Harry, Meet Harry Summary:
Chapter
One
Harry cried out in surprise as he was
ripped away from his four-poster bed in the Gryffindor Tower and into
a small cupboard under the stairs. He slammed his head against the
slanted ceiling andfelt his limbs tangle together in the cramped
quarters.
"Bloody hell," he cursed, and rubbed his head. "What am I doing here?" Harry grumbled, and swiped his hands at the cobwebs that ghosted over his eyes. It was dark, but judging from the light that seeped in from the bottom of the door, it was still light out.
"Hello," Harry heard suddenly.
Harry whipped his head up and stared into a pair of solemn green eyes that blinked at him owlishly from the dark corner of the cupboard.
"Harry?"
The small boy nodded and continued to stare at Harry.
"Are you the angel?" he whispered.
Harry then noticed that his small self was cradling a badly damaged arm to his chest. Harry flinched at the sight, feeling his own arm throb at the memory. He remembered that day. It was the day he accidentally broke a dish while he was first learning how to clean up after dinner. Uncle Vernon threw a fit and dragged him by his hair into the garage where he repeatedly beat him with a large wrench. Harry tried to protect himself by shielding his body with his arm, but the hard metal only broke his frail arm.
"Harry," he said slowly. "Do you know why I'm here?"
Little Harry nervously bit the corner of his lip and nodded. How strange. The little green-eyed, black-haired boy looked like an exotic little creature. Harry never noticed that before. Had he always looked so strange, delicate, and tiny?
"I prayed that someone would come and help," he said, and offered his arm out to 'Big Harry'.
"Can you?"
Harry felt a rush of emotions overcome him. How many days had he spent in the cupboard under the stairs, praying to God for someone to find him or take him away? How many days had he spent blinking back tears in the absolute darkness as he nursed fractured bones and bruises? Too many to count, that was for sure.
Harry reached for his wand that was hidden behind the waistband of his pajamas (constant vigilance!) before remembering that he used to be a freak about anything supernatural or unexplained. Harry put his hand out and stared intently at the little Harry.
"My name's Harry. I can help you."
Little Harry broke out into a shy grin.
"My name's Harry too!" he said excitedly, and they clasped hands.
Harry grinned as well.
"It's good to meet you, Harry."
Harry hesitated before speaking again.
"I can help you, but you have to trust me, okay?"
Small Harry nodded a fraction of an inch before scooting back a little further.
"What are you going to do?" He asked in a frightened voice.
Harry reached into his waistband and took out his wand. As soon as Little Harry caught glimpse of it, he threw his head down onto the dirty mattress and whimpered.
"Don't hurt me!" he cried out desperately.
Harry dropped his wand onto the mattress as if he were holding a hot coal, and tried to soothe the other Harry.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, please, I just want to help you." he said in a hushed voice, making slow circles with his hand on the back of Little Harry's back. Eventually, Little Harry stopped trembling and calmed down enough to look at him again.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I got scared when I saw the stick,"
Harry nodded.
"I understand. But this stick will help me heal your arm."
Small Harry's eyebrows crinkled together in confusion.
"How?"
"Well," Harry began slowly. "I have a special talent, and this stick here is my special... tool."
"Like a screw driver?" Small Harry asked innocently.
"Yeah, like a screw driver..." Harry said with a shrug.
"Okay," the smaller Harry said, with an accepting smile. "I use tools too! To help Aunt Petunia."
Harry sighed. Was he always that trusting? Maybe he was too young to be jaded yet.
"Harry? How old are you?"
"I'm five and a half," he said proudly.
Hm, so he was still very young.
"Okay, well, let me see your arm now," Harry said.
Little Harry hesitated before uncurling his arm away from his chest. Harry gingerly touched the surface of the skin with a wince. It was badly bruised and he was sure the wrist was broken.
Harry thanked Hermione for making him learn healing spells. She insisted that he learn because he was prone to "getting into accidents", especially when it involved Slytherins, Quidditch, or Voldemort.
"Okay, hold still. I'm not a Doctor, so it won't be perfect and it won't be fully healed, but it'll take away some pain."
The smaller Harry nodded and shut his eyes tightly.
"Episkey," Harry whispered softly, aiming his wand at the arm.
Instantly bruises began to fade away into a pale yellow and green, and the wrist seemed to have mended itself.
When Harry looked up, Harry saw the amazement in Little Harry's eyes as he inspected his arm.
"You really are an angel!" he said in awe, and launched himself at Harry.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," he said over and over again, smothering Harry with a tight hug.
Harry ducked his head so the smaller Harry wouldn't see the tear glimmer in the corner of his eye. He was so thankful to have a friend, so thankful to have someone who wanted to help him.
"You're welcome," Harry whispered. "But first, how does your arm feel?"
"My wrist feels better, but it still aches."
"That's expected, but it should be completely healed in a few weeks."
"Okay, Harry."
"How do you feel everywhere else?" Harry asked with concern.
Little Harry looked down and tugged a ratty blanket over his legs.
"I-I'm good," he stuttered.
Harry put a hand under his chin and lifted, forcing the green orbs to meet his own.
"Are you hungry?" Harry asked, knowing that HUNGER was always a predominant feeling in his childhood life.
"I had half an apple yesterday night."
"Damn Aunt Petunia, can't you feed the kid something once in a while?" Harry mumbled under his breath.
"What?" the smaller Harry asked.
Harry shook his head.
"It's nothing. Listen, is anyone home?"
Small Harry cocked his head to the side, as if thinking.
"Mm, I'm not sure. I haven't been out for the whole day."
"Alright, let me go find some food - "
Harry yelped as he was slammed into the hard stone floor of the Sixth Year Boy's Dormitory.
"HARRY!" Hermione yelled, and threw her arms around him.
"Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!" she ranted into his hair, still tightly squeezing him.
"Mwthiowe."
"What?" Hermione said, pulling away.
"Sorry, your hair. Okay, so you won't believe what happened to me just now."
Hermione and Ron stared at him with wide eyes.
"Mate, you've been missing all morning. You're lucky it's a Saturday, or else the Professors would have sent the Aurors on you." Ron said.
Harry gave them a wide grin.
"Something incredible happened though."
Hermione nodded in agreement.
"Yes, something incredible must have. You just disappeared and reappeared right on Hogwarts grounds! Apparation and portkeys aren't supposed to work!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Well, I don't think I apparated. Technically." Harry said hesitantly.
Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Care to explain?"
"I sort of... traveled back into time." Harry said sheepishly.
Hermione pressed the back of her hand on Harry's forehead.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
Harry batted her hand away and scooted onto the bed.
"No really. I met myself. When I was five." Harry said seriously.
"Bloody hell," Ron exclaimed.
"Yeah. That's what I said," Harry said with a laugh.
"... so let me get this straight. You were in your dorm one minute, and on Privet Drive the next?!" Hermione screeched, obviously frazzled by the news.
"Mmhm," Harry hummed nonchalantly, picking at the thread of his pajamas.
"The cupboard, more specifically."
"Harry," Hermione sighed. "You have to give me more information to go on. You were in the cupboard, you saw your five-year-old self?"
"Yeah, and I healed him. His arm was badly injured - "
"You what?!" Hermione screamed.
"I healed him - "
"No, I got that, but... that's..."
"Impossible?" Ron finished.
"Yes!" she said, throwing her hands up in frustration.
"Guys, listen, I don't think it's that impossible."
"How did you get there in the first place? How did you come back? What if you had gotten stuck there?!"
"I'm... not sure," Harry finished dully.
"This goes against the law of time, Harry." Hermione said firmly.
"You used to do it all the time during Third Year," Harry pointed out.
"Yes, but that's different, I was using a magical artifact issued to me with permission from the Ministry. From what you're telling me, you just got dumped into the past!"
"I know it sound strange," Harry started. "But I actually believe my five-year-old self might have had something to do with it."
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.
"I asked him if he knew how I got there, and he said that he 'prayed' for someone to help him. You should have seen him, me, whatever. His arm was really hurt. I think he needed me."
"Unbelievable," Hermione murmured under her breath. "For you to be strong enough to actually pull someone from the original timeline... that's unheard of. I don't think it's ever been done."
"Well," Harry said, scratching his head. "I always seem to do things that have never been done before."
"Harry! What if it messes up the timeline? I don't think it's natural for you to meet yourself! What if you come back one day to our time, and something is horribly different?"
"Now that you mention it..." Harry started.
"I vaguely remember meeting someone in the cupboard when I was about five. He just popped in one day and helped me. That's.... weird. I never had that memory before."
Harry suddenly looked down at his wrist.
"And you see this?!" Harry exclaimed, pointing at his right wrist. "I used to have this small crescent shaped scar right here, but now it's not there anymore! I got that scar because my arm didn't heal properly!"
Hermione gave him a frightened look.
"Harry," She said uneasily. "You're changing yourself. You're changing your timeline. You're changing your life.
"I know," Harry said softly.
"You think it'll happen again?" Ron asked.
Harry shook his head and dove under the covers.
"I'm not sure," he said.
"What if you don't come back next time?" Hermione asked in a frightened voice.
"I'm sure I will." Harry reassured.
"Promise?" Ron and Hermione said at the same time. They glanced at eachother.
"Yeah. I promise." Harry said with a small smile.
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Thanks for reading! This is a longer, revised version of the first Harry, Meet Harry. I realized that I would like to take this story more seriously, so I tried to make it longer and more 'novella' like.