had been erected would keep them from realizing what curse he was using. He couldn't hear the ones they used. The curtain flipped up as Draco walked right into the oncoming curse.

Draco stopped, completely stilled and Harry smiled. You will submit, he whispered into Draco's mind. Tell your thugs to stop fighting and take their wands.

For a moment Harry was unsure if this Draco could fight off the Imperius, he seemed strained, but Harry repeated himself again and Draco suddenly did his bidding.

"Good," Harry said aloud after Draco had collected the other two wands. Bring them here, he whispered in Draco's mind and held his wand up in case Draco was only obeying what he wanted, he'd seen such fine control of the Imperius curse before, but only in two others.

It seemed Draco was not in control because he stepped forward holding the wands in an unusable manner, offering them to Harry. Once Harry had relieved Draco of the wands he stared at Draco, concentrating as much as he could on the idea he was imputing into Draco's head. Go out in the lake and swim to the middle, wait there.

Nodding, Draco started out the door and Harry glanced at the two thugs who'd accompanied Draco. Tell Crabbe and Goyle to come with you, he added.

"Crabbe, Goyle," Malfoy said stiffly as he left the room. The two hunkered along, confused at what was going on, but not saying anything like the stupid lugs they were.

Harry turned back to his twin, raising his wand. "Obliviate," he said softly, not wanting anyone to have actually seen him using an unforgivable – the slightest chance of him figuring out what was going on was too much. He doubted that the penalty was any different even though they were on a separate world.

Gryffindor Harry stared at him, eyes blank, and then he shook his head looking around. "How you get them to leave?" he asked when he noticed that the three were gone, he remembered that Draco had started a fight, and figured he must have gotten hit with a stray curse.

The wands pocketed and out of sight Harry grinned. "There are a few curses that get through even thick heads like his," he said, forcing a soft laugh. He was in complete control of his outward emotions even though he was furious with himself for letting the two get the best of him. "Help me fix everything up?" he asked, then glanced to the matron who was still unconscious. "I think it'd be best if no one knew what happened in here."

After retrieving his twin's wand from the place he'd seen Albus place it he offered it to his twin, and released the straps that had been wrapped around him.

"You know," The Gryffindor Harry said. "I could just curse you in your back and tell everyone that you're really a Death Eater, the tattoo would be enough to convince them."

Harry laughed as he started to repair the wall, his back facing his Gryffindor twin, he'd taken off the topmost thoughts from the twin and knew that even though he was warning, he was just trying to get a rise out of Harry.

"I could," the twin said again, but obviously not meaning it.

"Just help me get this straightened out," Harry said, moving to the three tables that had been blown to the ground. "I'm sorry for putting the confounding curse on you earlier, but I really didn't know what was happening and it was my only option to keep from being discovered. Self preservation and all that..."

"I understand," the twin said and repaired one of the other beds.

After the room had been completely fixed up Harry walked around, finding the student who'd been bedridden. He was asleep, and after going through the thoughts at the top of his head, Harry knew he'd been given a sleeping potion and had slept through the whole thing. Both Harry's found themselves standing over the matron then, and Harry looked into his twins eyes, noticing that his eyes were pure green, while his own has a tiny sliver of brown that went straight up in his left eye, it was barely noticeable unless someone stared which happened rarely anymore.

"Obliviate her?" the twin asked, thinking the same thing that Harry was. It was odd that even though they'd had such different life's they could think the exact thought. Harry just preferred to keep his thoughts to himself.

Nodding, Harry raised his wand, charming the woman's memory so she would not remember anything that happened. "Think we should let her wake on her own?" The twin asked, watching her. Both knew there wasn't a very good reason they could give her as to why she was laying on the floor, and it was probably better if she woke up alone and there was nothing wrong with the room, that way she'd figure out an explanation by herself.

"She's going to see you gone and might think it was your fault," Harry said, looking down at her and then glancing over to his doppelganger. "It won't be a good thing when the castle goes up on alert because there are two of us."

"Your wand Holley, Phoenix Feather core?" Harry nodded, wondering why.

"Mine too," the twin said, wonder how they'll react with one another. "Brother Wands have a peculiar reaction to one another, but I bet if twin wands were used they'd make things even more powerful."

"Yeah, maybe," Harry said, still trying to figure out what his twin was thinking. He knew about brother wands, but he'd never seen them used in conjunction or against one another, so he was interested in what it was the Gryffindor was thinking.

"Well, I can make a duplicate of myself," the twin said. "It's never very strong though, it usually only lasts an hour or two. But, if we did the spell together I think that it'd work for longer.

Harry nodded, even more curious to see the results of doing the spell. "Alright then, you show me how it's done and then we'll do it."

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