The Start
Part 1
Harry looked out at the white expanse, still blinking the flash of green out of his vision. It was odd: aside from the light spots in his eyes, he had no trouble looking into the vast and bright whiteness that now surrounded him, despite the darkness of the Forbidden Forest he had died in.
It was surreal, turning in slow circles and inspecting the high arches of what looked to Harry like King's Cross Station. It was smooth and white, more flawless than any marble he'd ever seen, and cleaner than the real King's Cross Station could ever dream of being.
"What's the point of being the Master of Death if you just die on me?" Harry whipped around at the sound of a voice, and then blinked in confused surprise at what he saw.
"... Who're you?"
The figure was barely a silhouette, a shadow of a person completely lacking any real substance. They floated at Harry's eye level, high in the air because of how small they were. The figure was almost… childlike. A child that floated and tilted their head in a way that radiated ominousness due to the lack of facial features in their shadowy face.
"I am Death." The figure said, drifting in circles around Harry and making him turn to keep them in view. "You'd have made an excellent Master of Death if you'd just remained alive. But no, you just had to go into the Dark Forest and die."
"It needed to happen." Harry frowned. "It was the only way to make Voldemort vulnerable. Nagini is the only Horcrux now."
"Mm… yes… quite." Death murmured, pulling their knees to their chest and rotating until they were nearly upside down. "You treated my Hallows so badly, you know. Abandoning the Stone, never using the Wand, neglecting the Cloak…"
"I never wanted them, they all just sorta fell into my lap one way or another. Two were given to me." Harry frowned, "It just happened."
"Yes… you were one of the few who did not seek my Hallows with greed or malicious conquest." Death murmured. Harry felt like Death was smiling, but there wasn't a way to tell from the expressionless black void they had for a face. "That's why you'd have made such a good Master of Death."
"Okay, why should that matter?" Harry questioned with a frown, "Wouldn't you rather not have a master at all?"
"You misunderstand, I have no Master." Death seemed to laugh, "Master of Death is simply a title; it expresses my acknowledgment of a person and allows the bearer certain… privileges."
"I don't need any more special privileges." Harry scowled, "Being the 'Chosen One' was bad enough."
"Hmmm, I've decided that I like you, Harry Potter." Death said. They released their knees and floated right up to him, reaching forward to brush shadowy fingers across Harry's cheek. The contact made him shiver. "You know what? I'm giving you a new life. A brand new one."
"What?" Death retreated, their shadowy figure dispensing slowly, and Harry reached a panicked hand out. "No! If you can just bring me back then give me my old life back! My friends need me!"
"This will be much more fun." Death laughed, the sound ringing around the empty space brightly. "I'd like to see how you react to a situation out of your control. The only thing I'll tell you, to start off with, is that you are fifteen."
"What?" Harry repeated, reaching for the black wisps that were nearly gone. "I'm seventeen, what are you talking about??"
"When you get stuck, I'll be there." Death's shadow was completely gone, and yet their lilting voice echoed through the station as clearly as when they'd been floating beside him. "Making plans and correcting uncertainty is my job. We can't have little holes being poked in my story now can we? The rest is up to you."
Laughter followed Harry as his head started to spin, and then he was dragged forward until he felt like screaming. It was worse than a Portkey, worse than Apparating, and Harry wished he'd stayed dead.
——————————
Harry bolted upright with a gasp, looking around the room with panicked eyes as he tried to figure out where he was. He was laying in a four-poster bed with blue sheets, and there were little lopsided stars painted on the ceiling. The room was large, and it was filled with bookshelves and belongings and furniture of all sorts.
A couch was placed along the far wall, a reading nook was tucked over where the window was, a desk and chair sat neatly in a corner with books strewn all over it, and the floors were a smooth white marble. It looked fancy in the same way Harry remembered Malfoy Manor being.
The door swung open very suddenly, and Harry's breathing completely stopped as the spitting image of Lily Potter opened the door and stood in the doorway with her brows drawn in concern.
"Hadrian, are you okay?" She asked, noticing in his ragged breathing and panicked eyes. "You were screaming in your sleep. Is everything alright?"
"Who's Hadrian?" Harry blinked confusedly as he tried to breathe. It seemed like a dumb thing to say, but he couldn't help it.
"What do you mean?" The woman approached the bed and reached for him, but Harry leaned away from her outstretched hand. "What's the matter darling?"
"Where am I?" Harry asked as carefully as possible. She looked like his mother… but his mother was dead.
"James!" The woman was pale as she turned to shout towards the door, "James get in here!" Harry inched away from the woman, unsure of what he was supposed to be doing.
"What's wrong? What's the problem?" Harry inhaled sharply as a man appeared in the doorway. He looked exactly as Harry remembered James Potter looking, but he was a few years older. There was stubble along his jaw, and a softness in his eyes that he had never seen captured in the pictures.
"Hadrian, you know where you are." The woman turned back to Harry as the man approached the bed and put a hand on her shoulder. "This is your bedroom."
"No it's not." Harry shook his head in denial, clenching his hands into fists.
"What do you mean?" James frowned. The people in front of him… weren't his parents. Not the ones he'd had in his world.
Was this what Death had done? Placed him with people who looked like his parents but weren't? The thought made him cringe. Death was cruel. Why else would they have done this? Placing Harry in a world he didn't belong in with parents that looked like his but weren't?
"I'm sorry, I don't know who you are." Harry lied, voice wobbling and hands shaking.
"Obliviation?" James prompted Lily seriously, squeezing her shoulder. The woman just pursed her lips.
"We need to call Severus, he'll know." Harry recoiled at the words, unsure how to feel about Severus Snape. Either way… this new world seemed so different that Severus Snape might be nothing like the one he knew.
"You go, I'll stay with Hadrian." James soothed as she turned anxious green eyes to the man. Lily stood, pushing off the bed and sending Harry a concerned look before leaving the room in a hurry. "Hadrian."
"That's not my name." Harry frowned. "I'm Harry."
"No, your name is Hadrian." James said patiently, which only irritated Harry. "You're fourteen years old, and this is your bedroom."
"Stop saying that!" Harry exclaimed, leaning away with a glare. "I reckon I know my own name. And actually I'm fifteen." Harry distinctly remembered Death saying he was fifteen. It wasn't the truth but if Death said he was supposed to fifteen then Harry wasn't going to argue. Much.
"Hadrian, you're confused." James said, reaching out. "It'll be okay. Your mother and I will figure this out."
"She's not my mother, and you're not my father." Harry said stubbornly. If Death thought Harry would play nice just because they gave strangers his parent's faces they'd have to get used to disappointment.
"Hadrian–" James cut himself off with a sigh, and then Lily was stepping back into the room with Snape behind her. She was back so quickly, Harry figured she must've Apparated. Harry then blinked in surprise at the dark haired man, briefly stunned by his outward appearance.
Snape wasn't wearing his signature black robe that he'd never taken off in all the years Harry had known him at Hogwarts. He sported Muggle jeans, much like the ones Lily wore, and a black shirt. He was still wearing dragonhide boots though, compared to Lily's Muggle sneakers.
"Hadrian, you remember Uncle Severus, right?" Lily said, gesturing to the man with a tight smile. Harry frowned.
"Uncle?" He blinked, and then said, "No, I don't have an uncle." Lily turned to Snape with the same concern and anxiety, and he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Give me a moment with him." Snape said, nodding politely to James who nodded back. James took Lily's hand and led her out, even as she cast a terrified look over her shoulder at Harry before the door clicked shut behind them.
Snape approached, grabbing a chair from the reading nook and pulling it up to sit beside the bed. Neither of them spoke at first, and Harry shifted uncomfortably at the attention he received.
"Can you talk to me? You're Hadrian Severus Potter, fourteen years old. Does any of this sound familiar?" Snape asked finally. Harry recoiled at the name, grimacing.
"That's not me, and I'm fifteen." Harry told him firmly. "My name is Harry."
"Okay, Harry." Snape nodded, but Harry knew it was hesitant. He was being cautious, then. "You're not Hadrian, then, so can you tell me about yourself?"
Harry pursed his lips and tried to think. Death said they'd help if Harry got stuck, right?
"I'm an orphan." The answer spilled from Harry's lips without his consent. "My parents died, and the people I ended up with didn't want me, so they left me on the steps of an orphanage when I was a little kid." Harry frowned, wondering if this was what Death's idea of help was.
"I see." Snape frowned. "Can you tell me about the orphanage?"
"The Mistress there hates me, and the other kids don't talk to me at all." Harry found himself saying. "I do things they can't do, and they don't like that."
"Things like what?" Snape leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and looked at Harry intently. No words came to him, and Harry sighed as he realised he had to answer by himself.
"Nobody can cut my hair." He admitted, "As a kid, whenever someone tried, it would just grow back overnight. No matter what, it always did. That's why it's so messy." Harry reached up to touch his hair, and found that it was around the same length it had been for his fourth year at Hogwarts. It was slightly too long, falling into his eyes, and able to be tucked behind his ears. Not a mullet, but it probably would be if he let it grow much longer. Hermione had started to tease him about how long it was getting around the Second Task, he remembered.
Harry had hated when Petunia had tried to cut it, leaving only his bangs to cover the scar, but his magic looked out for him. It didn't really grow otherwise, which deeply confused Harry. Whenever he went for a haircut at a barber shop it had regrown before he even reached home. It was especially confusing since it had suddenly gotten long enough to brush his shoulders and collarbone during the time he was Horcrux hunting. He'd stopped trying to understand his hair years ago.
"What else?" Snape asked after nodding. Harry tilted his head in thought.
"I've made lights flicker, or break." Harry winced at the memory of Aunt Marge. "I make things explode when I'm upset, too." He tried to think of another example, and remembered Dudley's gang. "I teleported once, I think, I don't know how I got up on the roof. I was running from some kids and I wanted to get away, and then suddenly I was on the roof." He looked up at Snape and saw careful scrutiny in the man's gaze.
"Do you know why things like that happen?" Snape asked. Harry shook his head, unable to answer honestly because he almost definitely wasn't supposed to know about magic if he grew up in a Muggle orphanage. "You're a wizard."
"A what?" Harry blinked, trying to remember how he'd actually reacted when Hagrid had told him all those years ago.
"A wizard." Snape said clearly. "What you do is called magic, and it's a very real thing." He frowned then. "Did you receive a letter at all, around the age of eleven?"
"The orphanage doesn't accept personal mail." Harry's mouth said in response, "The Mistress reads it and chucks it out." Snape frowned harder, but he nodded.
Harry wondered briefly if that was the right thing to say. Death was the one who made him say it, which meant it must hold merit as an answer. Harry hadn't read his letter because of Vernon, so Hogwarts just kept sending him letters until Hagrid delivered one personally. Was that a special Harry Potter treatment, then? That was probably it, actually, if he was being completely honest with himself.
"You should have gotten a letter just before your eleventh birthday." Snape said, making Harry blink back into the present. "We have a school for children like you; it's called Hogwarts."
"Children like me. So, wizards?" Harry decided on.
"Witches and wizards, yes."
"Hogwarts?" Harry echoed carefully.
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Snape confirmed. "The Headmaster is Albus Dumbledore, and I'm a Professor there. I teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Harry blurted in disbelief. He felt immensely stupid for it immediately after; Snape had always wanted to be Defense teacher. Luckily, Snape just looked faintly amused.
"Hogwarts has a lot of classes, and Defence is one of them." Snape explained, "It'll all make sense as you go along and learn. There are textbooks you'll be given to help you catch up, of course."
"If I didn't get my letter, am I even allowed to go?" Harry asked suddenly, "To Hogwarts?"
"You should be able to." Snape nodded. "But for now, do you know where Hadrian might have gone?"
"Hadrian?" Harry blinked in confusion.
"My friends, Lily and James, have a son named Hadrian." Harry tried not to openly gape as Snape called James Potter his friend while Snape gestured towards the door where the two had exited. "He looks a lot like you, and he's fourteen. I know you're confused, because this isn't the orphanage, but it's important that we find Hadrian."
"You could check at the orphanage." Harry suggested, "If I'm here, doesn't it make sense that he's over there?" Snape blinked.
"Yes, actually." He said, "I believe that's highly likely." Snape stood then, beckoning Harry to follow. Harry slid out of bed, briefly frowning at his blue silk pyjamas and his bare feet on the cold floor, but then Snape opened the door to lead him down a long corridor.
He padded after Snape, unsure of what he was supposed to be doing, and looked around curiously at his surroundings. Was this a Manor? Was there a Potter Manor? His parents had lived somewhere before Godric's Hollow, but Harry didn't know where. Maybe there was a Potter Manor and he'd just never known. Maybe it had been destroyed during the war…
The floors were a light grey marble, and the rooms were all decorated with different shades of all different colours. Blue was the most common color, and it was present in nearly every room in a bunch of different shades. It might be a Potter colour or something; he remembered Malfoy Manor also being slightly colour coded. It had been silver and black, mainly. Harry couldn't imagine growing up in such a place, but he supposed Draco Malfoy could never imagine living in a cupboard for ten years either.
Snape led Harry to a kitchen. It reminded him of the Hogwarts kitchens, vast ceilings and large windows, tables full of food and ingredients, but that wasn't what made him pause.
His parents, or, the people who could've been his parents in a better world, were sitting at a small table tucked in a corner with three chairs. Lily Potter had her face in her hands and was hunched over the table, and James Potter sat beside her, murmuring softly and rubbing between her shoulders and gently playing with her long red hair.
"Lily." Snape spoke so softly and affectionately that Harry almost blanched. "This is Harry, not Hadrian." He gestured to Harry, who waved awkwardly. "He's been switched with my nephew. Hadrian is most likely at a Muggle orphanage at this moment, taking Harry's place."
"Switched??" Lily gasped, shooting to her feet. She clutched James' hand, even though he stayed seated. "Can we get him back?"
"If he's there, yes." Snape confirmed. "I will take Harry, and we'll go and find Hadrian. Alright?"
"No, I'll go." Lily said firmly. "He's my son–"
"Lils." James called gently, making her pause. "Let Severus go. You know he loves Hadrian as much as we do, and you're not in the best headspace right now."
"I'll be back within the hour." Snape nodded to James appreciatively before Lily could protest.
Snape then beckoned Harry out of the kitchen and down more halls, and Harry couldn't resist asking the question that burned in the back of his mind.
"So she's your sister?" Harry prompted, "You don't look alike." In Harry's previous life, Snape had been in love with her their whole lives. It'd be weird if they were actually siblings.
"Not really." Snape said evenly. "She always saw us as siblings because of how close we were growing up, and she called me Hadrian's Uncle when he was born. It's been that way ever since."
"Oh, that's nice." Harry blinked. He wasn't expecting such an honest answer, but it made sense they were so close if this Snape hadn't joined a Dark Lord after accidentally calling her a mudblood and having never been forgiven for it. Without Voldemort in the way, they'd have made up and stayed close. Close enough that Snape was a part of their family. Harry briefly wondered if Snape was still in love with her, but pushed the thought away. It didn't particularly matter anyway.
"Get dressed." Snape said, making Harry realise that he had been brought back to Hadrian's bedroom.
"... In what?" He asked hesitantly.
"Anything. I'm sure Hadrian won't mind if you borrow some of his things." Snape said curtly. "Go on, we'll head out when you're done."
Harry found himself staring into a mirror and trying to find Hadrian Potter in what he saw. If Hadrian looked exactly like him, then the boy in the mirror wearing black slacks and a blue button down had to be Hadrian. Paired with bright blue Muggle sneakers, Harry could see that Hadrian had been raised with the Potter pureblood etiquette and Lily's Muggle-born touch. Harry couldn't imagine what that kind of life might have been like, and decided not to torture himself by trying.
He opened the door to the bedroom and stepped out, and Snape nodded firmly upon seeing him.
"This way."
Harry once again followed Snape through the Manor, looking around in careful awe at his surroundings. It was still shocking to think a life like the one Hadrian led had ever been a possibility for Harry. Maybe this was what kind of a world he could have had without Voldemort. It seemed almost utopian.
"Harry." Snape came to a stop in front of a fireplace, and turned towards Harry expectantly. "Do you know where your orphanage is?"
"Wool's Orphanage, in London." Harry said, and then froze. Oops. Death hadn't made him say it, Harry'd just blurted it out because that was the only orphanage he'd ever heard of. Which sucked, considering Wool's Orphanage was destroyed in 1973 to make room for office buildings on that street. Hopefully Death would fix that??
"I'm familiar." Snape frowned. "Alright. We can Floo to the Leaky Cauldron and head over from there."
"Uh, what?" Harry blinked. He didn't remember the Leaky Cauldron ever having a Floo.
"Floo travel." Snape said, luckily misunderstanding Harry's confusion. He held out a closed fist, and Harry held out an open palm in response. Snape poured green dust into Harry's palm carefully, making sure it wasn't dumped all over the marble floor in the process, and Harry cupped it in his hands just as carefully. "Floo travel is one of the most common forms of instantaneous Wizarding travel, and it involves fireplaces. Registered Floo fireplaces are connected to each other, which allows people to speak to others through them, send messages, and even travel from place to place using the fires. Do you understand?"
"Sort of." Harry lied. The concept hadn't ever actually made sense to him, especially since the Weasleys had been able to travel to the bricked off Muggle fireplace in Harry's living room.
"Good. Now, I'm going to demonstrate what needs to be done, and you need to follow exactly what I do." Snape's eyes narrowed, filled with the same ordering tone Harry remembered from school.
"Alright." Harry was surprised that Snape didn't sound threatening to him anymore. Was that just how this version of him was? Harry remembered him being really intense and threatening as a Professor, but this seemed less threatening and more 'you could legitimately do this wrong so pay attention or something bad might happen.' Was it because, as a teacher, he finally had the job he enjoyed and wasn't a grouchy dungeon bat?
"The Leaky Cauldron." Snape said firmly, making Harry snap to attention, and then tossed the green Floo powder into the fireplace, making the dim orange flames flare to life in a blaze of shimmering green. Snape stepped through, and then disappeared.
"The Leaky Cauldron." Harry repeated, tossing his powder and being careful not to inhale ash as he had the first time when he was twelve. Remembering the unpleasant spinning and lurching, Harry shut his eyes as he walked into the emerald green flames.
The spinning started, and Harry kept his arms tightly at his sides. The first time he'd used a Floo, Harry had seen dozens of fireplaces blast by him, spinning in circles and falling through them all at once. It had been overwhelming and nauseating, and Harry found it was made a little better if his eyes were closed. Downside, when he was shoved out of the fire and into The Leaky Cauldron, his eyes were still shut. That meant he tripped over his own feet and slammed right into Snape.
"Sorry!" Harry exclaimed, jumping backwards. Surprisingly, Snape put a hand on his shoulder to stabilise him.
"Floo travel takes adjusting." Was all Snape said before releasing him, and then he beckoned Harry to follow him out of the building.
The Leaky Cauldron was as rundown and crappy as Harry remembered it being, and yet he felt heavy nostalgia just looking at it. The feeling was odd, like a longing for something that would never be the same again because Harry wasn't the same.
He said nothing as Snape led him expertly through the streets of London, and Harry wondered how he seemed to know exactly where he was going.
Harry was surprised that he didn't immediately hate this alternate version of Snape. Before, Snape had been out to get him from the beginning. He'd hated James Potter, loved Lily, and couldn't handle Harry in the slightest. It wasn't a great combo for developing a healthy teacher-student relationship. Now, though, it just seemed like he was an adult with the responsibility of a child and was looking to find his missing honorary nephew.
"We're here." Harry was brought out of his thoughts by Snape's voice, and found himself standing outside of an orphanage. Harry remembered it, vaguely, from the vision he'd seen in Dumbledore's office of a small Tom Riddle. The sign read Wool's Orphanage, and Harry nodded.
"Yeah, this is it."
Snape beckoned him to follow as he entered through the gates, and then marched up to the front door. Except… he didn't even knock. Snape just shoved the door open and stepped inside.
"I told you, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Screaming could be heard immediately upon opening the door, and the person yelling sounded exactly like Harry. What the–?
"Harry, you better straighten up or you're going in the cupboard!" Harry froze momentarily at the very familiar voice, and Snape eyed him for a moment before striding into the room that the voices were coming from.
"How many times do I have to tell you, my name is Hadrian!" Harry walked into the room and saw himself. Messy dark hair and spring green eyes, his face twisted with anger and in the same baggy clothes Harry had worn his entire life. They looked exactly like the ones he'd been given as Dudley's hand-me-downs. Was this Death's idea of a sick joke?
"Enough." Snape's voice was frosty, and the orphanage woman turned to him in surprise.
Harry froze again. The orphanage lady looked like Petunia. His Aunt Petunia who called him a freak for his entire life. Long neck and horsey teeth and messy blonde hair clear as day as she glared at him, and Harry thought in that moment that Death must hate him.
"Uncle Sev!" The Not–Harry ran for Snape, and he was engulfed in a tight hug. "I thought I'd never see you again!"
"Who the devil are you?" Not-Petunia said, narrowing her pale eyes at Snape, Hadrian, and Harry. "Twins?"
"I suppose you could say that." Snape said evenly. Hadrian turned and stared at Harry. Harry waved awkwardly, and understanding seemed to light in Hadrian's eyes. "I'm here to take both of them off your hands. My nephews."
"Harry has no family." The woman snapped, "You don't want the freak anyway. He's a worthless orphan with parents who killed themselves by driving drunk–"
The vase on a nearby table exploded, flowers and water and ceramic shards going in every direction. Harry blinked in surprise, staring at the vase in shock.
"See?!" She pointed at Harry, who was staring at the vase in horror. "He's a right menace and a freak!" Harry hated the word, and he bit his tongue to prevent himself from yelling at her.
"How dare you?" Hadrian was the one who spoke up. "Just because something is beyond your understanding doesn't mean it's wrong or freakish." Hadrian marched over to Harry and grabbed his hand firmly, which made Harry's eyes pop open in surprise. "He's coming with us."
"Harry, I forbid it." Petunia sneered. "You'll only make things worse for them. You're a worthless freak and you deserve worse than the cupboard for this." Harry glared at her. "Your twin can join you if he's as freakish as you are!"
"How dare you?" Harry snapped, vaguely realising Hadrian had said the exact same thing, and the lights flickered. "Hadrian had nothing to do with this!"
"Obliviate." Snape had his wand out, and the woman who wore Petunia's face promptly looked vaguely high and wobbly. Snape then turned away and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. He flinched minutely away from Snape reflexively.
"I'm sorry, I–" Harry stumbled to explain, panicking slightly over Snape's familiarly dark scrutinising eyes. "I didn't–"
"Hey." Hadrian stepped forward as Snape let go of Harry, and he smiled. It was odd, almost like looking in a mirror for comfort. "You're Harry, right? You live here?"
"Yeah, I do." Harry lied, swallowing hard.
"Well that lady?" He pointed to the Not-Petunia, and Harry flicked his eyes between her and Hadrian. "She doesn't know anything and there's nothing wrong with you."
"I mean, I did blow up that vase–" Harry started, but he didn't even get to finish his sentence.
"Harry." Hadrian's voice was firm. "It doesn't matter. She won't even remember it, and you're coming with us. We're not leaving you here." Hadrian shot Snape a look that dared him to argue, and turned back to Harry. "I'm guessing you woke up in my bed and I woke up in… I guess, yours?"
"Ah, did you wake up in my cupboard?" Harry winced when Hadrian nodded. "Sorry. I learned how to pick the lock ages ago." Harry wondered why Death let him say that, but he figured it was fine since it was what he'd done at the Dursleys' house. Apparently Death thought giving him the same 'backstory' kept life authentic. Fantastic.
"It's alright." Hadrian smiled. "We should get home, and you're coming with us. Uncle Sev?" They both looked up at Snape.
"Come on, we're Apparating." Snape said, reaching out his hands for them both to take. "Harry, it's that thing you did to get on the roof that one time."
"The teleportation?" Harry asked, playing dumb. Snape nodded, and Harry took his hand.
"It will be unpleasant." Snape warned, and then Harry was being dragged along and pulled by the rubber band like feeling he'd only vaguely become accustomed to over the last few years.
When they landed, Harry ended up on his arse because his fifteen year old legs apparently did not remember how to land properly like his seventeen year old legs did. Hadrian landed flawlessly, of course.
"You okay?" Hadrian asked, offering him a hand.
"Fine." Harry sighed as Hadrian helped him up. "That was horrible."
"Apparation always is." Hadrian shrugged. "Where's Mum and Dad?"
"They were in the kitchen when we left." Snape said, and then walked off. Hadrian excitedly followed, and Harry was dragged along because Hadrian had grabbed his wrist.
"Mum! Dad!" Hadrian only let go of Harry once he spotted his parents, and then he was racing for them at full speed.
Harry watched, a little detached, as Hadrian threw himself at Lily and James. It was like Harry was watching himself embracing his own parents. Lily and James looked so happy, and Hadrian looked so at home with them. Even Snape was a part of their little family as he looked on with a soft smile. It made Harry bitter, a little. Bitter that he never got that chance.
"This is Harry." Hadrian said, making Harry blink and focus back on the present. "He's the one who lives at the orphanage. We switched." Hadrian beckoned Harry forward, so he stepped forward carefully.
"Sorry I caused so much trouble." Harry smiled awkwardly. He wasn't sure what the point of Death's plan was. Did they just want him to suffer by having to watch his family love each other without him? Would he be sent back to the orphanage?
"How did it even happen?" Lily asked, clutching Hadrian tightly. "They look the same, but that doesn't explain why they ended up switching."
"I think it was Harry." Hadrian grinned. Everyone in the room collectively blinked. "He's powerful, didn't you see the vase?" Snape nodded reluctantly, and Lily and James looked curious. "I think it was untapped accidental magic. It's so rare people get to his age without a wand, it's possible. What d'you think, Harry?"
Death did not take control of Harry's tongue, so he was forced to improvise.
"I dunno." Harry muttered. "I wished I was somewhere else all the time." He looked at Hadrian carefully. "Sometimes I wanted to be someone else."
"See?" Hadrian beamed at his parents. "His magic probably just reacted, and because he and I look the same this is just what happened. It might be some form of Apparation or Switching Spell. Is that possible?"
"I teleported onto a roof, once." Harry put in. Hadrian nodded approvingly.
"See? The theory has some merit." The adults looked deep in thought at Hadrian's words, and then Lily grinned.
"That's our little Ravenclaw." She ruffled Hadrian's hair, making the boy laugh. "Always thinking outside the box."
"Ravenclaw?" Harry blurted.
"It's a Hogwarts House. Remember I told you about Hogwarts?" Snape went on to explain the House situation, but Harry was just so focused on Hadrian.
A Ravenclaw? In another world, Harry was a Ravenclaw? Seriously? Studious, intelligent, seeking wisdom and answers??
Harry sort of… envied him, in a way. Gryffindor had been great, and he'd loved being there, but he also ended up getting himself killed. He was notoriously known for not thinking things all the way through.
"I think you've broken his brain, Severus." Lily's laugh broke Harry out of his reverie, and he shook his head.
"No, it's just a lot to take in." Harry smiled wobbly, pushing away his inner turmoil. "I can't believe yesterday I was… at the orphanage and in my cupboard, that's all." Harry had almost said dead.
"That's right, the cupboard!" Hadrian exclaimed, "We need food. As far as I know, neither of us have eaten. You all just rushed him to the orphanage to find me, right?" The adults nodded, but they did look slightly guilty. "Of course. So, breakfast?"