Disclaimer: I guess I kind of own the plot, though variations of it exist (I'm just sure of it). I own only the characters that are not familiar to you (aka: Madeleine). The rest of the characters and places belong to the wonderful JK Rowling (sixth book yeah!). Happy reading and I very much hope you review.

"Harry, you've done it!" a very exuberant Dumbledore engulfed Harry in a bone crushing hug, practically dragging him to the next room. Harry had just defeated the darkest wizard of the century. He, Harry Potter, a seventh year at Hogwarts, had defeated Lord Voldemort aka Voldy (sorry Ms. Rowling!), Tom Riddle, You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, etc. Harry, quite out of it, allowed himself to be lead out of the room that housed the smoldering remains of his late nemesis.

The reality hadn't sunk in. He had worked his whole life, sacrificing his family, friends, and happiness to rid the world of Lord Voldemort and it was finally over. He was pushed rather forcefully into a moldy armchair. They (he and Dumbledore) were currently in the Riddle House. Harry didn't honestly think he'd seen Dumbledore so sprightly. He was practically bouncing off the walls, a grin plastered across his face. Harry, on the other hand, must have looked quite a sight. One might say he'd been through the wringer.

"So, how did you do it?" Dumbledore asked hurriedly, shoving his seemingly caffeinated self into an adjacent love seat. Harry shook his head slowly. He didn't want to relive the horrors of his final duel. He rubbed a hand over his face, completely exhausted. He felt much older than his seventeen years. Dumbledore's face fell slightly, finally noticing the boy.

Harry had lost a lot of weight since his fifth year. He had been so consumed with fighting Voldemort that there hadn't been much time for anything else including petting things like eating, sleeping, and relaxing. Lines of worry creased his face, giving him the look of a very bedraggled twenty-something. Dark rings hung below his eyes like weights, bringing him down. His hair, though normally quite untidy, was, in a word, wild. It hadn't been washed in weeks and it looked as if he had run his hands through his hair one too many times.

"H-how are Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked tentatively, his voice wavering. He forced himself to look at the eccentric, old professor, knowing full well Dumbledore would try to evade the truth for his well-being. Dumbledore averted his eyes and stammered.

"W-well, you see Harry they-"

"Please Professor, I'm very tired. Just tell me," Harry coaxed wearily.

"The Healers are looking over them Harry. They don't know what's going to happen. Just know Harry that it isn't-"

"My fault? Yes I know that old stand by. It's never my fault," Harry spat bitterly. He didn't think he could stand anyone else dieing on his account. "Why me?" he muttered but held up his hand to stop Dumbledore. He of course knew "why him"; it had been drilled into him for the past three years. Fatigue washed over him and he let his head fall into his hands.

Dumbledore, the buoyancy of before completely gone, rested a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "It will all turn out alright Harry. You've just rid the world of a supreme evil and now-"

"What do I have to show for it? My parents are gone as is my Godfather. The love of my life has runaway, not able to face the "new me". Now, my two best friends, the people whom I've come to regard as family, are dieing in the hospital. I've saved the world; I'm a hero, but now I haven't anyone with whom to share this new world of peace! Where's the justice in all that I ask you? Bloody Hell Professor, I wish this had never happened! I wish I had never been marked!"

"Don't say that Harry. You have given hope to the entire wizarding populace. You've done something no one believed possible. No, I agree, it's not fair that you've lost so much but the world would not have been better had Voldemort not marked you that fateful night." Dumbledore's voice had regained its authority. Harry let out a strangled type of laugh. He shook his head from side to side.

"Prove it," he mumbled, not really expecting Professor Dumbledore to hear him.

"Fine." Dumbledore said before waving his wand and saying a funny incantation. Harry didn't quite catch what was going on before falling into a kind of stupor.

When he "awoke" he was standing in a room which he did not recognize. His mind was still reeling when someone spoke up loudly next to him. "'Lo Harry. Long time no see." Harry looked around and located the owner of the voice. It was a girl with a pleasant, oval face and wavy, dark brown hair that fell to her shoulders. She was slightly shorter than Harry and had the build of a beater, broad shoulders, muscular arms and fairly curvy. For reasons of which Harry wasn't aware, she looked slightly familiar like she was a relative of someone he knew. He didn't then realize how very right he was. Her eyes were hazel, augmented by thick, long eyelashes. Most would describe her as quite pretty if not a knock-out. She had a sort of subtle grace about her that exuded confidence. Harry was rather struck, to say the least.

"H-hello, do I know you?" he asked softly. She gave him a calculating look.

"Very funny. Where've you been? Not out I'm sure as you know that's completely against the rules." She cocked her head to the side, and Harry again was sent searching his memory for her identity. When he didn't answer she spoke again. "Come on, you can tell me."

"W-who are you?" Harry asked, squinting at her as if the new perspective would help him place her.

"Harry, you're starting to scare me. Just drop the charade or I'll have to get Dad."

"Please, just tell me who you are so I don't go mad." Harry was starting to get irritated. Why was this girl so intent on infuriating him.

"Harry, for the last time, stop that! I'm going to have to get Dad."

"Fine, get your Dad! Maybe he can give me some information!"

"What is wrong with you? Do you need to see someone?"

"N-n, yes, I need to see Dumbledore. This is his bloody fault with that stupid incantation." Comprehension dawned on the girls face.

"Oh," she sighed, drawing it out as if to say she knew exactly what was going on now. "You've been to see Dumbledore again. Dad's not going to be happy. You know he told you last week to stop going on your little visits without a chaperone. I'm going to give you one more chance before I fetch him." She gave him one last expectant stare before exiting the room. Harry was left with his thoughts. Who was this girl and why did she seem to know him? What was this business about not going without a chaperone?

He wasn't given much time as the girl re-entered with a messy haired man in his early forties. His face was stern and his gaze was set right on Harry. The man looked so much like James Potter that Harry gasped and stepped back.

"W-who are you?" he asked in a shaky voice. Who would impersonate his father? Was something happening with Voldemort's followers or, he shuddered to think, was Voldemort not defeated after all? A sickening feeling rose up in Harry's insides.

"See Dad, he's playing this idiotic game. Keeps saying he doesn't know who anyone is." The girl had spoken up again.

"Harry, what did I tell you about visiting Dumbledore? If I'm not much mistaken I told you to stop sneaking off by yourself. It's not safe for you to go flooing to Hogwarts. The network could easily be intercepted and it's not safe for you to go apparating into Hogsmeade come to that. This little "playing-dumb" thing isn't going to get you out of anything either." The pseudo-James gave him an appraising stare. Harry didn't budge.

"Who are you and why are you trying to impersonate my father?" Harry asked through clenched teeth. It all seemed so cruel after all he had gone through.

"Harry, drop it." pseudo-James snapped, loosing his patience. "You may be of-age but I'm still your father. Dumbledore thinks its best for you to stay here while you're going through your auror training and your mother and I agree. Of course we've already discussed the whole thing….many times."

"I asked you who you were!" Harry hissed, whipping his wand from his pocket. "Are you a Death Eater?" For the first time in their conversation, the pseudo-James looked a little shocked.

"Maddie, please go floo Dumbledore. Tell him something's amiss with Harry," he said, not taking his eyes from Harry. The girl, Maddie, scurried from the room toward the fire. "Harry, please calm down. I'm your Dad, remember, old Prongs. Something's happened to you but we'll soon set it right." His voice was soothing and Harry was almost lulled into complacency, almost.

"I've just defeated the most powerful wizard of the century; a puny Death Eater will prove no problem," Harry spat, his eyes flashing. James pulled out his wand slowly.

"Harry, I am not, nor was I ever, a Death Eater. I don't know what you're talking about with the whole defeating Voldemort thing. We've been tracking him and, well, he's not defeated….yet."

"SHUT UP!" Harry boomed. "I saw him. I've been working for years and he's gone," Harry was now bordering on hysteria. The man was just trying to unnerve him and it wouldn't work. He had defeated Voldemort; he wasn't coming back. He drank in all the man's movements. He was about to do a charm; Harry could sense it.

"Stupefy," James shot as Harry yelled:

"Expelliarmus!" James' wand flew from him into Harry's outstretched hand. Harry let out a maniacal laugh. "Who's the superior wizard now?" he asked malevolently. James looked stunned.

"Harry! What is wrong with you?"

"Don't make any sudden moves or I'll be forced to curse you into oblivion," Harry said icily. James held up his arms in defeat, looking at Harry warily.

"I won't Harry, I'm not going to do anything." The two participated in a stare off till the door opened again to reveal Albus Dumbledore.

"Albus," James breathed, clearly relieved. "He's gone off his rocker, seems to think I'm a Death Eater. What did you do to him?"

"Harry hasn't come to see me today," Dumbledore said slowly, eyeing Harry with interest.

"What!" Harry exclaimed, momentarily dropping his wand hand. "Professor, please tell me you haven't lost your mind. I saw you just a few minutes ago. We were at the Riddle House and I'd just defeated Voldemort. We were talking, I asked about Ron and Hermione…." Harry trailed off upon receiving a blank look from the old man.

"You see Albus!" James cried. "Something's addled his brains." He sounded completely beside himself with worry; there was nothing scathing in his words.

"Harry," Albus stated, waving his hand dismissively at James. "Please sit down. It seems that there is a story somewhere in all of this and I would like to hear it." Harry looked at him suspiciously but sat down in the chair which Dumbledore had conjured for him. Dumbledore himself sat down as did James (though he kept a safe distance between himself and Harry).

"There's not much to tell. I defeated Voldemort right before you came. You showed up and wanted me to talk about it but I didn't want to. I asked you about Ron and Hermione; you said the healers didn't know what would happen." An involuntary tear slipped down Harry's still muddied cheek. "Then I asked what I'd done it all for, what I'd gotten out of it other than dead parents, a dead godfather, a lost love, and two dieing friends." Harry stopped, breathing heavily.

"Anything else?"

"You were there! Why do I always have to repeat myself?" Harry cried. Seeing that Dumbledore wanted him to continue none-the-less, he began again. "I said I wished I'd never been marked. You said I shouldn't say that, that I'd gotten rid of a grave evil and all that jazz. Then you said it would have been much worse if I hadn't been marked. I said prove it; you said okay. Then you did this funny incantation and I was here being grilled by this girl then him." Harry sent James a glare.

Dumbledore considered all of this for a moment. "So, you say you defeated Voldemort?" Harry nodded. "It seems you have jumped worlds or something along those lines. In this world, Harry, Voldemort is still very much alive. Out of curiosity, how were you marked?" Harry was puzzled. How had he jumped worlds?

"Well, my scar I guess." Harry lifted up his bangs to reveal the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

"How did you get that scar," Dumbledore questioned sharply.

"I got it the night my parents died." James gave a little gasp but Harry ignored it. "My mum died to save me and when Voldemort tried to kill me the curse rebounded on him, making him not much more than a spirit," Harry repeated the old story.

"When?"

"Halloween, when I was one." Dumbledore's face tightened.

"My God, James, he is from a different world. In his world Sirius didn't get to your house fast enough. Peter's betrayal actually worked." Dumbledore had turned to a very shocked James. Harry looked between them.

"Wait, that means," Harry turned toward James, astonished. "You're alive!"

A/N: I hope you liked it. I should be updating soon so look for the next installment. Please, now that you've read, review. It's quite easy, just push that little button, you can do it, come on then, that's a good little reader.