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Disclaimer

I own nothing of the Harry Potter franchise.

Glad to clear that up

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Hi everyone. This is another idea I had and that I'd like to introduce you to. It's a little weird, even to me but I thought to give it a chance. I'm sorry I haven't worked in my other stories but I expect to do it.

Meanwhile, here it is , "Sly and Gryff"

Chapter 1

Lily Potter stood next to her mentor, Minerva McGonagall in the staff table of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was September first and the school year was starting. She looked at her raven head daughter, Amelia "Amy" Potter, sat at Ravenclaw table, next to her best friends and smiled. Amy had just got her OWLS, all O and was starting her sixth year, as was Luna Lovegood, one of Amy's best friends. With the two girls sat two older girls by one year. These two girls were known in the entire school as being the smartest, most beautiful and most untouchable girls of Hogwarts. They were seventh year students Daphne Greengrass and Hermione Granger, the Ice Princesses, Amy and Luna tutors and best friends. Lily beamed with pride at the group of four girls, who were engrossed in their conversation and barely noticed the headmaster raising from his chair and starting is usual speech after the feast.

"To those that are returning, I welcome you to another year of school. To those that are joining us for the first time, welcome to Hogwarts, I hope you will enjoy your time among us. I have only a couple of announcements. The forbidden forest is just that, forbidden and you are advised to keep away. Our caretaker, Mr. Filch has asked me to inform you that the banned items list, pinned at his office door has been updated. Please, inform yourselves and respect the rules." After that, the elder man sighed.

"I'd also like to inform that bullying will not be tolerated and you are advised to keep your blood purity opinions to yourselves. Misbehaviour will be punished."

Lily Potter noticed some faces sneering, most from Slytherin and made a mental note of all of them.

"I hope you haven't forget all from previous years and that you enjoy this coming year. Now..." he never finished. Suddenly, a gust of wind was felt inside the great hall, accompanied by a buzz that increased in volume while the wind became more intense.

"What is happening?" asked Lily Potter, after an intense light ball appeared in front of the great hall gates. By order of the headmaster, the students joined the staff and the teachers rose wards and shields around them for protection, noticing that the buzz and the wind were still increasing and the light was shining brighter while the ball was expanding.

"I have no idea." admitted Dumbledore. He truly had no idea of what was happening and he was growing restless. The light ball increased almost to a sphere with two meters in diameter and shone brightly, forcing many to look another way. There was some whispering and some whimpers among the students and then, then something strange happened. The ball of light shone even more, blinding everyone and loud shouts were heard coming from it. With the shouts, a yelp was also heard before crashing sounds were heard in the great hall. After that, the ball of light diminished until disappearance, and both the wind and the buzz stopped.

"Bloody hell, get off me you stupid lizard." a voice was heard near Hufflepuff table. After some blinking, the students and the staff were able to see again, noticing that something had happened near the badger's table. Only the desserts were still on the table and at the Hufflepuff table, many of the desserts near the great hall doors were in the floor, with something or someone near them. In response the voice, a yelp was heard. It wasn't a yelp of anything anyone had heard before. Something moved near Hufflepuff table, something that looked like a scaled tail and the voice was heard again.

"Get off me. And stop that. GRYFF! "

"Not so loud." moaned another voice, strangely similar with the first, this one near Slytherin table "I think I hit my head on something."

No one said anything. The students were silent, waiting for the staff reaction and the staff was waiting for Dumbledore's. He was about to talk when the angered voice sounded again.

"DAMN IT, STOP LICKING ME!" after the shout, a whimper was heard and some sort of creature rose. It was a great lizard that walked in two feet and had two arms. Some muggleborns gasped as they recognized the lizard as a dinosaur, a velociraptor to be exact. It looked that the dinosaur was sad and backed away from where it had been, focusing in the desserts that remained at the table.

The second voice sounded again, this time accompanied by a hooded man raising himself from the ground. He wore dark clothes and a cloak, which were beginning to get wore off and travelling boots. He was also wearing a hide vest that had several empty pockets. One of his hands was in his head and there seemed to be some blood on it but he just shook his head supporting himself with the help of Slytherin table.

"Thanks a lot Sly, now you hurt his feelings." the hooded man said with a sigh.

"Better his feelings than my ribs." that same voice gasped in pain, attracting the dinosaur, who ducked again "Oh fine, I forgive you, you big lizard. Now get off." The dinosaur yelped happier and walked to the other man, who chuckled before noticing everyone at the staff table.

"Oh, hello, we mean you no harm. We come in peace." the hooded man said, raising his hands before everyone. The dinosaur chose that moment to lick the man's face, making his hood falling, revealing his untamed hair , his green eyes and a lightning scar in his forehead. Lily and Amy Potter gasped as they saw the man. Except for the eyes and the scar, he was very similar with James Potter "Stop that, Rap." The dinosaur yelped again, amused and went back to eating while the man groaned and waved his hand near his head. There was a small glow and the dinosaur saliva disappeared, along with the blood he had on his head "Are you OK, Sly?"

His response was a groan and for moments, it seemed that another glow appeared near the Hufflepuff table.

"You try to be squished by that lizard after being ejected by a portal WITHOUT STABILIZATION RUNES!" the last part was shouted and the other man flinched.

"Hey, I drew them. We only had chalk, what was I supposed to do? It's not my fault if Rap licked them..."

"Bloody lizard, I think I had a rib or two broken." groaned the voice. Another man rose from the ground, this one smeared with pudding and cake, not to mention the wet face. Everyone was amazed as they saw a man that was exactly the same as the other man, dark unruly hair, green eyes and a lightning scar in his forehead. They were almost alike, except for the fact that the first one was bulkier than him. This man was also wearing dark clothes, a cloak and travelling boots, all of them in better condition than his companion's. As his companion, he was also wearing a hide vest and had a couple of daggers strapped at the vest.

Once again, Lily and Amy gasped after seeing another person that looked almost like James Potter. This man also shook his head and looked around.

"Hogwarts again... and let me guess, It's September 1st, 1997."

Before anyone could say anything, Dumbledore stepped forward.

"Indeed it is. I would like to welcome you to Hogwarts, although it seems to me that you are familiarized with our school. I am headmaster Dumbledore and I have to say that I am very curious on who you are or how you travelled here. May I ask what your names are?" To Dumbledore's surprise, the thinner man scowled at him and the bulkier man smiled at him.

"It's great to see you again, professor. I can honestly say that I missed you." replied the bulkier man while the thinner one crossed his arms. Dumbledore simply rose his eyebrows and tried to hide his confusion. Although they looked a lot with James Potter, he had never seen these men before.

"If I may, let me do the introductions." the bulkier man said "My name is Harry James Potter." everyone gasped and he noticed it, even though he chose to ignore it. So did the other man, who was still looking at Dumbledore, not caring to look at the other people. "This handsome guy here" Harry said, pointing to his companion, who looked at Harry with furrowed eyebrows "is also Harry James Potter." Another gasp sounded. People thought they might be twins but having the same name... there was something strange there. Dumbledore rose his eyebrows. In the back, Lily Potter gasped and almost fainted. She was supported by McGonagall and Amy Potter had tears in her eyes and her hands at her mouth.

"Since we have the same names, we usually reply to our aliases. I am known as Gryff, a small token from my house at Hogwarts and Harry replies to Sly for the same reasons."

Whispers sounded again.

The dinosaur yelped, as if he was remembering Gryff he was also there.

"Finally, that is Raptor. We usually call him Rap and yes, he is a velociraptor. and no, he isn't dangerous. We took care of that. He is as docile as a puppy."

"A heavy puppy." groaned Sly, only heard by Gryff.

"Are you telling me you are or were students here?" asked Dumbledore after some moments, confused and unable to associate the names. Besides, it was impossible for them to be Harry Potter. It was indeed a very strange tale.

"Not exactly, you see, we are what is called dimension travellers." replied Gryff and Dumbledore's eyebrows shoot to the ceiling. He genuinely gaped as did most of the staff and students "Not only we come from a different universe from yours, we also come from different universes between ourselves. As an example, in my universe, I was sorted into Gryffindor house in my first year, September 1st, 1991 while in Sly's universe, at the same time, he was sorted into Slytherin's house." He gave them a moment to digest the information.

"This is fantastic." replied Dumbledore. His eyes were twinkling and he was clearly excited "How can this be? How did you do it? Why?"

"Calm down, Dumbledore. We don't want you to have a coronary attack, do we?" asked Sly with a cold smirk while Gryff smirked. Sly waved his hand in front of him and he glowed again. The light focused and assembled itself in numbers and letters. Seventeen years, one month and one day.

"Again..." sighed Sly, vanishing the light, ignoring the reactions to his wandless magic.

"So, not only we are travelling between dimensions, we are also travelling to a fixed point in time, between dimensions?" asked Gryff, ignoring the headmaster for a moment. Sly widened his eyes and snorted, noticing that Dumbledore had a face of not understanding.

"How many hours did you spent watching Dr. Who, again?" taunted Sly, making Gryff rolling his eyes "Although the analogy may be correct."

"Then we failed. Again." sighed Gryff, looking to the ceiling, and closing his eyes. Sly looked at Dumbledore, who was still expecting a chance to speak.

"Before we speak to you and tell you our story, is there any chance to get a meal? And may we ask for Hogwarts hospitality for a couple of days? We'd like to make some research in the library."

The request took everyone by surprise but Dumbledore was overjoyed. It was a chance he had to satisfy his curiosity.

"I suppose it is possible. " he said, stroking his beard, trying to hide his excitement and failing completely "We will need to inform the ministry and the aurors of your arrival in our world, you would have to register yourselves as citizens..."

"Yes, we know that." replied Sly with a sigh "We have done all that many times, it's nothing new."

Lily, who wanted nothing more than step forward and hug these boys, both of whom were apparently her son from another universe, noticed the exhaustion in Sly's voice. She found herself wondering what exactly these boys had been through.

"So, is there a Harry Potter in this universe?" asked Gryff with a smile, although the exhaustion was also clear in his voice.

Dumbledore mood changed completely to sullen, as did the mood of some of the staff, especially Lilly Potter who wanted to cry again.

"Harry Potter died in Halloween 1981." answered Dumbledore in a low voice. Both Sly and Gryff nodded and looked to the ground for some moments.

"What about the dark idiot?" asked Gryff with anger in his voice, making some of the students gasp and others sneer at him.

"The dark lord was also defeated that night, although not killed. By some unknown magic, he was able to return to the world of the living three years ago, with the help of his son..."

"His son?" both Sly and Gryff asked in shock. That was a new one.

"Yes, well, I assume we have a lot to talk about..." replied Dumbledore with a sad smile.

"If Harry Potter is dead, who is the boy-who-lived?" asked Sly, looking to Dumbledore, who looked at him, not understanding the question.

"The boy-who-lived?"

"There is no such thing as that idiocy here." realized Sly with a smile "I'm starting to like this universe."

"Agreed." replied Gryff with a smile, looking at everyone. It was nice to see many known faces again. His eyes locked with Lily Potter's and he smile sadly to her. Lily smiled back to the boy and felt a push in her mind, as if asking permission to enter. Realizing that Gryff was still looking at her, she allowed him to her mind. His message was short and simple.

"I'm very sorry for the loss of your son." after that, Gryff broke the eye contact, leaving Lily in an uncertainty and continued to look around, losing some time looking at two other people but not contacting them. He knew Sly would also have noticed them.

"What about some food, then?" asked Sly, noticing that Rap had almost finished to eat the desserts of the tables. Dumbledore clapped his hands and summoned a house elf with instructions to bring them food and prepare quarters for two. He would call for Madam Bones of the Aurors to be present.

"Now, I understand these were exciting moments and many of you may have questions, but I'd like you all to get to your common rooms. Tomorrow is a school day and you need to be prepared for it." Some students groaned, but obeyed to the headmaster, although the Hufflepuffs were scared to pass next to Raptor. Noticing this, Gryff called Raptor and grabbing his arm, both vanished from the great hall. Everyone but Sly gasped in shock and a couple of moments later, Gryff appeared in the hall again.

"I left him in the Forbidden Forest. He should have enough game around." said Gryff, answering to the unasked question. Sly nodded.

" What about the creatures in the forest?" asked someone, who they didn't identify. They simply shrugged.

"Rap can be as vicious as any werewolf. I'm more concerned with the nasty critters population than his safety." replied Gryff, sitting with Sly. Both removed a small trunk from their vests and waved over it. The trunks increased their size and the boys removed a notebook and pen each from the inside, closing them immediately. They started to talk among them and ignored everyone that was leaving the great hall all of them looking at them and commenting them.

Dumbledore intercepted Lily when she was attempting to approach the two boys.

"Lily, I won't assume I know or understand how you must be feeling, but you must be careful. These two boys are not the Harry you lost."

"How can you say that, Albus?" Lily asked, tears in her eyes "Look at them, they are so much like James and have my eyes, how can they not be my sons?"

"All I am saying is that you need to be careful." Lily Potter was a rational and intelligent woman. For that reason, she was able to understand the hidden words of the headmaster. With a nod, she replied to Dumbledore and calmed herself, before giving another step in the boys direction.

"Mum?" asked Amy, attracting her mother's attention.

"Amy, what are you doing here? Why didn't you go to your common room?" Amy had stayed behind, intending on discovering more about these two boys that claimed to be her long dead brother, dead before she was even born. Both Potter women looked at each other and made an unspoken agreement. They walked side by side and reached the two boys.

"I was wondering how long it would take." said Sly while drawing a rune cluster in the paper, to which Gryff smirked. Lily and Amy didn't understand and Lily opened her mouth to ask the question but Sly anticipated himself "I was wondering how long it would take for someone to come and make questions." Sly finished the drawing of the cluster and dropped the pen, turning to face their visitors. Gryff had a small smile directed to the two women. One of them they both knew from pictures they had seen after their entrance in Hogwarts. The other one, they had never seen, although the similarities between them were many.

"I assume this lovely young lady is your daughter, Mrs. Potter?" asked Sly, raising from his seat and asking for Lily's hand, as a proper pureblood would do. That shocked the two of them but Lily extended her hand none the less. After a small kiss in her knuckles, Sly repeated the gesture for Amy while Gryff was doing it to Lily. Both girls blushed by their behaviour.

"I am very pleased to meet you..." said Sly, looking at Amy, waiting for her to tell her name. Amy noticed he was expecting if and blushed even more.

"A-Amy... My name is Amy Potter." she said and Lily had to hide a knowing smile. It was the first time Amy allowed herself to be affected this much by anyone.

"Have a seat then. It would be impolite to leave you two ladies standing." replied Sly while Gryff smiled.

"I assume you have questions?" asked Gryff, who was sat next to Lily, in front of Sly, next to Amy.

"Are you really my brother?" asked Amy with some hope and doubt in her voice. Lily glared at Amy and the two boys changed looks.

"Yes and no." replied Gryff, attracting the attention of both women, who were unsure of what they had heard.

"What do you mean?" asked Lily, not sure she would like the answer.

"We are indeed Harry Potter. Despite coming from different universes, we are both the child of one Lily Potter and one James Potter." replied Sly, looking Lily in the eyes, hoping she would understand. She did.

"One Lily Potter and one James Potter... among many." she said with sorrow. She dropped her head and felt someone squeezing her hand softly. She looked at it and noticed it was the one known as Gryff.

"I'm sorry. We know how it feels. The hope that you got, the thought that you would recover all that you lost, be whole again... we never met our parents, you know?" Gryff continued softly and Amy gasped while Lily held her breath "The night Voldemort came for us, in each of our universes, he killed our fathers at the entrance of the house and our mothers in front of the crib. That is the only memory we have and remember from our parents. The night of the attack... Don't assume we don't care, all right?" Lily cried. After hearing that, she wanted nothing more than to hug both boys and be the mother they never had.

"We lost everything too and I'm not talking only of y-our mothers and fathers-" Gryff as able to correct himself before he said anything he would regret. Amy noticed the correction and hid a small smile "Throughout our lives, we lost people that were dear to us, even those we loved the most. It didn't took long to discover that their counterparts in each alternate universe weren't the same as they were in ours. Each and every one of them is different, even if it's a very small difference, it is still there."

"I understand what you are trying to say." replied Lily with a sad smile "As much as I want to, none of you is the boy I gave birth to..."

"Which doesn't mean that we can't get some type of closure." replied Sly with a sigh "There seem to be many similarities between our universes. The main difference is that blasted Halloween night. We may not be what you lost, and you are not what we lost, but we can help each other to find peace.

Lily looked at Sly and considered his words. With a not, she smiled.

"You are quite insightful." she said and noticed Amy's tears falling.

"Like Gryff said, both of us lost everything. I lost even more than him, to be honest... We know very well what you are feeling, believe me. That squeeze you are feeling in your heart? That's hope that everything will be all right, that you will be able to finally fill the void you were left with... but then you will always remember..."

Sly didn't finish. He wasn't able to. Luckily for him, the house elves appeared with plates of vegetables, roast chicken and roast potatoes.

"I missed Hogwarts food." said Gryff with a smile, picking some vegetables. Sly was simply contemplating the food, his head hidden behind his fists.

"I didn't." replied Sly with a sad voice, serving himself from the chicken and the vegetables after Gryff.

While the boys were having dinner, Dumbledore returned to the great hall, accompanied by Amelia Bones, James Potter and Sirius Black. Noticing how both men were behaving strangely, Lily and Amy left Sly and Gryff with their dinner and approach the two men while Madam Bones spoke to Dumbledore before addressing the two visitors.

"Lily, is it true? There are two Harrys like Dumbledore said?" asked James before Lily could say anything. She simply nodded and pointed to the two boys who were having dinner while talking among themselves. James wanted to run to them but was hold by his wife. When he tried to complain, she glared at him and he felt in disadvantage.

"James, I barely know those boys but I can tell you that they have suffered too. They lost everything they had and they are still trying to cope with it. It won't help anyone to jump them and try to force them to open up to us. Please, don't do anything rush. We have been given a new chance, let's not spoil it. You too, Padfoot."

Both Sirius and James nodded and kept looking at the two boys, who finished their dinner and were writing in the notebook. Dumbledore decided to join them then.

"Mr. and Mr. Potter, If I may, I'd like to introduce you to Madam Bones, the director of the Auror Corps."

"Indeed, a pleasure, Madam Bones." replied Sly, fully aware that would be impolite to greet the director as he would greet a normal lady while she was on service "This may be a shock to you, but in each of our realities, we've met before and I have to say that I am quite pleased to find you well."

Sly's words confused some but eventually, they all sat down. Dumbledore was present, as was most of the staff, with Madam Bones and aurors Potter and Black. Amy Potter was also there because she had the right to be there and as Sly and Gryff came to realize, Amy Potter's temper was quite the same as they had been told Lily Potter's was.

"Now, if we may begin our meeting, I'd like to know exactly who you are." said madam Bones, starting a data quill over a roll of parchment.

"I will start with my story until the point I met Gryff. After that, Gryff will tell his story and after that, I will resume the telling over our travels through the different universes until we got to this one. Will that be acceptable?"

"I don't see why not." replied madam Bones with a nod. Suddenly, everyone felt in expectation.

To Be Continued